Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for france
The Art of Wooden Shipbuilding
By Linda Tancs
Former home of the dukes of Brittany, Montoir-de-Bretagne has a rich maritime history. At the Brivet Wooden Maritime Museum, the history of wooden shipbuilding from the 16th to the end of the 19th century is explored. It’s a story of shipyards located on the Brivet River, along with its carpenters, blacksmiths and pulley makers. Admission is free.
Share this:
Alligator Bay
By Linda Tancs
Neither alligators nor crocodiles are naturally found in Europe. Nonetheless, the continent’s largest community of these reptiles is found in France. Just minutes away from Mont-Saint-Michel is Alligator Bay, an animal park boasting more than 700 animals from five continents. You’ll find 150 crocodiles and alligators, including albino alligators, viewable from a raised walkway. In addition, the park exhibits a variety of turtles (featuring a new enclosure for giant tortoises) as well as lizards and snakes. Opening times vary according to the season.
Share this:
Captivating History in Brittany
By Linda Tancs
Just a couple of hours away from Paris by train, Saint-Malo (named for a Welsh saint who fled to Brittany) is a historic walled city overlooking the English Channel. Its ramparts were built in the 12th century to protect the residents from Vikings, but it’s perhaps more famed for its population of pirates. Sanctioned by the king of France, this special class of pirates built the city’s wealth by pillaging ships passing through the Channel. A popular spa and wellness destination, the locale also experiences some of the highest tides in Europe, making its breakwater defenses an iconic part of the cityscape.
Share this:
Lyon’s Natural History Museum
By Linda Tancs
At the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, Lyon’s Musée des Confluences is a futuristic-styled museum that tells the story of Earth, humanity, history and geography from a variety of scientific, technical and cultural perspectives. Touted as a “landscape building” for its unique merger with nature, it received the designation “Musée de France” from the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The facility boasts nearly 3.5 million objects and specimens in the fields of natural sciences, human sciences, science and technology. You can get there easily via the tram T1, Musée des Confluences stop.
Share this:
Matisse’s Final Masterpiece
By Linda Tancs
The Rosary Chapel (also known as the Matisse Chapel) in Vence, France, is the final masterpiece of French artist Henri Matisse. His involvement arose out of a friendship with his private nurse who later became a Dominican nun. The nuns were in need of a true chapel, and Matisse was persuaded to not only decorate but also design the entire chapel. Completed in 1951, he designed features like the candelabras, crucifix, altar and liturgical vestments. The Matisse Museum in Nice has important works linked with the chapel, including several maquettes (models or sketches) for vestments, the chapel, stained glass windows and murals.
Share this:
The Black Wine of Lot
By Linda Tancs
Cahors is a town on the Lot River in the Occitanie region of southern France. It’s well known for its Malbec wine with dark, inky hues that ancient Romans called “black wine.” You’ll find plenty of it at Cahors market, a Saturday staple at the foot of the magnificent Cathedral of Saint-Etienne where tourists and locals alike gather. In addition to the wine, exhibitors offer local Rocamadour cheese, pastis apple cake, walnuts, truffles, saffron and foie gras, among other things.
Share this:
An Ear for Liberty in France
By Linda Tancs
French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi is perhaps best known for creating the Statue of Liberty. You’ll find a museum dedicated to his works in the home of his birth in Colmar, France. Among the exhibits is a full-size plaster model of Lady Liberty’s left ear. You’ll also find statues that he created for his hometown, as well as family furniture, personal souvenirs, models, drawings, paintings, engravings and photographs. Give yourself at least an hour for a tour; audio guides are available for a fee.
Share this:
Steaming Through the Doux
By Linda Tancs
The Train de l’Ardèche follows a railway line linking Tournon-sur-Rhône and Lamastre, a route built in the 1800s to transport people, goods and mail. Its Mallot steam locomotives were especially built for this line, a narrow gauge track following the Doux River through beautiful gorges, scenic views of villages and countryside, chestnut groves and orchards. The main station is Tournon St Jean situated in the village of St-Jean-de-Muzols, not far from Tournon-sur-Rhône. However, you can also depart from the stations in Boucieu le Roi and Lamastre. Events are offered throughout the year, ranging from Western-themed trips to wine tastings and decorated trains for Halloween.
Share this:
Anglophone Literary Life in Paris
By Linda Tancs
A Left Bank literary institution, Shakespeare and Company is an English-language bookshop in the heart of Paris. The first iteration of the shop began in 1919, founded by American Sylvia Beach. It attracted the great expat writers of the time—Joyce, Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Pound—as well as leading French writers until the Nazis occupied Paris in 1941. Part of its acclaim during her tenure arises from the fact that Beach published her friend James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922 when no one else dared. Like the first iteration, the second Shakespeare and Company was founded by an American, George Whitman, in 1951. It remains a premier gathering place for anglophone writers and readers.
Share this:
On the Banks of the Loire
By Linda Tancs
Inhabited since the Renaissance, Château de Villandry is a spectacular French castle on the banks of the Loire. Once a defensive fortress used for peace discussions between Philip II and Richard the Lionheart of England, it was renovated in the Renaissance style by its first owner, Jean Le Breton, Minister of Finance for Francois l. The property was later renovated in the neoclassical style after it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. In the early 1900s, the property was acquired by Spanish inventor Joachim Carvallo and his American wife, the heiress Ann Coleman. Their particular dedication and attention to the property’s magnificent landscape (restored to the Renaissance style) created one of Europe’s best gardens. Still owned by the Carvallo family, the estate is a major tourist attraction.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 