France 2024

Before we start… our time spent in France was originally planned back in pre-covid times and is better described as bit of a wander through more rural parts of France and its quaint villages combined with visiting just a few of its more notable cities.

So we met Julie and Pete in Strasbourg, located in north east Alsace part of France near the border with Germany.  Not far from Strasbourg and with a good weather forecast of little rain, we used local trains to visit nearby Colmar, a beautiful small town with canals and with an old section of buildings dating back to the 12^th century.

Colmar - little canals and old colourful buildings

It was certainly popular and a joy to simply stroll through, finding little alleyways beckoning us to explore and find even more of its narrow canals guarded by more old houses on either side.

Some of the buildings in Colmar date back to late 14th century

Same same but different designs in Colmar

Great city to experience on foot

Strasbourg is the largest city in eastern France and a mere 4kms from the German border and like many cities in Europe, was affected by the Romans, grabbed by Germany then seized by France in 1681 and ultimately remained French.

It is a city to be walked, especially through the older sections of the city, which is what we did as shown via the map below.

Our walking route within Strasbourg

We had 2 full days to explore Strasbourg, its rivers, again many fine historical buildings, especially near an area called ‘la Petite France’, which we visited a few times, including at night.  Here there was a history of tanneries in operation in this area, dating back to the 1500’s, because of the proximity to a reliable supply of water for their processes.

After sunset in la Petite France - Strasbourg

More interesting buildings and waterways in Strasbourg

The massive Strasbourg Notre Dame dominates the horizon from any direction in the city. It was the tallest in the world for 230+ years, and proved a real challenge photographically to capture it all, whilst attempting to convey its scale.  Building commenced in 1015 and was finished in 1439.  ‘Notre Dame’ simply means ‘Our Lady’ in English.

The Strasbourg Notre Dame is VERY impressive

The detail around this door is quite something

Just one section inside the Notre Dame

Strasbourg also had a unique way of protecting itself against invaders, by building something called the Barrage Vauban. A bridge weir built in the 17^th century, designed to hold back large amounts of water to be released over anyone trying to attack the city, knowing swimming was not a common skill in those days.  There were also walls protecting other parts of the city.

Strasbourg's 'bridge/weir' used for the city's defence

View from atop the 'bridge/weir' towards the old section of Strasbourg

After the Swiss visit ending in Zermatt, we continued on into France by train, arriving into Lyon to explore it and to collect our hire car. 

Walking through an old part of Lyon

Rob admiring a fountain in Lyon

We were only there a short while, visiting its magnificent Basilica, Notre Dame Fourviere and being shown through the old parts of the city by Rob who had already been to Lyon during her recent river cruise.

View of the Notre Dame Fourviere
from downtown Lyon

Notre Dame Fourviere

Inside Notre Dame Fourviere

We managed to fit everything into the smallish Peugeot SUV and started our road journey west, me as the driver and rapidly having to reacquaint myself to driving on the other side of the road and after a few close calls, it soon came rushing back.

This road trip involved achieving a few priorities whilst enjoying stays in some small villages along the way, PLUS diverting briefly into another country… more on that later.

So our road trip through France is shown below.

Above is our meandering travels through southern France

First off, we visited the Viaduct du Millau, the highest bridge in the world at 343 metres and higher then the Eiffel Tower.   It is 2,460 metres long, spanning the deep gorge valley of the Tam that used to take hours to transit.

We took a return trip across the engineering marvel called Viaduct du Millau

It is so elegant in design, slightly curved and supported by 7 very slender pillars as seen both from the formal view point and as we drove across it and back again before staying in the delightful small village of Saint Leon 

Saint Leon nicely located above a valley

Many old homes in this quaint village

We visited a few more of Frances’ beautiful villages, the first called Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, perched on the side of a hill overlooking the river Lot, then continuing on to Cordes-sur-Ciel which was a real surprise.  It is a medieval village also built on a hill, laced with cobbled lanes through it to the top of a hill.

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie nestled atop a hill

Entry into the village of Cordes-sur-Ciel

Interesting building in Cordes-sur-Ciel

Lovely streets to stroll in Cordes-sur-Ciel

Our next priority destination however was the city of Carcassonne and specifically to visit the city fortress built on a hill near the river Aude.  Whilst there has been fortifications on the hill since pre Roman periods, the current UNESCO listed fortress inner rampant construction commenced in 485 CE.

