Gleaming brightly after a 2013 renovation, the gargantuan rust-red statue of Notre Dame de France (aka the Virgin Mary) watches over Le Puy from her dominant perch atop Rocher Corneille (757m), the town's tallest volcanic pillar. For dizzying vistas of the town's rooftops and the surrounding countryside, peer out of the tiny portholes as you climb the creaky spiral staircase to Mary's star-encircled head. The 22.7m-tall, 835-tonne statue was fashioned from 213 cannons captured during the Crimean War.
