On monday we added to our different sight experiences - we have never seen anything like this before and neither has anybody else unless they have visited Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval (The Ideal Palace of Postman Cheval) in Hauterives.
Born as the son of a small farmer in 1836, Ferdinand Cheval was appointed rural postman to the village of Hauterives in 1869 and died in 1924. He devoted 33 years of his life to modelling, night after night, a monument which was described as the only architectural example of naïve art by André Malraux, the French Cultural Minister in 1969, the year in which it was classified as a historical monument. The postman was a source of inspiration for many surrealist artists like André Breton, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst.
The Palace looks to me like an elaborate sand castle on an enormous scale. Only those who have seen it and have read the postman's story can understand what and why it is , because it is different. You can read the story and see more of this monument here http://www.facteurcheval.com/en/home.html
We still had plenty of time after lunch to continue exploring the Rhone-Alpes and we headed back to the high country and Choranche where we believe some incredible grottos are to be found. Unfortunately the clouds came in and we didn't go the other 10 kms or so to the grotto country, but we did manage to see, in the town, some pretty good scenes.
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| North view of the Palace |
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| South wall |
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Detail on North wall 
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