The castle city of Carcassonne stands proudly
above the modern city

The description of ‘fortress city’ is very accurate because inside the high protective walls is a large cathedral, shops, homes, everything you would expect a city to have.

Entry into the large castle of Carcassone

An inner castle within the castle

Walking around the timber covered castle walls

Walking through the city within the castle's main walls

A slight diversion out of France as we entered the very small country of Andorra, so that will be covered in a seperate post on Andorra 2024.

Back in France we avoided the freeways in order to drive through more of Frances’ small villages, before spending 2 nights in one of them called Arreau, a village where 2 rivers meet and a place you simply spend time walking through, whilst also stopping to enjoy some good coffee and fine French patisserie products.

Looking to the centre of the village of Arreau

Where Arreau's two rivers meet

With all the walking we had to enjoy a break

Finally we reached our final major destination for 5 nights, one of the wine capitals of France… Bordeaux and what an interesting city it is.  Finding our accomodation was a bit of a challenge as the instructions required us to deliberately drive the wrong way down a one way road!

Our activities in Bordeaux covered the city and beyond

We were now in the old part of Bordeaux

We were staying in the old town and there are many one way and narrow streets so it was the wrong way we went, an older lady running alongside my window trying to tell me I was going the wrong way.

There were many narrow roads
to negotiate

People started living in the area during the 5^th Century BC and the city’s name commenced around the 700+ AD and it’s interesting history progressed from then.

We packed a lot into our 5 days including much walking around the many lanes and narrow roads within the city, enjoying its’ little and abundant cafes and admiring its’ many wonderful old buildings inside the old parts of the city bounded by 4 still existing ornate gates.

The French love their street style cafes

Just one of the ornate entry gates into 'old' Bordeaux

Walking through a massive public place within Bordeaux

Trams soon whisked us throughout the city and beyond, taking us out to the city’s extremities, including to Bordeaux’s famous wine museum, called La Cité du Vin, located next to the Garonne River.

The Cite du Vin museum of wine

This display tempted us to smell fragrances embodied in wine

The display moved and played out
across the table in front of us

The museum is amazing in that it teaches visitors about wine and the history of wine grown in the region using all your senses.  It is an event in itself and fabulously done, and finished off at the end with some wine tasting naturally.

The view of the river whilst we sipped some nice
wine at the Cite du Vin

The city is surrounded by vineyards with a history of wine making going back ~2,000 years when vines were first planted by the Romans.  Bordeaux’s wine increased in popularity from around the 12^th century after the marriage of Henry Plantagenet (King of England) and Alienor d’Aquitaine (Queen of France) leading to Bordeaux’s claret was exported in exchange for other goods.

Accompanying most vineyards are chateaus or large country houses/castles often giving their name to the wines made in the area.  We chose to visit one called Chateau Pape Clement whose main wine is ‘cab sav’, but we weren’t there for the wine, we wanted to enjoy the gardens surrounding it.

Chateau Pape Clement

Tending the vineyards at the Chateau

Some of the garden area around the Chateau

Our final activities consisted of driving to a nearby and beautiful village called Saint-Émilion, a world heritage site of at least 2,000 years of wine history going back to the Romans who planted vineyards there and also famous for a 11^th century church carved entirely out of a limestone cliff.  The village was interesting and exquisite!

Walking through Saint-Emilion

Very old and very interesting

One of the main squares in Saint-Emilion

To finish our trip, we took a dinner cruise on the river enjoying good food and wine of course but more importantly being able to view this famous city from the river as the sun set behind it, before walking back to our accomodation. 

Sunset over Bordeaux from the river

Ornate bridge at night

Bordeaux lights up

One of those beautiful city gates of Bordeaux

So whilst our visit through France was not one of visiting all the usual sites France is famous for, we certainly enjoyed our selection of places to visit in a more intimate way because this country certainly has a lot to offer.

CLICK HERE for more photos of France 2024

So now if you’re interested, look out for post on Andorra, and after finishing our time in France at Bordeaux, we flew from there into the UK, our European visit completed.

Told you it was a complicated foray away, so the UK and beyond posts are also still to come, but until later... go well!