Date of visit: May 17, 2013, around 9:00 a.m.
It’s now May 17, and I have only three days left on this journey that started on May 3.
We checked out of our hotel in the highway service area outside Saint-Etienne at 7am.
Another long drive awaits us today. First of all, we drive northwest to Clermont-Ferrand for about two hours. The weather is very different from yesterday.
This area is located right in the middle of France, and there is actually quite a bit of elevation here. Even though it’s an expressway, it’s quite up and down. And it’s also an area that is prone to fog like this.
Although fog and ups and downs continued, the drive was generally smooth and we arrived at our first destination, Charu, around 9:00 a.m., almost on schedule. The countryside scenery leading up to the village was very beautiful.
There was a very well maintained car park at the entrance to the village, so we were able to park our car without any difficulty at all.
Now, this village, Charoux, is located almost directly north of Clermont-Ferrand, about 30 minutes away by car. It’s also close to a big town called Vichy.
Actually, I did a tour of the beautiful villages around here last year, but I got careless and missed this village.
That’s why I decided to stop by this year.
Now, the village of Chaloux, of course, still retains its medieval architecture, with its traditional church and the walls and gates that cover the village.
I was really impressed with how cute the whole atmosphere was.
I love this well as it is.
Also, the signs and nameplates everywhere in this village are very nice.
But still, there are a lot of signs for the size of the village. Sure, it was still early in the morning, so the shops weren’t open, but there are many small shops all over the village. I also felt that there were more auberges and restaurants than I expected.
I wondered why, but when I looked into it again, I found out a little more about why.
When I search for “Charroux” on Google, I get “Charroux mustard” as an associative word. I see that this village is famous for mustard, and I can see many pictures of mustard in Google image search.
If we had visited a little later, we would have bought some as souvenirs. The area around Clermont-Ferrand makes me want to come back again and again, so next time I want to visit this area again and buy the famous mustard as a souvenir.
This is the end of the first beautiful village tour on the 17th. Next, we’ll go through Loire at once and aim for Brittany. It’s so long…
公式サイト：Charroux
