The Basilica Saint-Martin of Tours is a modest basilica, as far as basilicas go. It’s quite recent, and replaces an old basilica that over the centuries has been destroyed.

Here are but some of the many catholic churches that you can see in Tours.

The Trinity Abbey church in Fecamp is quite interesting. Building started in the year 659 and expanded over the centuries to become quite big church. The Fecamp City Hall is built against it, and across the road you’ll find the ruins of the Dukes of Normandy Castle.

The Saint-Catherine church in Honfleur dating back to the 15th century is the main attraction for tourists. It’s a perfectly conserved church and merits a visit.

There are quite a few churches in Vannes, Brittany, so here’s small selection of them.

The city of Vannes in Brittany is old, and very well preserved. The fortified walls extend all along the old city centre and merits a visit.

Les-Sables-d’Olonne is a nice coastal town in the Atlantic, but it’s mostly known as departure and arrival point of the grueling single handed round-the-world sail race without any stops, the Vendee Globe.

The Sainte-Croix church is not a church you are going to go out of your way to admire, but the bell tower is something to be seen. This also happens to be the church where the famous sci-fi writer Jules Verne was baptised. The church was built in the 17th century, but they have found […]

Nantes is France’s 6th largest city with some 300,000 inhabitants and 950,000 in the metropolitan area, and it was once the capital of Brittany (that was in the 15th century). Although over the centuries it was part of the Brittany region, nowadays it is no longer considered as such, much to the displeasure of its […]

Transport Getting there The railroads do not come to Camaret-sur-Mer anymore. The closest railway stations are Brest and Quimper (both about an hour drive, bus services are available). Air: Camaret-sur-Mer does not have an airport, but there are two airports serving international flights closeby. One is the airport of Brest (about 1 hour car drive), […]

Here’s a look at three out of 24 catholic churches (there are also 2 protestant temples, 3 orthodox churches, 1 jewish synagogue and 3 muslim mosques) to be found in Bordeaux. Basilica-of-St-Michael The St Michael Basilica is marked by its separate, 114 meters high, bell tower. The church was built in the end of the […]

Lorient in Brittany is a rather large city of some 60,000 inhabitants which has as main attraction an enormous harbour area that hosted during WWII, the German submarines. The city dates back to the year 1666 and was constructed by a French trading company (the French East Indies Company) to be the base for their […]

Dinard in Brittany is a fantastic place to stay for a few days. The seaside promenade is an incredible walk, alongside a narrow winding pedestrian area, covering the beaches and rock formations. Dinard is located just a few kilometers from the more well known city of Saint Malo. They are divided by the “La Rance” […]

Valence, a scenic and older city, lies pretty much South on the Eastern part of France. With its 65,000 inhabitants, it’s close to Switzerland and Italy (close enough for day trips) and it is in the crossroads of the North-South and West-East traffic. It was, once upon a time, a major colony for Rome (121 […]

The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church in Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a special church, both in beauty and historic importance. The first mentions of this church were already found in the 12th century, however, the real construction of the church was in the 15th century. The church is located, like most churches, quite in the centre of the city. Back […]

In the beach town of Concarneau, alongside the city centre and harbors, you will find this amazing fortress. It was voted as the favorite place in Brittany by the Bretons. On the outskirts of Concarneau are several spas and thalasso hotels, but if you keep driving away from these hotels alongside the coastline, you’ll head […]

If you are not someone who likes or wants to climb stairs, this article is not for you. On the other hand, if you like a physical challenge, read on. The city of Le Havre is built partially at sea-level and partially on top of the cliffs that adjoin the sea. In the old days […]

Normally speaking the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise should mean nothing to most people. Unless you are a WWII buff or a movie buff. The movie in question is “The Longest Day” starring none other than John Wayne trying to get to Sainte-Mere-Eglise during D-Day. The village itself nowadays consists of some 2,500 inhabitants (that is, after […]

Although the Lower part of Normandy saw the biggest brunt of the WWII battles, with D-Day and the immediate battles that followed, the Upper part of Normandy saw its fair share of fighting. And during WWI, it was one of the battlefronts. Therefore throughout Normandy, at almost any hamlet, village, town and city, you will […]

In a small 800 person village close to Lisieux is a castle that looks like a fairytale castle, the kind kids would draw. The village is called Saint-Germain-de -Livet, and the castle dates back to the 15th century. The castle was donated to the city of Lisieux in 1957. It is now a museum and a landscaped garden. […]

Pont l’Eveque had been badly destroyed towards the end of World War II, and that went doubly so for the Saint-Michel church. But the town rebuilt their beautiful city, and the 15th century church was restored to its former glory.   Pont l’Eveque during WWII saw an epic 3-day battle just after D-Day. 3 days […]

Montbard is a small city of some 5500 inhabitants, a river and a big canal flowing through it and an incredible abbey close-by. It also has a castle perched high on the hill overlooking the city. The small city is dominated by a big hill, and on top of the hill, perched as high as […]

The Fontenay Abbey, located next to the city of Montbard  in Burgundy, is part of the Unesco World Heritage sites. Therefore you can expect something that is out of the ordinary, and you’ll not be disappointed. The Cistercian Abbey is old, very old. It is the oldest Cistercian abbey in the world that has preserved its […]

Lisieux, in the lower part of Normandy, is an interesting and different kind of place to visit. It’s a very small city (or a very big town) with a population of some 22,000 inhabitants, but despite its relatively small size it contains an enormous basilica AND a big cathedral. Because of that, and the large population of […]