Holiday in the South - Indoors

The continuation of my holiday, but this time indoors... well, underground, really.

The first set of photos is from the Grotte des Demoiselles, (check out the link for a more in-depth description of the site) a short drive away from where I was visiting. I took so many pictures that it was hard for me to choose the ones to put in this entry! And our tour guide kept telling us, "Don't get too excited! There's even more great stuff to come!" And he was right.

First stalactites. Pretty impressive! Seen in the chamber
where they found a cave bear skeleton.

On the left platform - some of the 'demoiselles' the shepherd
saw when he fell? See below for the story.

Beautiful

The natural entrance to the cave.

The cement staircase leading down into
the Cathedral

Stalagmites!

HUGE gallery. Look at the railing
for size reference.

Gorgeous

The 'Virgin and Child' statue

Another view of the Virgin and Child,
with the walkway behind

The stairs I photographed earlier,
this time from the other side of the gallery

More stalactites and stalagmites

One of the tallest formations in the
Cathedral gallery

Dwarfed by the rocks!

The story of how the cave got its name is quite interesting. Legend has it that a shepherd minding his flock saw one of his sheep fall into the natural entry hole and heard it bleating, uninjured, at the bottom. The shepherd climbed down to retrieve the sheep and when he saw that the galleries continued underground, he took a torch and followed along until his torch went out and he fell at least 50 meters. Luckily, he survived, but while he was down in the grotto he claimed to have seen hundreds of fairies dancing around a "white lady", and the legend of the Cévennes fairies became famous throughout the area. In southern medieval French, the cave was called 'bauma' and the fairies were called 'damaïsellas', which is not very different from 'demoiselles' in French. Over the years the name of the cave changed to what it is now, the Grotte des Demoiselles.

Our next cave visit took us to the Grotte de Clamouse, which is a bit further south. This series of caves has diverse rock and mineral formations that are beautiful in their own way. I loved seeing the diverse formations and the moving light and music show at the beginning of the tour.

The Cathedral of Time gallery during
the light and music show

The 'organ' in the Cathedral of Time gallery

Full view of the Organ

Leaning Tower of Pisa?! In the Dining Room Gallery

The "White Corridor"

Two very different formations, side
by side.

Almost looks like coral!

La Méduse/The Jellyfish

Overall I enjoyed our underground visits very much, but I think I prefer the Grotte des Demoiselles, just for the sheer immensity of the main chamber and the seemingly never-ending stalagmites and stalactites... but both sites were definitely worth the visit!