We spend almost the whole morning, after breakfast, exploring the famous Parc des Sources which is the central point of interest in Vichy. It is also right next to our hotel and we cross it multiple times just getting from here to there. What is quite impressive are the beautiful period houses surrounding the park, it is clear that this was (is?) a very desirable city to live in.
The park itself is quite beautiful with large boulevards passing through it. Our first stop is the renovated Hall des Sources. Here there are at least three sources captured and offered for tasting or treatment. In fact the treatment and tasting areas are separated quite strictly and different sources are routed to different areas.
We are in the tasting area and here we find a couple sources, Grande Grille and Chamel. We drink from the only available source available in the area and then go exploring the different displays insde the hall.
The one that is most interesting to us is the one about the Vichy pastille. We didn’t know about it previously but it is a panacea according to the plaque. So when in our hotel room we notice we have gotten some samples so we try them, they are quite good really.
Back outside we follow another park attraction, the covered galleries that were helping spa goers to reach the hall of the sources during the rainy periods of the year.
There are quite a few birds here but mostly Wood Pigeons and Crows. We try to take photos of pigeon nests and are suspicious enough that a person stops to ask us what we are looking at. When we explain she starts laughing at the crazy people and moves on.
We continue south through the park towards another major building, the Congress Palace. In fact the Congress Palace is conjointed on one side with the Vichy Opera that we would like to visit but it cannot be done today unfortunately. It is an impressive Art Nouveau building, the second largest Opera hall in France when it was built, and we enjoy exploring it from outside.
The facade of the buildings is quite beautiful and there are multiple clocks visible including one that is supposed to show how the weather will be. Right now it looks good weather for today, but at the border with worse weather to come.
We move on passing by the Opera and then continue via covered gallery around it to another section of the park.
In this section we pass by the former Hotel des Ambassadeurs, it was one of the most important hotels in Vichy before being closed and then transformed into private residences but it still maintains the beautiful facade. In fact during the Vichy regime this is where the embassies of other countries were residing given the hotel its name.
We rejoin the park near a band stand where we spend some time resting while watching a baby wood pigeon doing its best at hiding in the band stand and failing miserably. And then we continue through the downtown and the park, described separately, before returning to the hotel for our spa treatment.
After the spa it is time to explore the park again while going out to find dinner. This time we pass through a slightly different area of the park where the Thermes Les Domes are located. The Thermes themselves are closed during our visit but the building is open at least for shopping.
So in we go for the shopping and a bit of sightseeing. The sightseeing part is fun but the shopping less so because most of them are closed. Quite surprising as it is prime shopping time. And then we exit the park again and find the dinner place before returning to the hotel for the night.
