Page 350 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

8 in the late 17th and 18th (afternoon concerts in season),
centuries – the former com-
belle époque glass-roofed
Vichy pared the showers to “a shopping galleries, and the
rehearsal for Purgatory”. The Grand Casino and Opera
! E4 ⌂ Allier £ @ n 19 visits of Napoleon III in the House. Here there is gambling
rue du Parc; www.vichy-
destinations.fr 1860s put Vichy on the map every afternoon and musical
and made taking the waters performances in the evenings,
This small city on the River fashionable. The small town and an atmosphere of gaiety
was spruced up and became a
pervades. Also open to the
Allier has long been known for
EXPERIENCE The Massif Central arthritis and digestive com- wealthy middle classes. These Célestin, in a riverside park
public are the beautiful
favourite among the French
its hot and cold springs, and
bronze taps of the Source
reputed cures for rheumatism,
nobility and the world’s
days, the grand old Thermal
containing vestiges of a
plaints. The letter-writer
Establishment, built in 1900,
Madame de Sévigné and the
convent bearing the same
name. Only by making an
lies abandoned, but it is pos-
daughters of Louis XV visited
effort to imagine the city
sible to walk in and admire
in grainy black-and-white
the pretty pastel-coloured
architecture. The modern
newsreel style is there the
VOLVIC SPRINGS
The Auvergne has over
strictly for medical purposes.
wartime Vichy government,
100 spring and mineral
which was based in the town
A doctor’s prescription and a
waters, filtered through
reservation 30 days in advance
from 1940 to 1944.
the volcanic rock. The baths are state-of-the-art and slightest reminder of the
best known include are required for all treatments.
Vichy Célestins and Vichy’s fortunes changed Source Célestin
Volvic. The latter has its for the better once again in ⌂ Blvd du Président Kennedy
source in the Chaine des the 1960s with the damming # Apr–Sep: 8am–8:30pm
Puys. Rainwater takes of the Allier, creating a huge daily; Oct–Mar: 8am–
about five years to filter lake in the middle of town, 6pm daily ¢ Dec–Jan
through 100 m (330 ft) which rapidly became a
of volcanic rock to reach thriving centre for water
the source, 90 m (300 ft) sports and international
under ground. From events. For a small fee, you 9 " '
here it is pumped to the can have a taste of sports Château de La Palice
factory and bottled. from aikido to waterskiing, or ! E4 ⌂ Allier § 04 70 99
You can find out more learn canoeing on the 3-km-
(and do some tasting) at (2-mile-) long artificial river. 37 58 # Apr–Oct: 9am–6pm
the Volvic information The focal point of life in Vichy Wed–Mon
centre (Apr–Nov; is the Parc des Sources in the In the early 16th century, the
www.volvic.fr). centre of town, with its turn- Marshal of France, Jacques II de
of-the-20th-century bandstand Chabannes, hired Florentine

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