Posh, quiet and residential, Neuilly-sur-Seine is a suburb on the western boundary of Paris. While the area itself remains low-key it is within walking distance or a swift Métro ride from sights, museums and parks that the whole world knows and loves. The 17th, 16th and 8th Arrondissements border Neuilly-sur-Seine, which puts the Arc de …
To you and me, Marseille soap is a quaint artisanal product. But a century ago it was a huge international industry. And the centre of the craft was Salon-de-Provence. The trade slumped a few decades later when washing machines and detergents arrived, but there are two old-school factories in the city, plying their craft as …
Only eight kilometres west of Paris, Rueil-Malmaison is an affluent and leafy suburb loaded with French imperial history. It’s where you can get better acquainted with Joséphine de Beauharnais, wife of Napoleon until their divorce in 1810. You’ll discover the palatial home that she shared with the Emperor, wander the spacious grounds around it and …
This medieval city in Eastern France was one of the capitals of the Europe-spanning Duchy of Savoy. And in this capacity it got its marquee monument: The Royal Monastery is from the early 1500s founded as a place to bury and pay respect to the Dukes and their families. Margaret of Austria was the woman …
North of Lyon, Villefranche-sur-Saône is the southern capital of the Beaujolais wine region. Beaujolais means a lot to the town, and you can dine at special bistros with menus arranged around this velvety wine. You don’t need to be a connoisseur to want to know more about Beaujolais, and there are caves, vineyards and wine …
As an old penal colony Saint-Laurent du Maroni has the distinction of being a town built by and for convicts. Saint-Laurent is next to the River Maroni in western French Guiana, and 70 years after the colony shut down the remnants of camps are not hard to find. If you’ve read the book Papillon you’ll …
Even though there has been a settlement in La Roche-sur-Yon since medieval times, the real story of the town began on May 24, 1804. That was the date Napoleon issued an Imperial decree transferring regional power to a whole new town. La Roche-sur-Yon is the result, a regimented grid of streets with a pentagonal outline. …
Capital of the Landes Department, Mont-de-Marsan is a medieval bastide town where the Douze and Andou Rivers meet. It was created from scratch as a walled settlement in the 1100s, and a few fortified houses and scraps of the old walls remain from this time. For hundreds of years Mont-de-Marsan flourished through trade, shipping Armagnac …
Stylish and arty Montreuil is an eastern suburb of Paris just up from the Bois de Vincennes. Historically this was a place of industry and agriculture, and many homes in this up-and-coming area are set in converted warehouses and mills. It’s a neighbourhood where you can rummage though the flea market for vintage treasures and …
The capital of Brittany’s Côtes-d’Armor department is an unpretentious town that doesn’t concern itself too much with tourism. But all the same there are a lot of things to win you over in Saint-Brieuc. The old centre has venerable granite buildings and half-timbered houses, while the Légué Port on the Gouët River Estuary resonates with …