Avallon France - French Holidays
Burgundy: Introduction > Autun > Auxerre > Avallon > Beaune > Cluny > Côte D'Or > Dijon > Dijon HotelsThe walled, hilltop town of Avallon overlooks the River Cousin and the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan to the south. The sleepy, cobbled town is enlivened by the Saturday morning market, but remains quiet the rest of the time. It was a stopover point for the Romans on their route from Lyon to Boulogne. Nowadays it is an ideal place to stay while you discover the northern parts of the Parc.
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Map of Avallon
The old town is split in two by the Grand-Rue-Aristide-Briand, the main commercial street in the old town. The tourist office is situated at 4 rue Bocquillot (03 86 34 14 19) in a 15th-century house between the church and the clock tower. The Tour de l'Horloge (clock tower) was built in the 15th century and it dominates the skyline. A walk around the city walls will give you some idea of its geography and development. There are towers and bastions built during the 15th to 18th centuries and inside the walls (intra-muros) you can find Medieval and Renaissance houses. At 6 rue Belgrand is the Musée du Costume (€4) with one hundred regional costumes from the 18th to 20th centuries.
The Église St-Lazare has a Romanesque façade carved with the signs of the zodiac and musicians of the Apocalypse. It was completed in the 12th century and then needed to be extended because too many pilgrims were coming to witness the fragment of Saint Lazare's skull, which is said to fend off leprosy. At the bottom of the road from the church is the Promenade de la Petite Porte with good views over the Cousin valley
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