Page 358 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

24 STEVENSON TRAIL
Rodez
The long-distance hiking path,
! D6 ⌂ Aveyron ~ £ @ the GR70, follows in the footsteps
n Place de la Cité; www. of the novelist Robert Louis
tourisme.grand-rodez.com Stevenson (1850–94), tracing the
route that he took in 1878 through
Like many medieval French the Cévennes with only a small
cities, Rodez was politically
donkey, Modestine, for company.
EXPERIENCE The Massif Central and place de la Cité, near Travels with a Donkey,
divided: the shop-lined place
His classic account of
du Bourg on one side of town
this eventful journey,
the cathedral, on the other,
was published the
following year. The
reflect conflicting secular
and ecclesi astical interests.
two-week trail starts
in Le Puy and takes in
Rodez’s commercial centre
is the region’s largest.
remote countryside.
The huge 13th-century
pink stone Cathédrale Notre-
Dame is worth a look, with its
fortress-like west façade and
its magnificent bell tower. Nov–mid-Feb). Be sure to 25
watch the excellent film of the
The 15th-century choir stalls same name, even if you don’t Parc National des
show a panoply of creatures, have time for anything else. Cévennes
including a winged lion and ! E6 ⌂ Lozère, Gard
one naughty fellow exposing Musée Soulages £ Alès @ St-Jean-du-Gard
his derrière. " \= ⌂ Jardin du Foirail, n 6bis pl du Palais, Florac
The striking steel Musée av Victor Hugo § 05 65
Soulages houses over 500 73 82 60 # 11am–7pm Tue– 48400; www.cevennes-
parcnational.fr
paintings and other works Sun (also from 2pm Mon
by the artist Pierre Soulages, in Jul & Aug) Lying between the Massif
who was born in Rodez in Central and the Mediterranean,
1919. It also hosts temporary
exhibitions of modern and
contemporary art. Did You Know?
Southeast (45 km/28 miles) Musée Soulages in
of Rodez lies Saint Léons, Fossils remains at St- Rodez, designed
birthplace of Jean-Henri Laurent-de-Trèves, on by Catalan
Fabre, the entymologist. the Cévennes Corniche, architects
Here is Micropolis, part suggest dinosaurs once
interactive mus eum, part roamed there.
theme park, dedi cated to
the glory of insects (closed

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