Notre-Dame du Puy is one of the great Romanesque cathedrals of France, and its position makes it unlike any other: you reach it by climbing 134 steps through a vaulted entrance passage built directly into the facade, emerging into the nave as if surfacing from the rock itself. The cathedral dates from the eleventh to twelfth centuries and has been a major pilgrimage destination since the Middle Ages, attracting pilgrims heading to Santiago de Compostela on the Via Podiensis — the route from Le Puy across southern France to Spain.
The interior is Romanesque in structure but decorated with Byzantine-influenced mosaics and painted frescoes, giving it an atmosphere unlike the Gothic cathedrals further north. The polychrome facade, striped in dark volcanic stone and pale limestone, is extraordinary. The adjacent cloister (twelfth century) is beautiful and often quiet even when the cathedral itself is busy. Mass is still celebrated daily and pilgrims receive a blessing at the start of their Camino — many of them are here to walk, not just visit.