Next up, the lavender fields of Provence. It’s a place to lead a tranquil, well-fed life, and remains remote. Villages and towns such as Sarlat probably look better now than they ever did before. Subsequently bypassed by national life, the region has stayed rustic and untouched. Tougher medieval castles were necessary further south, where the Dordogne was long disputed between the French and the English. Villages and towns such as Sarlat probably look better now than they ever did It’s a good example to follow, if visiting an outstanding collection of châteaux set in soft-lit Ligérien landscapes sounds tempting - and why wouldn’t it? Your best bet is to plan to see no more than four in one trip, starting with Chenonceau, the loveliest of all. Renaissance monarchs left Paris for the Loire valley. (Don’t forget its flipside of fragility either.) The most sublime Parisian monument, meanwhile, may be the Sainte-Chapelle, where the stained glass windows compensate for the current inaccessibility of nearby Notre Dame. Elsewhere - from the Louvre, to the Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides, Sacré Coeur and countless fine bridges - the French capital is uplifted by institutions and monuments testifying to the nation’s image of its own grandeur. Main photo: Château des Milandes, Dordogne (Déclic & Décolle/ )Ĭulture-seekers might start in Paris with the Eiffel Tower, Europe’s greatest “celeb” monument, famous mainly for, well, being famous. The evidence? Take a seaside terrace table, perhaps on the Côte d’Azur, order a grilled john dory and a bottle of rosé, survey the sunlit scene and . . . No other nation has such civilised practices associated with eating and drinking. Their haughtiness is no more marked than that of any other nation.īewitching is the word - and that’s before we tackle some of the planet’s finest food and wine. In all these places the French will be welcoming. Planning a trip across the nation could take you from the Flemish far north, or pleasingly Germanic Alsace - with its half-timbering and choucroute - on to the Celts of Brittany, ending with the Spanish and Italian influences that curve up around the Mediterranean. Thanks to its history, France crams pretty much the whole of western Europe into one country. Proper villages and ancient towns host world-class culture, from prehistoric cave art (the Chauvet cave in the Ardèche, southern France, is particularly astounding), via the finest Roman ruins outside Italy, to Renaissance châteaux and grandiose contemporary projects such as the Millau viaduct.īewitching is the word - and that’s before we tackle some of the planet’s finest food and wine Here you’ll find mountains, lakes, great rivers, forests and sandy beaches, from the Channel and the Atlantic coast right round to the French Riviera. More information here.įrance has everything - not least a wider variety of tourist destinations and landscapes than any other country in Europe. This article contains links from which we may earn revenue.
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