Royal dynasties are often complicated, but none more so than the early Plantagenet kings who dominated France and England in the 12^th and 13th centuries. Arranged marriages here. Betrayals and treachery there. This was the soap opera that just kept on giving. Gillian Thornton follows in the footsteps of the Plantagenet English kings through Anjou and Normandy

The Plantagenets in Le Mans, Sarthe

It all began in Le Mans with Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Maine, who tucked a sprig of broom, or genet, in his hat after hunting, thus earning himself the name of Geoffrey Plantagenet. In 1128, he married Matilda – granddaughter of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England – who gave Geoffrey the Duchy of Normandy as her dowry. But it was his son Henry and grandsons Richard and John who really put the family on the political map.

I love discovering the shared history of England and France but especially since my husband discovered a distant Plantagenet connection in his family tree. You don’t need any royal relatives, however, to enjoy visiting heritage sites associated with this colourful cast of characters.

The Angevin heartland

Best place to start any Plantagenet tour is in the historic province of Anjou, today part of Pays de la Loire. Geoffrey was born in Le Mans in 1113, baptised in its soaring Gothic cathedral, and married to Matilda in the Palace of the Counts of Maine, now the city’s Town Hall.

The cathedral itself is a stunner, standing at the heart of the historic quarter or Cité Plantagenet. Wander the cobbled streets today past colourful half-timbered facades and it’s easy to imagine life in the Plantagenet era. Harder though to grasp that the substantial Roman ramparts were already 800 years old when Geoffrey lived here and are largely still standing. www.lemans-tourisme.com

Despite fighting for his wife’s right to the English throne, Geoffrey never gained a crown for himself. But his first son Henry, born in 1133, would become Henry II of England and add vast lands to the family portfolio by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, former Queen of France from her dissolved marriage to Louis VI.

You can spend hours in Le Mans but do take in the Royal Abbey of Epau just outside the city, to discover the story of Bérengère de Navarre who married Henry II’s son Richard, known as the Lionheart or Coeur de Lion, in 1191. Largely forgotten after Richard’s death in 1199, the widowed Queen of England returned to the family palace in Le Mans before founding Epau Abbey in 1229 as her last resting place.

Today, Epau is both a heritage site and a cultural centre for the department of Sarthe with an extensive permaculture vegetable garden that supplies the abbey café.  Berengère died in 1230 but lives on here through a recumbent stone effigy. The whereabouts of her bones however is still under investigation. www.sarthetourism.com

The Plantagenets at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

Whilst Richard’s widow rests in royal solitude at Epau, her parents in law are elsewhere. Henry II and his feisty wife Eleanor fell out big time when she sided with sons Richard and John against him over division of the Plantagenet lands. Henry had her imprisoned for 16 years and after his death, Eleanor retired to the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud close to Saumur in the Loire Valley. Here she commissioned painted stone effigies not just of herself, but also Henry and her favourite son Richard who both predeceased her.

She certainly had the last laugh, ordering that her own likeness stand higher than the others and be depicted with a book as a blatant symbol of her superior intellect. The figures were moved in times of religious unrest but today stand in splendid isolation beneath the lofty roof timbers of the main abbey church. Completing the quartet is Isabelle of Angoulême, wife of Eleanor’s younger son John. As King John – of Magna Carta fame – he chose Worcester Cathedral in England for his last resting place, but his son Henry III brought Isabelle to the Plantagenet necropolis in 1254.

Fontevraud’s extensive walled complex was converted to a prison under Napoleon, but has been sympathetically transformed into the Regional Arts and Culture Centre for Pays de la Loire. Wander the historic buildings, visit the Museum of Modern Art, and enjoy eclectic outdoor art installations. Best of all, stay overnight at Fontevraud l’Hôtel and you can explore freely after dark and enjoy the spotlit Plantagenets and illuminated buildings in solitude. An unforgettable experience. Advance bookings are strongly recommended for the Michelin-starred restaurant in the hotel cloister. www.fontevraud.fr

From Touraine in the Loire Valley to Normandy

Henry II of England spent much of his time on the road across his vast Plantagenet Empire which stretched from the Scottish Borders down the length of western France to the Pyrenees and across the Auvergne. In 1189 Henry died from an infection at the Château de Chinon which today is part of the Loire Valley’s Touraine region and whilst much of this strategic hilltop fortress is in ruins, the exhibition in the former Plantagenet Hall includes a handy silent film that neatly wraps up the family squabbles. www.forteressechinon.fr

From Chinon, I headed north into Normandy, a region also rich in Plantagenet sites.  Richard the Lionheart spent much of his reign fighting the crusades in the Middle East, but the border with France was a constant worry too. Ruins don’t come much more atmospheric than the Château-Gaillard at Les Andeleys, commissioned by Richard on a rocky promontory high above the Seine east of Rouen. Wear flat, non-slip shoes to climb the uneven path to the inner courtyard for sweeping views over river cliffs and plain. www.nouvelle-normandie-tourisme.com

Richard’s death in 1199 was something of an anti-climax for such a seasoned fighter, the result of an infected arrow wound in south-west France.  But whilst his body was buried at Fontrevraud, his heart lies in Rouen Cathedral, a common practice in the Middle Ages to spread the opportunities for local income from pilgrims. An effigy of the warrior king lies in the spectacular Gothic cathedral, famously painted by Claude Monet more than 30 times. www.visiterouen.com

Avranches

Less obvious but equally interesting for a Plantagenet hunter is Avranches, close to the Normandy coast. Excommunicated by the Pope for instigating the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, Henry II met here in 1172 with delegates of the Pope to seek absolution. The crumbling cathedral was demolished in 1794, but the site of the meeting is now a hilltop green space with distant views of Mont St Michel, the place of penance marked by a stone pillar and plaque. Just ask any local for directions to Place Becket. www.normandie-tourisme.fr

King John died in 1216, but the Plantagenet dynasty was to carry on for another 300 years until Richard III died on Bosworth Field in 1485, overthrown by the next dysfunctional dynasty, the Tudors. But none of the Plantagenets who followed John would have the same influence across two countries as those first three kings.

