Concarneau as a city is nothing to write home about if it weren’t for its walled city (Citadelle or Ville Close). The walled city, located in the harbour, is beautiful and intact. One has to assume that walking the old cobblestone streets is like walking them centuries ago. Concarneau’s walled city is a bit like […]

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 […]

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 […]

The castle located close to the city of Lannion in Brittany, the Chateau de Kerduel, is in the Pleumeur-Bodou area.   The oldest part of the castle was built in the 12th century. Legend has it that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table stayed here. In fact, the name of the castle, Kerduel, […]

The name Le Mans is famous amongst motorheads, petrolheads and adrenaline junkies the world over: home of the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans cars (and motorcycles) race. But Le Mans is much more than a mythical car race. It’s a very old city with its history dating back to 50 BC when the Romans took over […]

The ruins of the Fecamp castle show that once upon a time, it was impressive.   Once belonging to the Dukes of Normandy, the castle was built in the 10th century. It is reckoned that Willian Longsword (son of the Viking King Rollo) lived here. Richard I and Richard II lived here, and it was […]

The Valmont castle is most impressive; a mixture between a fortress and a castle, perched high on a hill overlooking the town of Valmont in Upper Normandy.   The families who owned it were numerous (including English), one of them is well know since it belonged to the Grimaldi family of Monaco (as do many […]

In the city of Avranches, located very close to the Mont St. Michel, are the ruins of a fortress and its associated dungeon.   The fortress itself was built around the year 950, while the dungeon was built in the 11th century. Most of the walls are still intact, but parts of the castle/fortress were […]

The Galleville castle at Doudeville (the linen capital of France in Upper Normandy), is an enormous Chateau built in a town full of mansions and manors belonging to the linen barons.   The castle was built in 1678 and since 1769 it has belonged to the same family. The 12 hectare (30 acres) park can […]

The Filieres Castle, to be found close to the Gommerville village (in Upper Normandy), is very interesting to see. Built in 1599 the Henri IV style castle itself is quite big and the gardens are equally interesting (and not just for the plants and trees – read below why).   The current castle was built on […]

We’ve already shown you the wonderful Basilica, but there are many more churches in Lyon. The Lyon dioceses is one of the oldest in France, so it’s no surprise to see many churches, a cathedral, convents and many chapels. Anywhere you go in Lyon, you’ll stumble upon a church, some of them ruins with no information. […]

During the Middle Ages, Lyon had a flourishing silk trade. In order to allow the silk merchants to transfer their goods from barges in the river, or to and from their storage areas or shops, they had to walk through the narrow streets of the old Lyon (Vieux Lyon). On its own not a problem […]

This is part 2 of the introduction of the city of Lyon. To read the first part, click here. As a recap, we are walking from the TGV (High Speed Train) railway station to the hills, a 2.5 km walk. Vieux Lyon – Old Lyon On the other side of the Bonaparte bridge, crossing the […]

Lyon is a city full of contrasts, particularly in its architecture. The city is big, Lyon itself is France’s 3rd largest city, but when you add the suburbs, then the Lyon metropole is France’s 2nd largest metropole (after Paris). It is also the world capital of gastronomy, the city where many of todays top chefs have […]

The Notre-Dame cathedral in Bayeux, IMHO, is nice but not worth a side-trip to see it. Obviously, if you are in the area, it’s a nice excursion to go and see it (after having seen the tapestry). It is imposing and enormous, but misses that little “je ne sais quoi“.   Coming from the tapestry […]

The most famous thing in Bayeux is its tapestry.  The museum that has it on display has only one item: the tapestry.   The tapestry museum is located in the former seminary built in the 17th century (for more photos of the religious complex, click here for our introduction to Bayeux), and located very close […]

Bayeux is one of those small cities (some 14,000 inhabitants) you can’t really categorise; it’s not a fantastic tourist-worthy city (like Mont St. Michel) but neither is it a city to ignore. One of its major highlights, and also international recognised reputation, is the world famous Bayeux tapestry. But the city is more than that.   […]

Although not a town that you would go to especially for the sights, if you are in the neighbourhood it’s worth a quick stop, especially since it’s located right next to the “Pont de Bretonne”, one of the 3 bridges that cross the Seine river in Normandy. Caudebec-en-Caux is a small town, some 2500 inhabitants, […]

Transport Getting There Train: There are no direct trains to Honfleur. The closest train station is Trouville/Deauville‘s station. Click here to find out train distances. Ferry: Although large cruise ships arrive here, no ferries. The closest ferry harbour is Le Havre. Air: The international airport for Deauville is very close by with regular flights to […]

Following Normandy’s best kept secret (Veules-Les-Roses), here’s the least best kept one; Honfleur. Honfleur is one of the prime tourist destinations in Normandy, second only to the Mont St. Michel. It’s not only popular with the foreign tourists but also with local French ones. Day trippers from Paris, even from within Normandy, will be visiting this […]

The fortress and castle of Caen (known as the “Chateau Ducal”, the Duke’s Castle) was ordered to be built by William the Conqueror, together with two Abbeys (one for men, the other for women – click here for more photos and information). William had become the Duke of Normandy at the age of 8, and was […]

Caen is also known as the “city of 100 church bells” and as the name says, there are a lot of churches, abbeys and monasteries in this former royal city. William the Conqueror, who lived and reigned here, had several built (and the enormous fortress/castle).   Before WWII there were some 40 churches in the city, […]

Caen is one of those cities you can have a problem understanding or coming to grips with. The 110,000 people city is a medium sized city dating back to the beginnings of the Iron Age, but the first real settlements where to be found in the 1st century AC. It was also William The Conqueror‘s […]

No visit to Marseilles is complete without a visit to the famous, even notorious, fortress called Chateau d’If (it’s like visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower). For those of you who do not know what this castle represents, let me remind you of a very famous book written by Alexandre Dumas called the […]