Vézelay
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Saved from collapse by Viollet-le-Duc in 1840, the church's restored west front begins with the colossal narthex, added to the nave around 1150 to accommodate the swelling numbers of pilgrims attracted by the presence of bones alleged to be Mary Magdalene's. Inside, your eye is first drawn to the superlative sculptures of the central doorway, on whose tympanum a Pentecostal Christ is shown swathed in exquisitely figured drapery that takes on a mesmerizing decorative life of its own while still managing to suggest the limbs beneath in bas-relief. From Christ's outstretched hands, the message of the Gospel shoots out to the apostles in the form of beams of fire, while the frieze below depicts the converted and the pagan peoples – among those featured are giants, pygmies (one mounting his horse with a ladder), a man with breasts and huge ears, and dog-headed heathens. Better preserved are the charmingly small-scale medallions of the zodiac signs and labours of the months in the outermost arch.

From this great doorway you look down the long body of the church, vaulted by arches of alternating black and white stone, to a choir of pure early Gothic (completed in 1215), with a delicacy in sharp contrast to the more measured Romanesque nave. Its arches and arcades are edged with fretted mouldings, and the supporting pillars are crowned with 99 finely cut capitals, depicting scenes from the Bible, classical mythology, allegories and morality stories. One of the more impenetrable is "The Mystic Mill" at the end of the fourth bay on the right, showing Moses pouring grain (Old Testament Law) through a mill (Christ), the flour (New Testament) being gathered by St Paul.

St Bernard preached the Second Crusade at Vézelay in 1146. Because the church was too small, he preached in the open, down the hill to the north, where a commemorative cross marks the spot. Richard the Lionheart and Philippe-Auguste, king of France, also made their rendezvous here before setting off on the Third Crusade in 1190. But by the mid-thirteenth century the abbey was in decline, the final blow coming in 1279 when rumours spread that Mary Magdalene's bones were false relics. The monastery's surviving buildings were pillaged by Protestants in the sixteenth-century Wars of Religion, and the whole establishment was finally dismantled during the Revolution. Today, a significant Franciscan community has been re-established.

Before moving on, be sure to take a look at the beautiful Gothic church in the village of ST-PÈRE, a half-hour walk from the abbey at the southern foot of the hill. The village is also home to one of the greatest restaurants in the land, Marc Meneau (tel 03.86.33.33.33; upwards of €50).