Henry II had built up the empire; Richard fought hard to maintain it; and John – nicknamed Lackland or Jean sans Terre – managed to lose most of the French lands to Philip II of France. But their ambition and animosity have ensured that 900 years later, we are still fascinated by those early Plantagenet monarchs and the sites they left behind – quite some legacy!

By Gillian Thornton, one of the UK’s leading travel writers and a regular writer for The Good Life France Magazine and website.

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Want to know how to be a Parisian? Ever wondered what makes Parisians different from the rest of the French? We caught up with French comedian Olivier Giraud, whose one man show in Paris “How to be a Parisian in one Hour” has been seen by more than half a million people from around the world. And he explained all!

Olivier Giraud is a Parisian, a comedian, an author, and a legend. He’s a man who makes people roll off their seats laughing in the packed theatre he plays to in Paris with his one man show where he’s taught more than 1 million people how to be a Parisian too – in just one hour. And if your parents taught you to grow up to be a kind person with values such as politeness and punctuality, well forget all that because if you want to be a Parisian Olivier says, you just can’t do that. His brilliantly fun show ‘How to become a Parisian in one hour’ at the ‘Théâtre des Nouveautés’, at Boulevard Poissonnières, is an absolute essential Paris visit. It will explain the cultural differences between Parisians and well, everyone else. And it will make you laugh out loud. And I promise you will look around you in Paris with renewed awe. So students, sit back, pay attention and get ready to find out more about life in the Parisian jungle according to Olivier Giraud.

Are Parisians arrogant?

When it comes to Parisians – it’s almost like we think of them as a separate race from the rest of the French, maybe the rest of the world. But what’s myth and what’s reality. Let’s look at some of the cliches starting with the famous arrogance of Parisians. Is that true? Or false? Are Parisians arrogant?

Olivier Giraud We Parisians are all arrogant. I mean, we live in the most beautiful city in the world. We speak French without any accent. We have the best restaurants. It would be such a pity to be a nice person. So yeah, of course we are all arrogant.

Janine Marsh You say that, but I have to say that most of the Parisians I’ve met are nice!

Olivier Giraud Most of them are nice? Hmm but most of the time, if you see a nice person in Paris, if you ask them questions and they answer nicely, they come from the ‘provinces’!

Are Parisians all slim?

Janine Marsh This is what everyone believes everywhere around the world. And actually, I believe it too, because I was once in Paris having lunch at the Cafe de la Paix, near Opera Garnier. And it’s a famous restaurant. It’s very gastronomic. And I was sitting there having a delicious steak chips. And a woman sat next to me at the table. And she was clearly French, and clearly Parisian because she ordered a bowl of lettuce for lunch, just a bowl of lettuce, nothing else. And then she said: “Can I have the ketchup please?” And she put some ketchup on it. And she had nothing else for the whole lunch that I was there, anyway, so true or false? Are all Parisians slim.

 Olivier Giraud I would say that Parisians are quite slim. I used to live in America for five years. And when I came back to Paris, I was very shocked about the Parisians. And I checked all the numbers. Like, in Paris, there is only 10% of the people who are overweight. And I think it’s because the people run all the time. We are walking like more than five kilometers per day with the Metro and all the steps. And Parisians are very careful about food. Even at the food market they try to find like a good product, organic product. And we do not snack. And there is a cliche of the Parisians every morning with the croissant, the French baguette, the jam… all the charcuterie and the cheese. We try to be very careful about the food and the way we look.

Janine Marsh It’s a really strange thing because everybody around the world think French people just eat croissants and, and chocolatines or pains aux chocolat and Nutella spread thickly on toast and baguettes and cakes and wine and cheese all day long. But actually…

Olivier Giraud No, it’s not. It’s wrong.

Janine Marsh So what do you have at breakfast?

Olivier Giraud Only a coffee. A ‘cafe allongé’ which is like a kind of American coffee. It’s like espresso with hot water. For Parisians – coffee only, though sometimes if I have guests in my house, I’ll buy some croissants – maybe three times per year…

Janine Marsh 3 times a year!

 Olivier Giraud Yeah. Or 4 times.

Janine Marsh Who eats all the croissants then?

Olivier Giraud Who eats the croissants? I think that the young people, I think the youngsters like the kids they love the pain au chocolat. Or you say pain au chocolat in Paris or otherwise in South of France is chocolatine. It’s like a big war in France. There is the team chocolatine and the team pain au chocolat, who are always fighting. The kids have the pain au chocolat you know after school. They love to have one. Otherwise, tourists love the croissant and the pain au chocolat, but Parisians, not very often.

Janine Marsh I love a croissant for breakfast!

Olivier Giraud You don’t live in Paris.

What do Parisians wear?

