Franco Fridays: St. Ceneri le Gerei, part 2

I left off on our walk through this most charming of villages at the panorama view located just outside of the church.

It all seemed too perfect.  I wish the yard with the clothesline and hammock was mine.  
 

At the time there were only two things we could tell you about this church (since we don't read French).  It was VERY old, and there was a beehive inside the wall that for some reason they allowed to stay there.

Then one night we had friends over who can read French, and they translated the sign by the beehive for us.  The sign said that back in 898 Charles III or as he was otherwise known, Charles the Simple, sent soldiers to Normandy because of people there protesting his reign.  The soldiers who were based nearby were disrespectful around the tomb of the founder of the church.   This apparently aroused the anger of the bees who attacked the soldiers, who not knowing there was a cliff nearby, in their panic ran over the cliff to get away from the angry bees and were killed.  Since then, the bees have continued to protect the church.  You've been warned.  We couldn't help but laugh at this family of bees protecting this church SINCE 898.

We walked away from the church and past a cottage that looked like it really could have been the place where Snow White lived.

 I was convinced this was the original house of those famed seven little men.

Next came this:

This little chapel was built in the 15th century.  As we walked down the lane to where it stands alone in the field by a nearby stream, the bell in the church tower tolled, and the only other sound was from the birds' singing.  I'm not trying to be poetic; that was just how utterly charming and perfectly quiet this place was on that Sunday evening.

To top off all the natural beauty around us, we even saw some wildlife.  I just couldn't stop saying, "Where are we?"  

We walked briefly into the church protected by bees then on through the village to the bridge in the panorama view.  We saw a couple of walkers with their dogs at that point, as well as passing a small group walking down to the chapel.

 

This is the cliff off of which the unfortunate soldiers fell.

The two hours spent here were some of the pleasantest of our trip, and KJ had a great surprise planned at the end of the night, too.