Small villages and a crater lake in the Auvergne

Only 230 residents live there, but some cars were parked in the visitor parking lot.

Bright sandstone houses line the way to an 11th-century Benedictine abbey.

In the square in front of the church, it was a bit livelier - also because the mass was just ending - but otherwise, it was very quiet in the village.

Not far away is the significantly larger town of Brioude, with over 6500 residents, which we visited next.

There, we especially liked the Basilica of St. Julien, which is the largest Romanesque church in the Auvergne.

Saint Julien was a Roman soldier who is said to have died as a martyr in Brioude and later attracted many pilgrims to the town.

Finally, we drove to Lac Pavin.

The round maar lake was well-frequented, and many people were moving from the parking lot to the restaurant.

A hiking trail surrounds the lake, which we took.

The special thing about the lake is its depth: In the lowest layer, there is no oxygen, so only single-celled organisms live here.

In the evening, we settled in at the campsite we had booked as a base for our explorations for several days. From next door, we kept hearing a strange squeaking sound, which sounded like a dog chewing on a rubber toy. Since the squeaking was very annoying and didn’t stop, I went over eventually to ask if the toy could possibly be taken away. As it turned out, it wasn’t a squeaky rubber toy, but a parrot with a very annoying voice… The owners had it in a cage in front of their camper van while they sat outside.