All tagged France
Sometimes there’s no need to travel very far from home to see extraordinary sites. Just a half-hour’s drive east of where I live in France lies a UNESCO World Heritage site: the fortified medieval town of Provins, still partially surrounded by its 25m high ramparts and moat, sits atop the only hill in a far-ranging mosaic of fields.
I discovered this past February that there is a place in France with a majestic wild river, the nation’s largest collections of musical instruments and stage costumes, medieval and Belle Époque towns, orchards and vineyards, rolling green countryside criss-crossed by hedges and punctuated by majestic oak-trees, lovingly restored villages unspoilt by modern housing developments, a UNESCO World Heritage site and, despite all this, no crowds.
Troyes (pronounce trwa), has Gothic churches and museums galore, the greatest collection of half-timbered houses in the country, more than its fair share of world-class stained-glass, a dynamic, well-maintained and agreeable city centre, the largest factory outlet in Europe, and three huge lakes within less than an hour’s drive which offer everything a seaside resort would with the added advantage of millions of birds who stop here for a bit of rest and recuperation on their migration routes.
The only French château to have been occupied continuously for eight centuries by 34 kings and emperors with its 1,530 rooms that contain more furniture than any other castle in Europe lies just 70 km south of Paris: Fontainebleau. But why, when this UNESCO World Heritage site surrounded by a forest that attracts some 11 million tourists a year, does Fontainebleau palace play second fiddle to Versailles…
