Auvergnat wines arc strictly local ones and not calculated to arouse jealousy in near-by Burgundy. One stands head and shoulders above the rest—Les Chanturgues, and when you can find an authentic bottle of a good year, you have an estimable companion indeed!
Although Auvergne is not one of the great gastronomic provinces, it has a good quota of restaurants where the standards arc high and the comfort is cushioned. Here are a few of them, mostly concentrated in the Puy-de-Dôme:
Ambert (Puy-de-Dôme)
This unassuming town offers the traveler a very modest but spotless hotel for an overnight stop before visiting near-by La Chaise Dieu and its celebrated abbey. If there are any bibliophiles or paper-makers present, please note that beautiful handmade paper is still produced in two ancient mills on the Val de Laga, some six miles from Ambert, and that visitors arc very welcome.
The place which merits your attention is the HÔTEL LIVRADOIS on the place Foirail. It is unpretentious but carefully supervised by a young hôtelier who rejoices in the name of Monsieur Joycux. If you have the good fortune to land in front of his hotel at the conclusion of market day, as we did, a picturesque sight awaits you. The hotel's terrace swarmed with farmers in well-laundered blue smocks, black felt hats, and wooden sabots, clinking glasses over newly made cattle deals. The market place was a colorful bedlam. Cows, calves, sheep, and pigs joined in a ceaseless rustic symphony. Gradually the farmers' wives and children, laden with new purchases, straggled back, extracted papa from bis cafe companions, and headed for their two-wheeled farm carts. Down the road went a motley collection of recently purchased beasts bellowing to the end. By seven o'clock all was quiet. Only the aroma remained.
On such a busy day you might not expect much of an evening meal from the exhausted Monsieur Joyeux, but he came through handsomely, first with a good country soup, then with a perfect omelette, and finally with a poulet an porto (thicken in port) which left us enchanted, Then we tried the local cheese, Fourme d'Auvergne, found it strong but palatable, and wound up with a cherry dessert. The bill, including service and a bottle of a charming local red wine, came to a little over three dollars for two.
Châtel-Guyon (Puy-de-Dôme)
This, of course, is the celebrated thermal resort whose waters arc beneficial to faltering digestions. For the completely cured or the incorrigibly healthy, one hotel in particular holds some delicious temptations, This is the HÔTEL HERMITAGE, beautifully situated in the middle of a park facing Mont Chalusset and the Valley of Sans Souci. Monsieur Laconde is a very accommodating host, and his chef, Monsieur Pol Weiss, specializes in regional dishes, among them tsuite gratinée à la crème (trout breadcrumbed in cream) and particularly seductive feuilletée an Gruyère (cheese puff paste).
Pont-de-Dore (Puy-de-Dôme)
This little town near Thiers welcomes you with a sympathetic auberge happily situated on the batiks of the Dore River. It is the RESTAURANT DE LA MÈRE DÉPALLE, and Madame Donat-Dépalle welcomes you herself to enjoy an apéritif in the sheltered garden before lunch. Or perhaps you would like to paddle a canoe, swim, or fish a bit before tasting her Auvcrgnat specialties. That is equally feasible. After a shimmering plate of frifuse de goujuns (deep-fried fish), an aromatic coq eu vin will taste doubly good. The prices arc very fair, and the porlions are more than generous.
Royat (Puy-de-Dôme)
The Romans knew (he beneficial waters of Royat well and built magnificent baths here. In succeeding centuries Royat was forgotten, but its waters flowed on. Not until 1862, when the Empress Eugénie gave the revived town her patronage, did it become reestablished. As an epicurean note, it is interesting to observe that one of the most fashionable chocolate factories in the world is located here. If is the Cbocolasorie de la Marquise de Sévigné, and it welcomes summer visitors. The old town of Royal boasts the fortified Romanesque church of Saint-Léger. The Chie, new town of hotels and parks can be proud of One establishment in particular. This is the HÔTEL DE L'ECU DE FRANCS, near the Parc Bargoin. Here is an excellent place to try the traditional coq au vin de Cbanturgues, prepared, coincidentally enough, by a smiling chef named Monsieur Lecoq.
Saint-Nectaire (Puy-de-Dôme)
If the watering places of Auvergne were limited to the ailing customers, I think 1 would prefer to have kidney trouble, for this ailment would lead me to Saint-Nectaire, home of one of the loveliest Romanesque churches in Christendom and of one of the most distinguished valley cheeses in France. In the Middle Ages a chateau, now disappeared, stood above the village. It was the seat of a Saint-Nectaire family, whose most illustrious member was a young and pretty widow, Madeleine de Saint-Nectaire. Invariably followed by sixty horsemen, she took a heroine's part in the religious wars and with her own hands killed the king's emissary in Auvergne.
This is a one-street valley town hemmed in between steep, wooded hills. At one end is the old town and the superb church, dating from the end of the twelfth century, perched on a promontory. At the other end are the baths, the casino and the hotels. Two of the latter have good references. We tried the HOTEL DE PARIS ET CASTEL MARGUERITE but found them booked up. (This was one of the few times during the entire summer when we arrived unannounced and found no accommodations. There always seems to be an extra room somewhere in a French hotel.) However, we did very well at the MODERN HÔTEL, a simple summer hostelry catering to the water-drinkers. However, there was a gourmand section of the dining room where we fortunate normal people could savor Monsieur Sarliève's cocbonailles d' Auvergne (sausage meat) and his delicate chicken specialty, accompanied by 8 fragrant heady wine called Montaigut. You can buy one of those incomparable Saint-Nectaire cheeses for picnics at a shop next door.
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