A Road Trip Around France – Part 1

Paris

Paris is the capital of France and also its largest city with a population of approximately 12 million. It’s often thought of as the city of romance and love, chosen by many lovers as their honeymoon destination, and it’s also referred to as the city of lights. The nickname originated in the 19th century when Paris was one of the first European cities with public street lighting, and the famous French avenues have been lit ever since. The most famous avenue of all is of course the two-kilometre long Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the centre of every major French celebration or protest. On the western end of this magnificent avenue, right in the middle of the Place Charles de Gaulle, there’s the Arc de Triomphe rising 50 metres high (there’s free admission for press card holders). Its construction began in 1806 by Napoleon who wanted to commemorate his military successes. The view from Arc de Triomphe reaches across countless buildings and all the way to the 300-metre Eiffel Tower that was built in the 19th century as a temporary installation. Despite being loathed by Parisians, they finally opted to save it and it has become one of the most visited tourist attractions, not just in Paris but in all of France. It outshines many skyscrapers of the La Défense financial district that can be clearly seen from the tower’s highest platform. You can even spot the white Sacré-Cœur Basilica (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart) somewhere in the distance, which sits atop Montmartre, a hill 130 metres high. There are steps leading up the “Mountain of Martyrs” all the way to the Basilica and a gorgeous panorama of the city unfolds. You can even see the Seine River, which kind of acts as the city’s artery. The Île de la Cité, one of the two natural islands on Seine River, is the place where the Parisii people, who gave Paris its name, founded the ancient city of Lutetia. In the 12th century, the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral, whose roof unfortunately burned down in April this year, was built on the same site. Paris boasts numerous museums where tourists can spend hours on end. The most famous is most certainly the Louvre, which is a former royal palace and prides itself on the famous Da Vinci painting of Mona Lisa. Of course, Paris has plenty of other landmarks but walking down city avenues and along the Seine riverbank, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and just absorbing the “joie de vivre” is the most rewarding.

If you head out to the outskirts of Paris, you’ll find Versailles, the seat of the French kings and all the French royalty from 1682 during the rule of Louis XIV to 1789 when Louis XVI became king. The small hunting lodge was turned into an impressive palace with the façade facing the garden stretching across for almost 700 metres and inside there’s a Hall of Mirrors as well as other lavishly furnished rooms. Versailles is famous for its beautiful gardens that abound in numerous fountains, statues, geometric flower beds, trees and pathways. The latter can be found all around the palace and served as promenades for the royal residents. They say that the French kings liked to relax in a boat going down the 1500-metre-long canal and watch the sunset. The very word Versailles is impressive in itself, and the name will remain historically known as the location where the signing of the Treaty of Versailles took place. Today, Versailles is one of the most visited attraction in the greater Paris area and is third only to the Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower.

Normandy

Driving a rental car, my journey led me from Paris towards the west to the English Channel coast all the way to the region known as Normandy. It’s an area full of typical stone houses, apple orchards (the apples are used for cider) and green pastures with grazing cows. The pace of life seems to be much slower there compared to cosmopolitan Paris, but that very calmness gives the place a very special charm. The past was most likely anything but harmonious, since this was where the rebellious and fearsome Vikings from Denmark and Norway settled in the 9th century, embracing the local language and mixed in with the locals. The Vikings might have slowly assimilated, but the name of the region has remained to this very day and it originates from the word meaning Northman, referring to a Viking. It’s also no surprise that the region bordering the Atlantic has a very rich maritime history. The small town of Honfleur was once an important base for maritime expeditions where ships set sail to all parts of the world to conquer new lands under the French Crown. The entrance to the port eventually silted up over the years, but the five and six storey buildings remained, and they encircle the old marina full of boats and yachts and they attract many tourists who stop in town for a couple of hours. The itinerary of every visitor also includes the Saint Catherine’s Church, the largest wooden church in France and the town’s special landmark.

Not far from town, a beach stretches where the allied forces disembarked on 6 June 1944 (commonly known as D-Day) during the Overlord Operation. It is still the largest military landing in the history of humankind because of the three million soldiers that took part in the invasion, crossing the English Channel from the United Kingdom and attacked the occupied France. The part of the Norman coast where 160 thousand allied troops disembarked the very first day was divided into five landing zones (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno). There are visible remains of a temporary harbour in Arromanches-les-Bains that was used by the allied forces as an entrance for troops and thousands of tonnes of military equipment. The most striking, however, is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, with its 9238 white cross headstones and 151 Star of David headstones. The burials of Catholic soldiers are marked by a white cross and those of Jewish soldiers are marked by a Star of David. The Omaha beach stretches almost under the cemetery and it’s one of the two zones where American soldiers disembarked. Except for the two memorials, there nothing on the beach reminiscent of the terrors of World War II.

The most visited landmark in Normandy and the most popular one in France is the small island of Mont-Saint-Michel or Saint Michael’s Mount. The island is located around one kilometre off the coast of Normandy near the border with Brittany, has a width of approximately one kilometre and reaches almost 100 metres in height. Its history dates back to the 8th century when Bishop of Avranches saw archangel Michael in his dreams who told him to build a church in his honour on the island. Medieval builders lined up magnificent buildings on 80 metres high granite rocks the shape of a pyramid and surrounded by sand dunes and quicksand. The first modest church grew into a mighty Benedictine abbey that became an important destination for many pilgrims, and the church with the statue of archangel Michael on top that stands on the hilltop gives the island its distinct silhouette. Due to its location in the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay, as the island is known as a tidal island and the tides can vary greatly, pilgrims had to be very careful and they could only visit the island during low tide. The area around the island has silted-up, though, similar to the harbour in Honfleur, so Mont-Saint-Michel now becomes an island only during very high tides. From an architectural perspective, Mont-Saint-Michel reflects the society of the times when it was built. There’s a church and a monastery on the hilltop representing God, followed by the Knights’ Hall that was used by knights and royalty and which is then followed by shops and craft workshops in the lower regions, while the houses of peasants and fisherman can be found outside the walls. The arrangement is most noticeable during the tour of the island and the abbey (the tour costs 10 euros, but the admission is free for press card holders), and a walk down Grande Rue, the island’s main and only street lined with old stone houses, transports visitors back into the Middle Ages.

The description of Mont-Saint-Michel concludes the first part of this interesting journey across France and you are of course invited to join me on my next adventure when we’ll discover new places together.