Peyre

Just 7 kilometers southwest of Millau is the troglodyte village of Peyre. Typically you won’t find it listed in the Michelin Atlas France, whose index does however list a Peyre that’s located near Pau, not far from the Pyrenees. The troglodyte Peyre is in the Aveyron, a stone’s throw from the Parc Naturel Régional des Grands Causses. While it may not appear in the Michelin index, it does appear on the Atlas’ map, so before you mistakenly head off towards the Spanish border, locate Millau in your Michelin, then look a bit to the left to find Peyre just off the D-41.

The name means “stone” in Occitan, also known as and langue-d'oc and provençal; it was the language of the medieval troubadours of southern France, and bears an obvious similarity to the French word for stone, pierre. Like Breton and Catalan, Occitan is still alive and kicking, having survived 19th and 20th century government measures to standardize French, to the detriment of anything other language spoken in the country. Classes, music, and literature of all sorts are available in Occitan; there are festivals that spin around its culture, and local bilingual publications where articles appear in both standard French and Occitan. Its melodious sounds are distinctly Mediterranean and carry with them the historical French-Italian-Spanish influences of southern France.

It’s not particularly easy to pronounce “Peyre” correctly if you’re an Anglophone: try saying “PAY” followed by “re.” You’ll notice a bit of a stop in your throat and a dramatic change of lip position between the two syllables if you’re on the right track. Stretch and tighten your lips for the first syllable, then purse them to pronounce the clipped “-re.” Correctly pronouncing the village’s name will help you immensely when you stop to ask for directions, because, once you’ve located Peyre in your atlas and are en route, you may discover that it’s just as difficult to find the village in the actual countryside as it was in the Michelin. It’s an easy matter for French and foreigners alike to miss the one and only, poorly positioned road sign. If you’re hesitant to ask for directions, just wander around the Millau viaduct area and you may eventually bump into Peyre on your own.

Rupestral Peyre is principally known for its troglodytic church and the spectacular view it offers of the Millau viaduct. The unusual juxtaposition of ultra-modern and medieval will instantly prompt you to reach for your camera, like many other visitors to the region. Beware: I’ve read that since the viaduct’s inauguration in 2004 by none other than former French President Jacques Chirac, car accidents in the area have increased sharply, with motorists hopping out of their cars along the départementale to snap pictures of the panoramic oxymoron. This surely has nothing to do with Chirac…

It’s best to leave your car in one of the parking lots near the new church at the base of the hill leading into Peyre, then hike the short distance up to the medieval St. Cristofol. It's not a long hike, nor a particularly steep hill either, whereas it is difficult if not impossible to find parking in the village proper. If you try, you're likely to annoy those who live there – to whom the handful of parking spots rightly belong – and, if (when) you discover that the spots are all taken, you'll have to maneuver a tricky about face, drive back down the hill and park your car where you should have left it in the first place.

You’ll notice that the narrow, winding streets of Peyre, called calades, are made of stone, and that the houses are made of limestone. Some have maintained their troglodytic aspects, with doors leading into compartments carved into the cliffs. As I wandered through the small village specifically looking for photo ops of such compartments, I found myself uncharacteristically wanting to knock on private doors for some personal insights into cave dwelling. I really wanted to see the interior of one of these troglodyte homes. My only experience with troglodytes up to that point had been literary: via an 18th century Montesquieu text, an interesting social commentary from Les Lettres persanes. You can read about this book and those letters specifically concerning the Troglodytes on one of the Wikipedia sites indicated below. I resisted my impulse, but learned to my great dismay that some visitors, usually photographers, do indeed intrude on the private life of Peyre's small population.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troglodyte_(peuple)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Letters

Once you reach St. Cristofol, position yourself at the low wall just in front of the church -- vertigo sufferers, breathe deeply --, with your back to the limestone cliff (tuffa) into which the church is etched. As you gaze out over the Tarn River, you’ll see before you British architect Norman Foster’s 2460 meters long, 343 meters high miracle of modern technology, the Millau Viaduct. This is a safer point from which to take a photo than on D-41. FYI: the viaduct photo attached to this article was taken halfway up the hill between Peyre’s two churches.

St. Cristofol was named for its patron saint, whose relic, apparently brought from Spain in the tenth century by Crusaders returning home to the Aveyron, was re-located to the newer church when the troglodyte church was recently restored for non-religious use by the Communes de Millau Grands Causses. The tombs whose stones can still be seen in the floor of St.Cristofol were also re-located to the newer church. The town council auctioned off the cave-church in 1872 in order to fund the newer place of worship. Today St-Cristofol plays host to local art exhibits. During my visit, Line Bonfils' acrylics were on display. Her magical paintings open onto quite another world; they can be seen online at: http://www.line-bonfils.com/

The Romanesque-style church’s location was well chosen; it’s elevation and situation allowed approaching potential attackers to be spotted long before they arrived at the village’s base. Those who constructed the edifice in the 11th century took advantage of the overhanging, corbeled cliff to reduce construction needs and also to take advantage of the security the cave could provide. To what already existed naturally, they added a projecting bell tower and a small perpendicular wall for entrance into the church. All was fortified in the seventeenth century to provide for better defense of the site and the village’s inhabitants, who took shelter there during menacing times. Before going inside, take a moment to stroll off to the left of the church’s present entrance to see the wonderful inscriptions around the older, no longer used door. They are witness to the blending of paganism and Christianity in the region many centuries ago.

Inside Saint Cristofol, you’ll find some beautiful stained glass windows. They’re a very recent addition to the church, designed by master glass maker Emmanuel Chauche, and installed in 2001. In reading about Chauche’s design, I learned that the artist drew his inspiration from the site’s natural surroundings: the rain gently passing through rock fissures, the different levels of the cave-church’s interior, the staircases leading nowhere. The windows associate drops of richly colored, heavy leaded crystal with granite to create sculptures of light that are perfectly in sync with their surroundings.

A trek to Peyre will leave you time for other activities, so if you’d like to visit additional sites in the vicinity, try the (very) tiny truffle museum in Comprégnac (La Maison de la truffe), where you can learn about everything truffle and purchase a wide variety of truffle products. I'd avoid the truffled chocolate drops, although the truffled hazelnut butter, also chocolate, is exquisite; idem for the truffle oil. You may also enjoy a visit to the Roquefort caves, where you will discover some very practical uses of the region's limestone caves. Check out the following website, available in both English and French, for more information: http://www.roquefort.fr/