Visiting Nevers & Moulins - towns of Art and History - France 🇫🇷

Описание: By day nine of this trip we are heading south through the heart of France. Our first stop today is the city of Nevers. It was an important staging post for the Romans and was of strategic value due to is crossing point of the River Loire. We enter the old town through the medieval Porte du Croux, one of the few places remnants of the ancient walls can be seen. The Cathedral of Sainte Cyr and Sainte Julitte has early, romanesque origins on display at its west end but the bulk of the building is magnificent 14th century gothic. While the cathedral was undergoing restoration as we visited and access was limited, we were still able to admire the stunning statuary decorating the glorious tower. Definitely somewhere to return to when works are complete. Close by and at the heart of the city is the Ducal Palace which dates from the 1400`s. From here a broad, grassy esplanade leads to a view over the Loire. Nested in a maze of narrow streets lined with timber framed houses is the romanesque church of Sainte Etienne. It was consecrated in the late 800`s.
We continue south next stopping in Moulins. Here the Cathedral of Our Lady stands beside the remains of a castle and ducal palace that were largely destroyed in a fire. Previously these had been home to the powerful Dukes of Bourbon. On the higher part of the old town there are narrow medieval streets and also squares, again, lined with timber framed houses and some, more permanent, stone buildings. We wandered to the newer section of the historic centre before continuing south to our next destination, the historic Spa of Vichy. Here we paused for two nights and explored on day 10.
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