Janine Marsh My friend Vanessa is a true Parisian. And she was born and bred in Paris, and she will never ever leave Paris, she says. She also will never ever wear any colour but black. Seriously, I’ve known Vanessa now for I don’t know, maybe 12 years and I’ve never seen her wear anything but black trousers or black suit or a little black dress when we’re going out in the evening. Is this a Paris thing?

Olivier Giraud Yes, it is. For me too, I wear only black. And sometimes someone is like, let’s be crazy,  put on some grey or dark blue. But I think Parisians try to feel invisible, you know. And you can see in the Metro, the tourists with the flowers and black and red, like red, pink, yellow… But Parisians yeah, they like to wear a dark colour.

Janine Marsh Wow, to be invisible. Is that because it’s such a busy town? Well, you know, it’s not really a busy city compared to London, I suppose, or New York, which is, you know, quite a bit bigger. But I guess in terms of France, it’s quite a busy big city. So being invisible is a good thing?

Olivier Giraud I think it’s a good thing. And like Coco Chanel used to say, I like any colour as long as it is black.

Janine Marsh Do you wear black pyjamas?

Olivier Giraud All the time? Black or grey.

Olivier Jauffrit What about pants?

Olivier Giraud Pants? Dark blue jeans

Janine Marsh Wow.

Olivier Giraud Only. And then in the theatre it’s only in black.

Janine Marsh So you push the boat out with blue jeans and some flash of colour amongst all the black shirts and pants and socks. I must say when you’re in Paris, you do notice a lot of people wearing black. So right now I must assume that everyone wearing black is a Parisian and everyone not wearing black is either from outside of Paris or a visitor.

Olivier Giraud Next time you come to Paris Janine, only in black.

Janine Marsh I’m actually going to Paris on Wednesday, and I’m gonna wear black and see if anyone thinks I’m Parisian.

Olivier Giraud You have to.

What is a Parisian BoBo?

Janine Marsh  Okay, this is a question from a friend of mine, who lives in London and she said she went to Paris and she was overhearing people in a café and they were chatting and they were saying: ‘Bobo’, il est ‘Bobo, elle est ‘Bobo’. What is a Paris Bobo?

Olivier Giraud So the term bobo is a mixture of two words. Using the first letters to each word. First ‘bourgeois’ which means a rich person. And then ‘boheme’ as in Bohemian. The two first letters of each are ‘bo’, so it’s bobo. Translation: a rich person who lives like a poor person.

Janine Marsh So does a bobo eat croissants for breakfast?

Olivier Giraud They can eat croissants but I think they love the croissant with some pumpkin seeds! This is really bobo and the bobo is kind of ‘we have to fight to save the planet’ for example. They go on holidays like 10 times per year. They go to the Reunion island, they go to America, they travel a lot. So I think that they save the planet only you know with friends… talking like this, but not doing that too much.

Janine Marsh Do they wear black? Because that’s not very bohemian.

Olivier Giraud Yeah, they put some colours the bobo! A bit more colour and a bit of flowers. You can find some bobos close to Canal St Martin, in the 11th arrondissement. You can find them every Sunday morning in a market buying like 10 euros a kilogram apples. But they’re so happy like ‘yeah, it’s a good quality’, of course for 10 euros! You find some of them in the 19th arrondissement, the 20th and now in Montreuil. It’s a suburb with a lot of bobos!

Janine Marsh So, if you want to go bobo-spotting, head to Montreuil or the 11th arrondissement. And spot people wearing black clothes with a splash of colour and maybe eating croissants, for a true sight of Paris.

Are Parisian waiters rude?

Janine Marsh: Right, now this might be a tough question actually. Because I think there are two different answers to this personally. But there is one answer that I have experienced and it’s about Parisian waiters. You know if you read any magazines, if you read any websites about Paris, people will go ‘oh, Parisian waiters, they are so rude. They are also arrogant to clients.’ You would think that going into a restaurant spending money by buying food, buying wine and dining there that you would be treated really well. But how true is it that a Parisian waiter will be rude to a client?

Olivier Giraud  I will say that in Paris, we have different kinds of restaurants. If you go to a really high class restaurant, most of the time, I mean 95% of the time the waiter will be nice, because they have a big reputation, and they have to be nice. But if you go to a Brasserie, even for Parisians it’s very hard to find a nice one that is like, when you arrive: “hello, how are you? Welcome!” I think it never happened to me in the past five years. So yeah, okay, I’ll sit, and their facial expression means, ‘ahhh, another guest, I’m fed up with this job.’ We’re used to this in Paris. But yes, so so many tourists are very shocked about the way they are treated by the waiters. But that’s a Paris thing, it’s like this, and they are not too nice, but they can be fast. And you eat well. And the problem is – the tips are included in Paris, and in all of France. So that means that they don’t have to be nice, because the service is paid already. In America: ‘hey, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory!’ They’re very nice and then you give them a 20% tip. In Paris, perhaps you can give one or two euros if the service is good. But most of the time you leave nothing.

Janine Marsh You could go into a restaurant and they could just be absolutely awful for you. And they’re still going to get a tip, whether you like it or not.

Olivier Giraud Yes! There are some visitors you know, they think the tips are not included. So they add like 10 or 20%, even if the service is bad, but, reallly they don’t have to be nice.

Janine Marsh I haven’t really had that many bad experiences. But I’ve had the look that you described, you know where I’ve walked in and just asked for a cup of coffee. And then they look at me as if I’ve I asked for something really unspeakable, rather than a cup of coffee. But you’re right – they’re fast. And you get what you want.

