A flippant expose of the country and people who have hosted this year’s Paris Olympics. Senior Correspondent Mike Osborne explores France’s tourist hotspots.
The Paris Olympics are over and it’s time to explore France, remember it’s a big European country that’s two and a half times the size of Victoria with many amazing highlights. Let’s start by making sure we haven’t missed anything on our visit to the capital.
You’ve probably already admired the Eiffel Tower, Trocadero, Arc de Triomphe, the Notre Dame Cathedral and other great examples of Parisian architecture while attending some outdoor events at the Games.
But indoors is where the real treasures in Paris hide, in places including the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, the L’Orangerie and the Basilica Saint Denis – all stunning buildings in their own right stacked with history and masterpieces.
Must-sees at the Louvre include Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo statue while the lowlights are the long queues and expensive entry. But it is definitely worth the investment and effort.
The Musee d’Orsay is home to some of Vincent van Gogh’s masterpieces and the L’Orangerie is a temple housing Monet’s impressionist art.
The Pantheon, where some of France’s greatest heroes are buried, is also a must as is the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb at Les Invalides, built by Louis XIV in the late 17th century as a home for disabled soldiers.
The Basilica Saint Denis, out where the swimming and athletics are being held, is the resting place for almost all the kings of France from the 10th century to Louis XVI and quite a few of the significant queens including Marie Antoinette and Catherine de Medici. You’ll also learn what happened to their graves and bones during the Revolution. It’s confronting.
You’ll need a full day trip from Paris to do justice to the Palace of Versailles, 35km southwest of Paris, to experience the opulence of the Sun King Louis XIV. The buildings, the gardens, and the water features are all breath-taking and linger in your memory long after you’ve said adieu to the glittering extravagance.
Continuing to head southwest 75km from Versailles, pause at the town of Chartres – home to one of the greatest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. You can then stay in Tours a further 185km south, which is ideal for exploring the Loire River and the famous Chateaux, the romantic and elegant royal castles of France.
A sweep through the Loire Valley must include Chateau Amboise where da Vinci is buried and the neighbouring Chateau Clos-Luce where the Italian genius lived out his final years and where his mind-boggling inventions are on display.
Make sure you visit Chateau de Blois which hosted no fewer than 10 French queens and seven kings, while Chateau Chenonceau is one of the most recognisable palaces, having been built across the Cher River, a tributary of the Loire.
Travelling 350km south of Tours on an anti-clockwise tour of the country you reach the city of Bordeaux, gateway to the famous wineries from the Medoc and Gironde regions including Mouton Rothschild and Margaux.
A further 200km south approaching the Spanish border are the west coast Atlantic beachside resorts of Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. But a word to the wise, the beaches fade in comparison to Australia which has some of the best on the planet. Naturalment!
Heading east now across the bottom of France you’ll come to the French Riviera on the Mediterranean between the cities of Marseille and Nice. This is where you find the historic coastal towns of Saint-Tropez, Cannes and Antibes stretching all the way to Monaco. Again beware the beaches are mostly pebbles so the reason to go is to lounge where the Euro chic and Russian runaways spend their endless summers.
Venturing about 50km inland is the famed region of Provence, populated by ancient hilltop towns and beautiful villages including Saint-Remy-de-Provence where Van Gogh was a voluntary patient at the St Paul Asylum in his final years. Nowadays Provence is where some of the best Rose wine is made.
Heading 300km north from Provence up the Rhone River is Lyon, the third biggest city in France after Paris and Marseilles, which has one of the largest renaissance old quarters in Europe full of ancient secret passageways called traboules. And Lyon’s Museum of Fine Arts housed in a former Abbey is a jewel box that’s known as the best in France after the Louvre.
Continuing 200km north along the Rhone is Dijon, capital of Burgundy, which is famous for its pinot noir wine, coq au vin, beef bourguignon and of course mustard.
Just south of Dijon is the walled town of Beaune, the heart of the Burgundy wine region, which is renowned for its 15th-century former hospital, now the Hôtel-Dieu Hospices de Beaune museum. The story of how this came to be built and sustained is priceless. More famous is the prestigious “Hospices de Beaune” labelled wine made from grapes grown here and sold at a world renowned annual auction.
About 330km northeast towards the German border is Strasbourg in the historic region of Alsace where the European Parliament is based. Steeped in Franco-German culture and violently disputed throughout history, the city has been a cultural bridge between France and Germany for centuries.
Heading west now 350km back towards Paris is the town of Reims, famous as the home of champagne and for its cathedral which is the historical coronation site for the Kings of France. In and around this town you’ll find the famed houses of Moet & Chandon, Taittinger, Krug and Bollinger of Absolutely Fabulous TV fame.
From Reims it’s a short 140km trip back to Paris to complete the anti-clockwise tour, but that leaves Normandy and Brittany to the west, large parts of central France, and the famous World War sites in the north of France unexplored. Maybe next time?
The northern beaches of Dunkirk were the site of the famous evacuation of allied forces from France in mid-1940 as Nazi Germany pushed to the Channel during the early days of World War II.
Inland to the south is Villers-Bretonneux and the main World War I cemetery where many Anzacs are buried. It is a poignant place almost as moving as Gallipoli in Turkey where the Anzac legend was born in 1915.
After escaping the Turks in Gallipoli the Anzacs were sent to northern France to fight trench warfare against the Germans in 1916. Almost 300,000 Australians served on the Western Front with 46,000 casualties and more than 130,000 wounded.
The French remain ever-grateful to the Anzacs for their bravery more than a century ago. After the war a village school in Villers-Bretonneux put up a sign saying “Never forget Australia”. It is still there today.
NOTE – This is the latest in a series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: French Art | French Architecture | French Sportscars | The French Language | French Wine | French hatred of the British | French Heroes | French Bread | French Inventions | French Olympic History | Famous French Athletes | The French Pacific | French Cafe Society | French History | French Cuisine | French Romance.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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