An Outing to Cervières

Cervières is a village just off the A89 autoroute, just near the NW border of Rhone-Alpes and Auvergne.  It had a grand chateau from 1170 till 1634, when it was destroyed by the King of France as a threat to his authority.
  Cervières was important as a trading town and stop for pilgrims on the way from Lyon to the Atlantic Coast along a route that was created by the Romans in Gaul.

 Until the 1600s, Cervières was a wealthy and important town with up to 1000 inhabitants.
The windows above are carved in granite and date back perhaps to the 1400s or 1500s.
The village today has less than 100 inhabitants, many second homes.  It has many flowers and gardens.

 The town was surrounded in medieval times completely by walls and towers.
Today all that is left are the arches that were the original gates.
The arch gate shown above looks southeast back to Mt D'Urfé and the Chateau above Champoly.