I saw a sign once in a cafe and it said if you ask for a coffee and you say ‘Bonjour un cafe s’il vous plait’ you’ll get it for one price. And if you walk in and just go ‘un cafe!’, you get it for a much higher price. I don’t know if that’s true.

95% of the time, you’re not going to get a rude waiter in Paris. Simple as that. Smile, say Bonjour. Say ‘s’il vous plait’. You’re probably going to get a really nice happy waiter. Yeah, yeah, that’s what I reckon.

Where to go shopping in Paris?

Where does a typical Parisian go shopping for clothes? You know, I suppose we all think it’s going to be the Champs-Elysées, which is always full of shoppers, but I’ve to be honest, most of them do seem to be visitors. So I’m assuming that Parisians go somewhere else.

Olivier Giraud Yeah, Parisians don’t go on the ‘Champs-Elysées’ because there’s not too many shops, it’s only like very expensive shops. Parisians go to ‘Les Halles’, close to ‘Chatelet’. It’s a place where you have many shops. Rue de Rivoli, now it’s better than because there’s no more cars. And Rue de Rennes as well, in the 6th arrondissement. If you have a lot of money you can go close to the Champs-Elysées, to Avenue Montaigne, for Dior, Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier… you know expensive shops.

Janine Marsh Millionaire’s row huh? So the Parisians never leave Paris to go shopping? Do they ever leave Paris?

Olivier Giraud Of course we have friends in the suburbs. But for us, it’s horrible to go to ‘Banlieue’ (suburbs). It’s takes so long. It takes less time to go to Greece than going to the suburbs, with all the strikes! No, I’m kidding, but it’s hard for Parisians to go to the suburbs. It’s not easy for real Parisians.

Janine Marsh So from your experience. I mean, you said you lived in America for five years. So is shopping in Paris a bit different from shopping in America or anywhere else for that matter. Is Paris shopping, you know, a special thing?

Olivier Giraud Yeah. In Paris, a lot of people like going shopping on Saturday. And the service is like it is in restaurants. It’s funny. You know, if you go to America: Hey welcome to H&M, welcome. My name is Tracy.’ They’re very nice. In Paris, it’s different I mean, you, you get in, you don’t have to smile, you know, you look for what you want, and then you leave. It’s kind of different.

Janine Marsh It’s very different. I mean, I went shopping in Paris, and I saw this beautiful dress. And I went in – and it was in the shop window. And I said, Oh, I really love that dress in the shop window. Do you think you have it in my size? And she just looked me up and down and said ‘non’.

Olivier Giraud Non – c’est pas possible

Janine Marsh This is what she said. She gave me a look that said, I don’t want you to wear my beautiful dresses you are not worthy!

Olivier Giraud When you’re Parisian and you go shopping, if the sales advisor ask you ‘you need some help?’. Even if you need some help, just say ‘non je regarde‘. You need to be alone, you know, you don’t want to be disturbed by somebody. And, if later, you need some help you say ‘yeah, oh, come on, I need some help.’ And then the person comes and will help you but just look alone – and don’t ask for any help.

Janine Marsh Just look at the clothes where everything is black in the corner.

Olivier Giraud Completely. Then you leave.

Where do Parisians go on holiday?

Janine Marsh Where did Parisians go on holiday? I mean, we read in magazines that Parisians go to ‘Ile de Ré’ or they go to Deauville. Nowhere else in France do they go. Occasionally Provence…

Olivier Giraud Provence? Yeah, but it’s more common to go to Deauville or Trouville in Normandy. I don’t like Deauville. It’s all the rich Parisians going there you know with the Chanel and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s shops everywhere, and the beautiful cars. But if you cross the bridge you have Trouville, which is like Deauville, but when you have a bit less of money than Deauville. The weather’s not amazing there, but Parisians go there for a weekend or a long weekend. They also go to ‘Ile de Ré’. And Brittany is very famous now – everybody wants to go to Brittany and, it’s funny when the Parisians go to a Brittany, they dress like people from Brittany you know the ‘marinière’, a shirt with stripes, you know? And also the plastic boots…

Janine Marsh I think we call them crocs.

Olivier Giraud Oh yeah, the crocs. It’s kind of funny. You can see the Parisians in Brittany: all look the same.

Janine Marsh Wow. So Parisians go on holiday and they fling off their black clothes and they put on black and white instead.

Olivier Giraud And then for the bobo, they love camping, you know. The Parisian bobo, they go camping. They spend so much money for a little space in the country. No water or electricity – they pay so much, but they’re very happy. We all take August holidays all the time. That’s why everything is closed in Paris, if you’re looking for a bakery or even a bank – everything is closed in August most of the time.

Janine Marsh It’s astonishing, isn’t it? I can’t believe it. Sometimes I go on holiday. Or I go out for the day in July or August and restaurants are shut and there’s a sign on the door saying ‘we are on holiday’.

Olivier Giraud C’est ferme !

Janine Marsh This is peak tourist season. How can you be on holiday? Hotels close in July and August too!  I love that in France you are either a July person or an August person. And there is a name for this and I find it almost impossible to say August in French.

Olivier Giraud If you go on holidays in August, you are an ‘aoutien’. If you go on holidays in July, you are a ‘juilletiste’.

Janine Marsh Wow, I’m beginning to get a picture here. It’s either Pain au chocolat or Chocolatine. You either go on holiday in July or you go in August, so there are two different tribes going on here.

 Olivier Giraud And August is even more expensive. Everything is so expensive in August. More than July.

How to be Parisian!

