Allier - Allier

Allier is a department in the French, former, region Auvergne, now part of the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, it has the ordinal number 03. Allier borders (clockwise, starting in the north) on the department Nièvre, in the east Saône-et-Loire, in the southeast to the département Loire, in the south Puy-de-Dôme, in the west Creuse and in the northwest to the department Cher.

Landscapes and Administration

• Le Bourbonnais actually dominates the entire department, which slopes down towards the north towards the Paris basin and rises towards the south towards the Auvergne mountains.

3 arrondissements with 35 cantons and 320 communes:

• Vichy - 123,865 Ew.
• Montluçon - 122,743 Ew.
• Moulins - 110.502 Ew.

places

• 46.342.60251 Montluçon - The medieval city that hugs the castle has given Montluçon the title City of Art and History. Its narrow streets, half-timbered houses and private villas bear witness to a rich past. Montluçon has kept its ducal castle, to which Ludwig II of Bourbon was very attached, intact. As a dynamic and cultural city, Montluçon has just launched one of the most important music museums in France, the Museum of Popular Music (Mupop). It lies at the end point of the abandoned Canal de Berry. - Historical monuments: entire old town; Saint-Pierre church (12th / 13th century); Notre-Dame church (Romanesque-Gothic); Château de Ducs de Bourbon (built from the 13th century in half-timbered style; Circuit des Mégaliths (a circular hiking trail to Dolmen and Menhirs in the neighborhood);

• 46.1269444444443.42583333333332 Vichy - It's the Allier's tourist flagship. Its teeming architecture, its prestigious Art Nouveau opera house, its luxurious neighborhoods, its thermal baths, parks and gardens, its racecourse, its golf course and its fashion boutiques make it the queen of the baths in Auvergne. Vichy is also home to the Opera Museum, the Municipal Museum and the Museum of African and Asian Art, a true invitation to travel and discover other traditional and contemporary cultures.

• 46.5647222222223.33253 Moulins - is the prefecture (administrative seat) of the department. Because of its long history and as the residence of the Dukes of bourbon the city is also called Ville d'art et d'histoire. Moulins experienced its heyday in the 15th century. The name of the city refers to the Mill shipsthat operated on the Allier until the 18th century. - During the Second World War, the border between the Nazi-occupied France and the pro-German France of Marshal Pétain ran right through Moulins: Border post at the Pont Régemortes. - Historical monuments: Notre Dame Cathedral; Tour Jacquemart (15th century); Palais de Bourbon; Museum of Anne de Beaujeu (from the Renaissance: history and culture of the Duchy of Boubonnais);

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  Montluçon

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  Vichy

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  Moulins

• 46.1344444444443.45638888888894 Cusset -

• 46.5658333333333.35444444444445 Yzeure -

• 46.3602777777782.53444444444446 Domérat -

• 46.1163888888893.40416666666677 Bellerive-sur-Allier -

• 46.2888888888892.74166666666678 Commentry -

• 46.5347222222223.19194444444449 Souvigny - the town with the huge Romanesque church as a remnant of a Benedictine abbey

Other goals

• Forêt de Tronçais - a 10,600 hectare forest, which is mostly made up of oaks and which was already cultivated in Roman antiquity. The trees are used for barrel making for cognac and Bordeaux-Wines used. You will be after too California and Argentina exported.

• Bourbon l'Archambault - The one already known in antiquity Bourbon l'Archambault became the ancestral seat of the in the Middle Ages (from the 10th century) Bourbons. bourbon became an important fortress with 15 towers and thermal springs were discovered in the 17th century. In the 19th century the fortress was almost completely demolished, only three towers remained. - Historical monuments: Ruin of the castle the dukes of Bourbon; Saint-Georges church; - Madame de Montespan died on May 27, 1707 in Bourbon l'Archambault.

• Glozel - is located 17 km southeast of Vichy. The village became known as the archaeological site of around 3,000 artefacts that cannot be clearly dated to this day. The oldest come from the Old Stone Age, the youngest from the 20th century In between there are finds from almost all periods of the past, among others. about 100 Clay tablets with short inscriptions with symbols attached to the Phoenician alphabet remember in very different languages ​​(Basque, Chaldean, Eteocetan, Turkish, Iberian, Latin, Berber, Ligurian, Phoenician and Hebrew). They date from 600 BC. BC, while some bone finds are up to 17,000 years old. - The puzzles surrounding all these artifacts remain.

• Langogne - is a municipality in the upper reaches of the Allier at the foot of the Cevennes. The reservoir Lac de Naussac is west of the parish.

• Néris-les-Bains - Already the Romans grasped the sources of Néris and built thermal baths, aqueducts, an amphitheater, temples and villas. The ancient settlement was of great national importance. - Historical monuments: Thermal bath from 1826; Remnants of the Amphitheater; Remnants of the ancient thermal baths; Casino (from the 19th century); railway station from 1931 and the Romanesque church Saint-Georges (11th / 12th century);

• Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule - The little town on the Sioule, which flows into the Allier a little later, is known as a wine-growing region.

• numerous palaces and castles can be found around Besson (Allier).

background

language

getting there

mobility

Tourist Attractions

activities

• Paddle on the River Allier

kitchen

• agneau - lamb
• chambérat (AOC) - Cow's milk cheese with a soft dough made from Bourbonnais, similar to Saint-Nectaire
• chardons de Gannat - Thistles from Gannat
• dinde de Jaligny - Turkey from Jaligny
• moutarde de Charroux - Charroux mustard
• pastille de Vichy - Octagonal, white candies with mint, lemon, orange and anise flavors. Salty lozenges are also used for medicinal purposes.
• poulet de Bourbonnais - Chicken from the Bourbonnais
• saumon de l'Allier - Allier salmon
• truite de l'Allier - Trout from the Allier
• vérité-de-Lapalisse - a confectionery

nightlife

security

climate

trips

literature

• Charles-Henri de Bossieu, Yves Garnier, Philippe Lacrouts (Ed.): Atlas départemental de la France. Larousse, 2004, ISBN 2-03-505448-6 ; 288 pages.

Web links

https://www.allier.fr/ (fr) - Official website of the Allier department