Castle with Knight Tournaments, Cheese House and Black Village - Discoveries in Auvergne

During the holidays, there is a program that includes a small knight tournament.

Two brothers are in conflict and compete in the tournament, meant to show the audience how knight games might have looked in the past.

After that, we visited the castle, for which we even received a flyer in German at the ticket counter – otherwise, everything was in French, of course.

The majority of the fortress is destroyed, but some parts have been restored so they can be viewed again.

This includes the cellars, the knights' hall, a living tower, and the kitchen.

During the tour, we pushed our way through narrow corridors with many other visitors. We noticed that the French summer holidays have started.

On our way, we briefly stopped in the village of Murol, located below the castle.

It was market day, and we bought a “Truffade” for lunch. This specialty from Auvergne is made from potatoes and regional cheese.

Cheese was also the focus of our next stop:

We drove to Saint-Nectaire. The village is known for the cheese of the same name, which is very famous in Auvergne but is not exported abroad (which likely explains why we had never heard of it before).

First, we went to the Église St-Nectaire (once again, one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in Auvergne), which stands on Mont Cornadore in the upper town.

Inside, we were particularly struck by the many intricately designed and colorful capitals in the nave and especially in the choir aisle.

On our way back to the lower part of the town, a badger unexpectedly crossed our path, seemingly having woken up at the wrong time and seeking refuge in a garage. (The owners might be surprised when they open it.)

Our destination was the “Maison du fromage”, dedicated exclusively to the Saint-Nectaire cheese.

A short film explained the production process and praised the benefits of the region, where free-ranging cows eat the grass from volcanic soils.

Afterward, we went with a guide into a small cheese cellar, where we could see how the Saint-Nectaire matures and received some explanations about it.

Finally, we also got to taste - and of course shop in the store.

Since we needed more groceries and larger supermarkets in the area were scarce, we traveled further to Besse.

After we got what we needed, we also visited the historical town center.

The houses in the town are built from black lava.