Cave of the Volvic stone — Attraction in Riom

I am the happiest I can possibly be inside a cave. Their dark silence brings back subconscious memories of the comfort of my mother’s womb. This supreme feeling of safety is enhanced even further by the mighty stalactites, whose erect grace remind me of my father. Usually, these cavernous havens allow me to wander carefree through their cool halls, truly feeling like a child of nature. This is the reason I visit caves. This is the reason I visited THIS cave.

Unfortunately, about 2 seconds after entering I realized this is not a cave, but a lie. An immediate giveaway was the filmprojector showing an aggressively uninteresting story about some French pirate and his dimwitted grandson pretending to have invented water. Real caves do not have filmprojectors in them. I cannot describe the anguish of being forced to witness the mindless exchange between these two frauds while just a moment before I was expecting to be comforted by the familiar feeling of safety I so craved. Things only deteriorated further from there.

Not only were there no stalactites, but, even more disturbing, the prehistoric cave paintings which were tantalizingly shown in the movie weren’t there either. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t sink any lower, we were made to watch yet another numbing tale about the boasting Frenchman and young simpleton. Needless to say, I left half-way through and made for the gift shop, only reachable through the most un cave-like room of all, which was filled with obviously failed art projects I imagine were stashed underground by their creators out of some deep sense of shame.

If you love caves like me, please avoid this place. It...

I am scared of caves. I had read in the website and in magazines that this was not a real cave as such, more of a caved themed warehouse. I had hoped to rid myself of my fears with a visit to a controlled environment. Yet I still found myself terrified as I descended the stairs (unfortunately none of the ladies on reception had prepared me for this.) imagine my horror when entering the “cave” to find the familiar clammy hands, dry scratchy feeling in my throat and the anxious anticipation of a ‘cave in’ returning yet again. I was nearly put at ease, and I was so relieved upon entering to be shown what I thought was safety information about how this is a controlled cave, but instead any hope was dashed to my great surprise and horror as I quickly realized that this video was in fact a PowerPoint presentation about a conversation between two Frenchman (sorry don’t speak French myself) discussing the pros and cons of water. And as we got further into the dreaded cave I found myself not only terrified, but also bored.

The promised toilet at this point was the only sanctum from my now CRISIS, yet it didn’t exist and instead I found myself hyperventilating behind concrete blocks that was supposed to resemble mining equipment.

I would appreciate it if online they could carry warnings for people like myself. It’s really a shame that in 2023 I even...

Visite des "grottes" assez décevante

Nous nous sommes rendus aux grottes de Volvic (enfin… “grottes”, c’est un bien grand mot, je parlerais plutôt d’une grande cave). Sur le site, on lit “visite guidée d’environ 1h15” — on se dit pourquoi pas, ayant déjà visité d’autres grottes, c’est souvent sympa et intéressant.

L’heure de départ arrive : le “guide” nous demande de le suivre, nous fait monter quelques escaliers et commence ses explications… puis il nous annonce qu’il y aura une vidéo et nous invite à continuer seuls. Lui, il ne nous accompagne pas.

On se retrouve donc sur un décor extérieur pour regarder la première vidéo. Puis on enchaîne sur un deuxième espace intérieur, encore une vidéo… et ainsi de suite. Au total, 5 vidéos expliquent la vie autour de Volvic, son eau, etc. Mais aucun guide pour commenter ou répondre aux questions.

Au final, on ne peut pas vraiment appeler ça une “grotte” : l’espace est petit, il y a peu à voir, et pour 10€ on se retrouve juste à regarder environ 45 minutes de vidéos que l’on pourrait facilement trouver sur Google ou YouTube (“Histoire de Volvic et de Jean-Legay Chevalier”). Nous sommes partis à la 3ᵉ vidéo, faute d’intérêt et parce que le lieu en lui-même n’apportait pas grand-chose.

En résumé :

Cher pour simplement regarder un film (et en plus, assises pas confortables — autant aller au cinéma pour le même prix)

Pas de véritable guide

Informations trompeuses sur la “visite guidée”

Aucune réduction pour étudiants ou habitants (mais honnêtement, qui voudrait payer 10€ pour ça ?)

Dommage, car avec un vrai guide et plus de contenu sur place, ça pourrait être bien plus...