This summer, I discovered the city of Moulins in Auvergne for the first time, which I had already mentioned in a dedicated article. I was also lucky enough to explore the outskirts of the city (by car, of course) and I hadn’t had the time here to tell you about it in detail yet. Over the course of one day, we went on a little road trip to visit a few places that are definitely worth taking the time to see if you are passing through the region.
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Table of Contents
Street Art City, capital of urban art
Street Art City was born in 2015 thanks to the perseverance and passion of Sylvie and Gilles Iniesta, guardians of this one-of-a-kind artist residency. This incredible site, 40 km north of Moulins, is dedicated to street art and is housed in the former PTT training center building. It is a sort of new capital of urban art, open to the public only since April 2017.
Today, this concept dedicated to urban art offers 22,000 m² of walls (interior and exterior) to artists from all over the world who sometimes come from far away (or very nearby) to cover these spaces with their art: Snake, Ted Nomad, Zeso, Fasim, Pec, and many others… The public can therefore enjoy an architectural and artistic walk, in total immersion in the world of global street art.
Recently, another part of the complex is set to open (it was being prepared at the time I visited), Hotel 128: 128 rooms to enter the world of 128 artists. From the little I saw in the preview, it really made me want to discover more!
A little extra: the venue even has a kind of shop/gallery where it is possible to buy works by the artists present on the walls of Street Art City.
Street Art City Béguin 5 03320 Lurçy-Lévis open every day from 11 am to 7 pm from March 30 to November 4 and only on weekends the rest of the year Outdoor visit rates: 12 € adult / free for children under 16 Hotel 128 visit rates: 20 € / children under 16 – 10 €
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The Souvigny Priory Complex
Located 12 km from Moulins, this site features the Romanesque St Pierre St Paul church, a priory church that was an important pilgrimage center highly frequented in the Middle Ages. It is also the necropolis of the Bourbons, and the church therefore houses the funerary chapels of the Dukes of Bourbon, as the site was founded in 915 by Aymar, the most distant ancestor of the Bourbons. Souvigny is also one of the first dependencies of the Cluny Abbey. You can take a free tour of the church all year round; however, the museum and the gardens of Souvigny are paid and only open part of the year.
The gardens are a reconstruction of 17th and 18th-century French formal gardens, and the museum, dedicated to the heritage of Souvigny, preserves a masterpiece: the Zodiac Column, a unique 12th-century sculpted pillar.
Souvigny Priory Museum and Garden
4, place Aristide Briand 03210 Souvigny
open from April 1st to mid-November every day from 9 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm (1 pm in July and August) / closed Tuesdays and Sunday mornings
Rates: 4 € full price / 2 € reduced rate / free for children under 13 and job seekers
Guided tour of the Priory Church (5 € / combined ticket with the museum at 7 €) Monday to Friday at 10 am – 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm and Sunday at 3 pm_
The Lurcy Levis Circuit
This private circuit, known for its 1500m straight line, offers driving experiences in sports cars. You can test the circuit by driving around its tracks at the wheel of a Porsche 997 bi-turbo (500 horsepower) or, as we did, aboard a Lotus Exige (200 horsepower). As a fan of speed (but who doesn’t drive, a great paradox), I loved it! It’s a fairly impressive experience.
Description of cars to discover the Lurcy-Lévis circuit:
- Porsche 997 BI-TURBO 500 HP PDK gearbox: 3 laps (total 12.6 KM) 150 €
- Lotus EXIGE: 4 laps (total 16.8 KM) 130 €
Lurcy Levis Circuit Route du Circuit 03320 Lurcy-Levis open every day from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm on weekdays / from 9 am to 12:30 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm on weekends and public holidays Information and registration at 04 70 67 82 29 or at circuit.lurcy.levis@wanadoo.fr
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Les Lucioles Restaurant
This raw-vegetarian and participatory restaurant (you set the table and also clear it at the end of your meal) is run by enthusiasts. In the kitchen, we find Sandrine, a culinary creator in raw food nutrition who has been working in this field for 6 years. At lunch, there are large, very complete vegetarian plates (their composition is announced at the entrance of the restaurant on a board). I also advise you to try their fresh fruit and vegetable juices (2.50 €) and the homemade desserts (between 2.50 € and 3.50 €).
A little extra: for a bottle of wine brought on-site, a corkage fee of 3 € to 5 € applies
Price: menu between 12 € (lunch) and 17 €
Les Lucioles Restaurant 8 route de Saint-Léopardin-d'Augy Couzon, le Bourg 03160 open from Friday lunch to Sunday lunch service from 12 pm to 2 pm and from 7 pm to 9 pm (reservation recommended)
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Thanks to the Moulins Tourist Office for this welcome.
I hope that with all this I will have made you want to discover or rediscover Moulins and its surroundings, and if you also have your own great addresses for this destination, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments!
Photo credits: Melle Bon Plan (photos taken with the Kodak PixPro AZ526) Photos not royalty-free, authorization from the photographer required before any use
