Headed out north today, to visit the town of Murat.
The following is from France-Voyage
A mid-mountain municipality at the foot of the Mounts of Cantal, in the Alagnon glacial valley, Murat is a Station Verte-certified “green resort” in the Massif Central. At the crossroads of Haute-Auvergne, this picturesque medieval town backs onto the basaltic rock of Bonnevie, which towers over the historic centre. In the Middle Ages, Murat was a fortified town and a major road hub, which encouraged trade. Many fairs and markets were held there. Two other volcanic mountains surround it, the Bredons Rock and the Chastel-sur-Murat Rock.
Many old houses, some of which are listed Historic Monuments, provide a reminder of the medieval and Renaissance period. Must-see sights on a walk along the streets of the old town: the consular house, one of Murat’s gems with its 15th-century façade; the old bailiwick house from the 16th century on Place de la Boucherie; the Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Olive Trees (Notre-Dame-des-Oliviers), built between the 12th and the 14th centuries, with its statues and altarpieces from the 17th and 19th centuries; the Hurgon House on Rue du Bon-Secours. The old town with its grey roofs and Bonnevie Rock, with the statue of Our Lady of Haute-Auvergne towering over it, form a beautiful group, where the buildings are mainly made of natural materials from the region, such as wood, flagstone and volcanic stone.
The views from the road as we travelled along were very pretty ….
As described above, Murat is a pretty town, with lots of interesting buildings and meandering narrow streets. On our arrival we noted the bunting on all the streets including many conical decorations.
These, we discovered, were in honor of the cornets / cones for which the town is renowned.
I took a short dip into the Church of St. Martin ……
The following are a few photographs showing the variety of architectural and artistic sights around the town….
Whilst meandering our way around the town we found ourselves outside a nice cafe which we entered for a spot of lunch and, after loading up with calories, it only seemed right that we should burn some off. So we decided to climb up to rocher de Bonnevie, a monument mounted on a high, rocky outcrop, overlooking the town.
Shortly after setting out toward the summit, I was puffing and blowing like an old steam train. However the stunning views were well worth the 15-20 minute of effort. Jane put my exertions to shame by sprinting up the last 100 meters or so to the summit at 984 metres.
Heading down always seems like it is going to be much easier, however the steepness of the slope and the uneven surface put quite a bit of strain on the knee joints.
From Murat, we travelled to St Flour. The satnag took us in through the higher town, thru the hectic traffic and down to lower town. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with the lower town. Subsequently we discovered that most of the interesting bits are up top.
Not wanting to wrestle with the traffic again, we took a few snaps of the lower town before heading out to see the Garabit Viaduct.
From Wikipedia ….
The Garabit Viaduct (Viaduc de Garabit in French) is a railway arch bridge spanning the Truyère, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, in the mountainous Massif Central region.
The bridge was constructed between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, with structural engineering by Maurice Koechlin, and was opened in 1885. It is 565 m (1,854 ft) in length and has a principal arch of 165 m (541 ft) span.
The viaduct is quite impressive and well worth the visit…..
WrAnTz 
Great post 😁
Such awesome photos