Janine Marsh Is there one thing that you should do or that you shouldn’t do to make you look more Parisian and less a tourist when you come to Paris?

Olivier Giraud The way you dress – you know try to put some black or grey. So many times I can see like tourists and you can see they’re tourists they’re wearing like a shirt with like ‘God Bless America’ with the cap ‘In America we trust’. No don’t take this cap, keep it at home. And if I see very smiley people on the street, I’m sure they are tourists. Don’t even move your eyes or lips or whatever, just try to be depressed… And the way you speak as well you know. When you go to a bakery (a boulangerie), and this is something that makes me laugh all the time, the tourists say: Yeah, we would like the crapes, crapes. No, come on, crêpes when you say crapes, you’re making three mistakes. It’s not a cray. It’s crrr crrr, it’s Crêpe. And it’s one crepe, 2 crepes. Even if you’re right theres an  ‘s” at the end. You don’t pronounce it. So when you say crapes, you’re a tourist. And, the biggest mistake people can make is like: Yeah, we love Macron! Macron is our president. Macaron is a pastry. You know, that’s a big difference.

Janine Marsh I’m guilty of having friends who call him Macaron as well and Mrs. Macaron…

Olivier Giraud Emmanuel Macaron and Brigitte Macaron. Hmmm…

 Janine Marsh You’re saying about don’t smile, because sometimes I have to go to meetings with French people. And they always say to me, you smile too much. People won’t trust you. But I like to smile. I’m happy.

Olivier Giraud You know, when you’re walking in Paris in the streets, and you see people smiling, you’re like, what happened? Why did they smile? What happened? And we feel like the person is weird. So yeah, don’t be nice.

Janine Marsh So now we have learned from this: always wear black, have a cup of coffee for breakfast and nothing else. Never eat a croissant, never a pain au chocolat. Don’t smile, don’t wear a baseball cap. And you will be a Parisian in Paris.

Olivier Giraud You can smoke as well.

Janine Marsh Yeah. Well, you know, I don’t think I can condone that, actually, Olivier, on this on this show…

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What is Bastille Day all about? Well first I have to tell you that in France this most important national holiday which is held on 14^th July, is not called Bastille Day at all. It’s called, rather unimaginatively – quatorze Juillet, 14^th July in English. Or it’s called Fete Nationale – National fete or National Holiday. Everything you want to know about Bastille Day…!

You can also listen to a longer version of this article in our Bastille Day podcast

What are the origins of Bastille Day?

This famous event, which was to start a change to the course of history, took place at a time of great difficulty for France. Enormous sums of  money had been spent on wars (nothing new there). And of course, it was the ordinary people who paid for these wars and got little or nothing back in return. Tax after tax – always increasing so that the royal coffers could be filled.

Meanwhile, life for the common man was difficult, lack of money and a rising cost of living, lack of food because there has been bad harvests, which led to flour shortages, lack of much comfort on a daily basis. People were miserable. But the royal family, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette, and the rich nobles and church leaders who ruled, continued to live their indulged and gilded existence. It seemed that they were oblivious to the suffering of the ordinary people.

I read that on the day that the Bastille was stormed in Paris, Louis XVI who liked to keep a diary, wrote for that day “nothing”. He was referring to his day’s hunting, the most important thing to him. Not a word about what went on in Paris. So yes, I think the rich and the powerful must have been oblivious.

How did it start?

No one can really pinpoint what actually made everything kick off on the 14th July 1789. The King had recently sacked his finance minister who was quite popular as he had suggested that the royal family try to budget to save money, and there were rumours that a new parliamentary body which was believed to be more on the side of the ordinary man would be stopped.

Everyone knows about the popular myth that when the Queen was told of bread shortages in Paris she stated “then let them eat cake.” But there is absolutely no proof that she said this at all. And in fact, it was claimed that an earlier queen said this too.

What is known is that on that day, a crowd gathered. Some had guns. And the angry mob which got bigger and bigger, marched to the Bastille to obtain powder for the guns. The Bastille was then a medieval fortress which served as a prison and a warehouse for munitions and gun powder, and also for bread grain.

The storming of the Bastille

Negotiations between the governor of the Bastille and the spokesmen of the mob quickly escalated into an angry shouting match and the Bastille guards opened fire killing hundreds of people. A rescue team was called to support the guards and hold the Bastille but they unexpectedly decided to side with the crowd. The Bastille was surrendered after a fight and the building was destroyed. This day started a chain of action that would lead to the execution of the majority of the aristocracy of France including the royal family and there would be years of turmoil and horror from which would emerge a new rule.

When the King was informed of the happenings at the Bastille he asked “is this a revolt?” and he was told “No Majesty, this is a revolution”.

So 14^th July, Bastille Day, as we know it now, essentially celebrates the French Revolution and we’re going to explain more about why, how and what. But before we do that we need to talk about what caused the French Revolution and it was a number of things but one of the major issues was to do with bread.

The Bread of Revolution

The French love their bread! 98% of the French are said to eat bread every day! But in the old days, bread was seriously important, it was a main food for the poor who spent up to half their daily wage on bread alone. Grain and bread riots were really common, people protested against the price, or lack of grain, or how the bread was made. Sometimes these riots spilled out across entire regions.

Just 14 years before there had been 300 riots in just 3 weeks over a lack of bread. In fact, the riots that resulted in the fall of the Bastille on 14th July 1789 and helped start the French Revolution began not just as a search for arms but for grain too. The bad harvest saw price rises go so high that people were spending up to 90% on bread. They didn’t have enough left for coat for their fires, for medicine, clothes, meat or anything

Parisian peasants – rightly – suspected that merchants and bakers had hoarding grain in anticipation of higher prices. They took to the streets to protest. They even thought the King was hoarding grain and that the nobility were deliberately trying to starve the masses.

