Groningen was once one of the most powerful cities in the Netherlands and now serves as the capital of the Groningen province in the north of the Netherlands. With a population of approximately 200,000 it is one of the largest cities in the country. The Hondsrug area where Groningen is situated has seen some form …
An industrial powerhouse in Alsace, Mulhouse’s manufacturing pedigree now translates to top-notch museums for everyone. No locomotive museum in the Europe is larger than the Cité du Train here, and the same applies to the EDF electricity museum, while the Museum of Printed Fabrics recounts centuries of textile expertise. The attractions are cleverly set out …
A leafy eastern suburb of Paris, Vincennes is on the edge of the 11th and 20th Arrondissements and is just five minutes from the Gare de Lyon on the RER. Until it was engulfed by the city, Vincennes was a town on the edge of a large forest and grew around a château favoured as …
You won’t help but be awestruck by Nancy’s magnificent architecture. Place Stanislas is the centrepiece of a UNESCO site, a glorious square commissioned by the last Duke of Lorraine in the 18th century, transforming the centre of the city. Nancy’s appearance evolved again in the late-19th century when it was at the vanguard of Art …
Troyes is a renaissance city in the south of Champagne, with streets of multicoloured half-timbered houses from the 1500s. There may not be a prettier historic centre in all of France, and this is owing to a disaster. Most of these brightly-painted houses are from right after a fire in 1524 when nearly all the …
A famous motto in this eastern French region is “Comtois rends toi! Nenni ma foi!”, “Comtois, surrender! Not on your life!”. And this phrase alone gives you a sense of the landscape and the violent history of the place, where conflict was a part of life up to the mid-20th century. So it’s no shock …
There are two main strands to Pau’s past: In 1553 it was the birthplace of King Henri IV, one of France’s favourite monarchs. Go into the Château de Pau for his back-story and see the turtle shell in which he was cradled as a baby. The other thread can be picked up in the mid-1800s …
Bayonne is at the confluence of the Nive and Adour Rivers in far southwestern France, where historical regions overlap. The city could claim to be a part of Gascony, while the Basque influence is undeniable and can be seen in the bright red beams of its traditional houses and its wild celebrations during the Fêtes …
The cathedral is what springs to mind when most people think of Chartres. And for good reason, because it’s an outstanding piece of medieval heritage and listed by UNESCO . If you’re keen enough you may need half a day or more to get to the bottom of the sculpture and stained glass windows. But …
In Finistère, not far from Brittany’s far western point, Quimper is a historic city permeated with this unique region’s identity. The old town has medieval timber-framed houses with typical Breton granite at the base, and every few steps there’s a crêperie to tempt you. The 13th-century cathedral is lauded as the most beautiful gothic building …