Caves where you can admire stalactites, stalagmites, 2 underground lakes and prehistoric frescoes, a wonderful exploration at 12°C.
Two hours from Paris and Lyon, less than 30 kilometers from Auxerre and Avallon, and right next to Vézelay, don't miss the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure, a village recognized worldwide as a "high place of prehistory". The remains discovered in the caves along the Cure, mainly those of the Arcy site, testify to human activity dating back to the ancient Paleolithic (i.e. to the Neanderthals!). Visited and studied for several hundred years, considered as a tourist destination of great interest for centuries, it is "only" from 1890 that the abbot Parat (an eminent geologist) realizes the stratigraphy of this site, and that he discovers and explores several of these caves. This exploration was later taken up by the famous archaeologist André Leroi-Gourhan who even set up the first international school of archaeology here.
In addition to those that you can discover while strolling along the Cure, the great cave of Arcy offers a testimony as precious as exceptional. Stalactites, stalagmites, 2 underground lakes : at a depth of 35 meters, and on a 900 meters path, you will discover many treasures. In particular frescoes dated from 33 000 years representing mammoths, fishes, hand prints... These cave paintings (discovered in the 1990's) are the second oldest in France after those of the Chauvet cave, and among the oldest in the world. An advice : bring a little wool !
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