Later the government that was formed after the Revolution definitely learned their lesson. One of their goals was to make sure everyone had quality bread every day. In 1793, the Convention (the post-Revolution government) created a new law which stated:

“Richness and poverty must both disappear from the government of equality. It will no longer make a bread of wheat for the rich and a bread of bran for the poor.  All bakers will be held, under the penalty of imprisonment, to make only one type of bread: The Bread of Equality.”

The march on Versailles

For the rest of that year the revolution simmered and on 5 and 6 of October, a mob marched on the palace of Versailles. It started in the market places of Paris where the women were complaining about the lack of bread again and the prices. They just had enough of a King who wasn’t doing anything to make things better for them so it’s known as the March of the Women. About 7000 people, men and women by then, marched and it was this that delivered the death blow for the French Monarchy.

It was a rainy day and it takes about 6 hours to walk from Paris to Versailles. The crowd were exhausted when they got there, and drenched. It was a complicated time. Speeches were made. Meetings were held and promises made but it didn’t seem to calm the crowd. The next morning a mob broke into the palace and went for Marie-Antoinette. They threatened to tear out her heard, cut off her head and fricassee her liver.

She ran and hid managing to escape from them but the crowd insisted the royal family go to Paris. And off they went. They were sent to the a Tuileries Palace which became their gilded prison. Though they had an element of freedom – they could not leave. That day Versailles was boarded up to keep looters out. Essentially it was the end of the monarchy though they lasted a while longer.

A few days after that, a certain Doctor Guillotin proposed his fun new scientific device.

Terror of the Revolution

Over the course of the French Revolution which didn’t end for another 10 years in all, tens of thousands of people were guillotined to death. Some of the leaders who directed France during the revolutionary years, like Maximilien Robespierre, a bourgeois lawyer, triggered the bloodiest chapter of the French Revolution, known as the Reign of Terror from 1793-1794.

Robespierre was not a nice man. He was very odd. He replaced Catholicism with a so-called religion called the “Cult of the Supreme Being” – and made himself head of it. It’s estimated more than 40,000 people died during the Reign of Terror, either executed or murdered. The guillotine worked overtime. And it was fast. It had lots of nicknames like Madame la Guillotine, the Widow, the Patriotic Shortener, the National Razor, the Regretful Climb, and the Silence Mill. Louis XVI was beheaded on 28th January 1793 after a trial in which his own cousin voted for his death (family huh?!). The execution took place in what is now Place de la Concorde.

The end of royal rule

It’s said that people dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood and sold locks of his hair as souvenirs. One handkerchief was found more than 200 years later, hidden in a dried squash.

Nine months later Marie-Antoinette followed. Her last words were “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l’ai pas fait expres” in English “Pardon monsieur, I did not do it on purpose” when she accidentally trod on the executioner’s foot. Fun fact for you: he was the same man who had excuted her husband.

Marie Antoinette’s remains were taken to a graveyard behind the Church of Madeleine about half a mile north. The gravediggers were taking a lunch break. That gave Marie Grosholtz — later known as Madame Tussaud — enough time to make a wax imprint of Marie-Antoinette’s face before she was placed in an unmarked grave. Madame Tussaud made many wax models during the Revolution, including the King and Robespierre. She had been art teacher to the King’s sister and later moved to London where she set up a museum with all her waxworks. You can see the Marie-Antoinette mask there to this day.

It could have been so different – Louis and Marie Antoinette nearly escaped…

Queen Marie-Antoinette almost escaped to America

American royalists offered to try to help the royal family escape, on a ship to America. The Captain of a ship was found – a Captain Clough, and he wrote to his wife in Maine telling her to get the house ready for the Queen. Apparently she told all her friends and everyone bought new dresses ready for their big moment.

The escape plan is known as the Flight to Varennes and the royal family bundled into a coach on 20th June 1791, and left Paris but they didn’t get very far. The king was a bit of a ditherer and delayed things. Plus he apparently made them late as he wanted to drink wine and eat cheese which kind of sums up the whole problem of the royal family in France really.

Their coach broke down and unlucky for them, someone recognised the King from his likeness on a coin. And it really was the nail in the coffin, so to speak, for their future. The escape plan failed and the ship left laden with royal belongings – furniture and fabrics and paintings and suchlike. Mrs Clough papered her house with the royal paper and filled it with furniture and it became known as the Marie Antoinette house.

Why do English speakers call it Bastille Day?

And now back to that very first question – why do we call it Bastille Day?

14th July isn’t just about the storming of the Bastille which kickstarted the French Revolution in 1789. For the French it’s also about what happened the year after – again on 14 July, when a one-off national holiday was declared known as the Fete de la Fédération. A mass gathered in Paris to attend a military parade led by the Marquis de Lafyette – the one who sailed to America to help in the American Revolution, and the King and Queen swore an oath of loyalty to the nation.

When it was agreed almost 100 years later to have an annual public holiday to commemorate the French Revolution in some way, various dates and reasons were highlighted. For instance someone suggested 28th January would be good as that was the day that Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793. But in the end, they went for July 14 – the date of two major events. However, it was never clear which was the exact one that was being celebrated!

Clearly English speakers decided which one of the dates excited them more, the bloodthirsty one!

