5 m. N. from Riom by omnibus are the hot mineral springs of Châtelguyon, most picturesquely situated among mountains. Hotels: Bains; Thermes; Barthélemy; Marret; Lacroix. Bathing establishment with every accessory. Recommended for dyspepsia, constipation of the bowels, gall-stones, chronic bronchitis, syphilis. Water saline. Temp. 100° Fahr.
3½ m. S.W. from Riom by diligence is [Volvic], pop. 4000, built on lava. Visit the church, the Musée in the Mairie, and the workshops where the lava brought from the quarries of the Puy de la Nugère is hewn (see [p. 377]).
Clermont-Ferrand.
PARIS
MARSEILLES 260½ 269½ [CLERMONT-FERRAND], 1335 ft. above the sea, pop. 43,000, on an eminence crowned by the cathedral, of which the principal façade, the west entrance, is towards the Place de Jaude, while the chancel or eastern end is towards the railway station. Hotels: in the Place de Jaude are the *Univers; *Poste, for commercials; Europe. Just off the Place de Jaude are the Paix; France. All the above are large houses. Near the Académie and the Botanic Gardens, the H. des Facultés, a small but good house. Among the hotels in front of the station the best is the H. des Voyageurs.
Coaches from the Place de Jaude for Saint Mart, Royat, St. Amand, and Champeix. During summer, coach to nearly the top of the [Puy-de-Dome] (see page 372). In the “Place” are a large cabstand and offices where carriages may be hired for excursions.
Clermont-Ferrand: Post Office. Cathedral.
The [general post office] is in the Place St. Herem, down from the N. side of the cathedral, just under the Promenade de la Poterne, whence there is a charming view of the Puy-de-Dome mountains. In the Place St. Herem is a bronze statue of Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, in a sitting posture. A little beyond the foot of the stairs to the right of the statue is the Temple Protestant, service 1 P.M. The first narrow street beyond the post office leads down to the Fontaine Petrifiante.
Large quantities of fruit are preserved in Clermont, both in the moist and crystalline (glacé) state.
The most prominent edifice in Clermont is the [Cathedral], founded in the 9th and rebuilt in the 14th cent. The material is basalt and Volvic lava, which admits of a very sharp edge. The narrow round belfry on the N. side is 165 ft. high. Round the nave and choir are twenty-eight, or, including those of the transepts, thirty-six fascicled piers, which rise nearly to the roof. Between are pointed arches, and immediately above, the triforium, having over each arch a treble window resting on four fascicled and three impost colonnettes. As the choir contracts towards the apsidal termination the piers become less massive and the arches ⅓ narrower. The stained glass of the clerestory windows of the nave dates from the 15th cent.; but only a few are complete, having been injured by a hailstorm in 1835. The best glass is in the apse and in the N. transept, dating from the 13th cent. The glass in the rose of the S. transept, which is also beautiful, is modern. The clock, with its three men to strike the hours and quarters, dates from the 16th cent. Ten chapels radiate from the choir. In the first on the N. side is a miracle-working image of Mary and Child.
The house in which Blaise Pascal was born in 1623 is No. 2 Passage Vernines, a small kind of court near the right or S. angle of the principal entrance into the cathedral. It is more easily found by going to the front, No. 2 Place de la Cathedral, on the third story of which is a bust of Pascal. This part of the building is modern. Through the shop in a little room up a few steps is the exact spot where he was born.