[Gocamino] Tour de France ends at Le Puy Today

[Sil]

Stage 19 of 21Issoire to Le Puy-en-Velay
Le Puy-en-Velay (pop. 20,490): It's said to be the only significantcity in France that exists solely because of the extraordinary,three-Michelin-stars-worthy site — a deep basin out of which juttowering volcanic needles. The ancients built a temple to the godMercury atop the 262-foot-high Saint-Michel Rock, and the currentchapel perched there was constructed in the 11th century. The RocheCorneille is capped by the monumental statue of Notre-Dame-de-France,built in 1860 from 213 melted-down cannons seized during the battle ofSebastopol and presented to Napoleon III. It's 52 feet high and weighs110 tons. Le Puy also has its own Notre Dame, barely less spectacularthan the much more famous one in Paris.Historical footnoteIt was from Le Puy that pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spainembarked during the early 12th century. But a vicious gang of bandits,Les Cotereaux, came to prey on — not with — the devout medievaltourists, wreaking havoc on the town's economy. Inspired by a visionof the Virgin Mary, a local carpenter directed a vigilante campaignthat led to mass hangings of these nasty brigands and, eventually, toopen rebellion against French authority, too. The government was notamused and, in turn, slaughtered them.

-- Sil