La Marseilllaise – a song of revolution

One song in particular celebrates the French Revolution: La Marseillaise. It’s called that as it was sung in Paris by revolutionaries from Marseille. It became the anthem of the revolution, the words then were different and insulted the King and Queen. It was adopted as the French National Anthem in 1795.

Ironically it’s said that Marie-Antoinette also liked this tune and used to play it on her harpsichord.

What happens on Bastille Day in France?

The 14th July celebrations and festivities actually start the night before on  the 13^th of July. For some, this is the best bit because all over France there are Bals de pompiers, firemen’s balls. They’re hosted at fire stations and anyone can go along and join in the dancing and party. But why, you might well be asking me, are do firemen hold balls? It’s a long-standing tradition in France that officially began in 1937 when a group of people followed firefighters back from a fête nationale parade! At our local fire station it’s very much a family affair, but I hear that at some there are firemen prancing about a la Chippendale style! It’s all about fund raising though, so all in a good cause.

The next day is the big day, one of the most important days of the year. It’s time for French people to go a little bit wild and have fun. Almost all French towns will have some sort of celebrations, from parades to fetes and concerts and dinner. Fireworks are also a big part of the celebration. Paris of course has a major display but many other smaller towns and cities will have big displays too, often paired with music.National holidays are taken on the day on which they fall – if that’s a Sunday, tough, you don’t get Monday off as a bank holiday – and that includes 14^th July.

Bastille Day, or I should say Le 14 juillet, before my French friends and family behead me… is a real family event in France. Everybody goes out. The Fete Nationale in France is when people who don’t dance, dance. It’s when people who usually go to bed early, don’t. It’s when those people who always say that they don’t like to party, do.

So now you know everything you need to know, and more, about Bastille Day.

More fascinating and fun French stuff

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All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle, is out in October 2023 – a look at the French way of life.

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You don’t need any great interest in motor sport to be impressed by the legendary 24 Heures du Mans, recognised across the world as motorsport’s toughest event.   Launched in 1923, the race celebrated its centenary in June 2023, although not quite 100 starts, the event being abandoned during World War II.

Motoring pioneers

Le Mans had been at the forefront of motoring since the 1870s, thanks to local businessman Amedée Bollée, the first person to build a steam-driven car. Roads were improved for those early Bollée customers and as a result, the Circuit de la Sarthe was chosen by the Automobile Club de France for their first Grand Prix in 1906.

Few families owned a car in the 1920s, but other manufacturers were entering the industry.  A 24-hour bike race took place in Paris in 1922, but the inaugural 24 Heures du Mans a year later was the first such endurance race for cars, the brainchild of three local enthusiasts. Thanks to a British Bentley taking the lap record, the race forged a strong Anglo-British relationship that still endures today, but other nations soon flocked to the circuit to prove their cars’ performance in this gruelling event.

Races throughout the year

Today, the 13.6 km race takes place on a mix of closed public roads and the Bugatti Circuit, run by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO). The circuit hosts a full programme of car, bike and truck races throughout the year as well as private events for club training and competitions. Discover the full story at the 24 Heures du Mans Museum, www.lemans-musee24h.com then take an independent tour trackside with an audio guide, or a guided tour that includes the Race Control Centre and iconic winners’ podium.

By Gillian Thornton, one of the UK’s leading travel writers.

Discover what to see and do in Le Mans

Love cars? Don’t miss the extraordinary car museum in Mulhouse

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Ally Mitchell investigates the legend of Saint Honoré and his importance to the bakers of France…

As a Brit, my appreciation of saint days extends to our patron saints of which there are four, one for each country within the United Kingdom. Beyond them and St Valentine, however, there are few saints recorded on my calendar. France, on the other hand, has filled in the blanks – they have a saint allocated to every day of the year.

Many slide right past on the conveyer belt of days, yet some are celebrated including St Catherine, the saint of unmarried women, in November, and St Honoré, the saint of bakers, in May. Both worthy of a good celebration (maybe they should be combined? What a good knees-up that would be). St Honoré even had a spectacular cake made in his honour, one which is now sold in boulangeries around France. Pretty good going for a young unassuming bishop from Amiens. So, to celebrate St Honoré on the 16^th May, here’s his tale and how he became the saint of boulangers, pâtissiers and meuniers, three professions you might not expect would require a patron.

Who was St Honoré?

Honoré was born in Port-le-Grand, Picardy, in the sixth century to a noble family. Not a lot was recorded about his life until he was offered the role of the eighth bishop of Amiens. Even though he resisted the offer, believing himself to be unworthy, according to legend, at that exact moment, a ray a divine light shone down on him.

His beloved nursemaid didn’t believe he could have been honoured with such a position. She swore she would accept it only if her bread peel grew roots and transformed into a tree. Incidentally, she was baking bread at the time. Placing the end of the peel on the floor, it suddenly morphed into a mulberry tree. Ten centuries later, the tree was still standing and deemed miraculous.

Miracles and more

This wasn’t the only miracle allegedly conjured by Honoré, nor his only connection to bread and baking. Natural disasters were somehow avoided saving the crops and consequently the work of millers and bakers. St Honoré was credited with these miracles. After his death in around 600AD, drought loomed. In his absence, his relics were appealed to. They were carried in a procession around the city walls. Before long, the rain swiftly came.

