Photo : Office de tourisme de Vézelay / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Vézelay
A high place of pilgrimage since the twelfth century, the basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay stands on top of a high hill overlooking the Cure, on the edge of the Morvan regional park. In 1146, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade there, and it was the place where Richard the Lionheart and Philip Augustus arranged to meet for the departure of the Third Crusade. Moreover, this basilica is a fine example of Burgundian Romanesque architecture, and it was restored in the nineteenth century by Viollet-le-Duc.
Below this building, winding lanes are tiered, lined with old houses with carved doors, turret staircases and mullioned windows. The old ramparts, which protected the town in the Middle Ages, are flanked by seven round towers and today form an interesting walk that climbs from the fairground, at the foot of the hill, to the castle esplanade, behind the basilica.