His post-humous reputation continued to grow. In 1202, a baker wished to build a chapel in his honour and donated some local land to the city of Paris. This chapel was extended in 1579. It bequeathed its name to Rue Saint-Honoré which extends to Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré from the 1^st to the 8^th arrondissement. Streets aren’t the only locations bestowed with his eponym though. There is also the Saint-Honoré market and the now missing Saint-Honoré gate on the west of the city. The Saint-Honoré chapel has since been replaced by the departments of The Ministry of Culture.

Patron saint of bakers

In Paris in 1400, the guild of bakers was established in the church of St Honoratus. They dedicated the day of his feast to the 16^th May. Even royalty jumped on board. In 1659, Louis XIV decreed that the feast of St Honoré must be observed by every baker annually. He also demanded that donations be given in his name. Both financial and edible donations were accepted.

You may be wondering why bakers, pastry makers and millers all needed a patron saint. These professions have always been gruelling, but none more so than during the medieval times when the workers suffered from various breathing and skin aliments due to the flour particles filling their lungs and pores. They also had bad reputations for selling under-weight bread or using bad grain. For these practices, they were punished with a contraption called the ‘baker’s gallows.’  It’s as bad as it sounds. They would be forced into a basket, hoisted up to 40 feet in the air, then dropped in mud.

Let them eat cake

And what about this cake? Even by the 19^th century, bakers and pastry chefs were still honouring St Honoré. And now they put their professional skills into action by baking him a showstopper of confectionary. In 1847, the Chiboust boulangerie on – where else? – the Rue Saint-Honoré, created a ring-shaped brioche filled with a finicky filling of crème patisserie lightened with Italian meringue. This cream, which became known as crème Chiboust even has its own Facebook page! It’s applied with a special St Honoré nozzle to form the pastry’s iconic petals of cream. Eventually, the brioche was replaced with puff pastry. Then it is topped with a circle of cream choux buns dipped in caramel. It’s no wonder that this is the patisserie of choice for St Honoré. All its elements demonstrate essential baking and pâtissier skills.

Saint Honoré’s Day in France

Celebrate St Honoré on the 16^th May at Les Fetes du Pain where tompetitions (including the Best French Traditional Baguette), demonstrations and tastings are held in front of Notre-Dame in Paris. Pick up a St Honoré cake from your local boulangerie (or make one at home if you have several hours to spare). Visit Amiens Cathedral, a UNESCO heritage site, which dates back to the 13^th century – St Honoré is tributed with the eponymous south portal.

Ally Mitchell is a blogger and freelance writer, specialising in food and recipes. Ally left the UK to live in Toulouse in 2021 and now writes about her new life in France on her food blog NigellaEatsEverything.

This article was first published in The Good Life France Magazine

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

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Meilleur Ouvrier de France, commonly called MOF, means “best craftsman of France” and it is a title that is awarded to the best of the best. The concept was created in 1924, a way to preserve and promote traditional crafts and encourage those engaged in them. There are now more than 200 categories of awards for more than 180 professions including pastry making and cheese making, stained glass and violin making, book binding and boot making, hairdressing and denture making, even spectacles and boiler making. It’s sort of like the Olympics for manual trades, with medals awarded to winners.

Winners are allowed to wear the coveted red, white, and blue collar, an honour so revered that it is illegal, an imprisonable offence, to wear it if you aren’t entitled to.

What is a MOF?

The history of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France – MOF – began in 1924 as a response to a crisis in the manual  professions. A national competition invited workers to compete to become the best in their field. Today this award of excellence has been institutionalized and is recognized as a third level degree by the French Ministry of Labor. Medals are awarded at the Sorbonne, followed by a ceremony at the Élysée Palace in the presence of the President of the French Republic.

How to become a Meilleur ouvrier de France

A contest is held every three or four years and each competitor must produce “one or more masterpieces” or participate in live tests. They train for months, sometimes years, spending hundreds and hundreds of hours perfecting their skills in order to be able to “submit excellence.” Each candidate is given a certain amount of time and basic materials in order to create a few masterpieces. In the field of the culinary arts, for example, the documentary, The Kings of Pastry, follows one pastry chef, in particular, through the gruelling process to become the top in his field. Technical skills and innovation combined with  an aesthetic sense and respect to tradition – and the ever watchful clock – make this film a heartbreakingly nail biting experience.

Keepers of their crafts

Juries consisting of 3000 volunteers are involved in judging the demanding and sometimes fiendishly complex tasks that competitors must fulfil to prove their mastery of their profession. They are judged not just on the end result, but on their techniques, speed and savoir faire. Thousands of applicants are whittled down to a handful of winners who are presented with a medal at a ceremony held at the Sorbonne and then attend a party hosted by the French President at the Elysée Palace.

The MOF title is granted for life and those who hold it are considered caretakers, keepers of their craft. They must uphold standards of excellence, and pass their knowledge on. To this end there is a similar contest aimed at those younger than 21: Meilleur Apprentis de France competition (Best Apprentice of France).

MOF currently has around 4,000 members, spread right across France. Members often wear their blue, white and red collars and shops often sport an awning proudly declaring their MOF status.

By Janine Marsh, Editor of www.thegoodlifefrance, author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online.

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Born some 200 years ago in Dole, Franche-Comté, world-famous chemist Louis Pasteur returned regularly to his native Jura. Gillian Thornton headed east to find out more.

As someone who loves both history and houses, I’ve always found it hard to resist a period property with a personality attached. But few have left such a lasting impression on me as the house of Louis Pasteur at Arbois in Franche-Comté. Full of atmosphere and personal artefacts, it feels as though the great man has just popped out for a baguette and could return at any moment.

Nestled up against Switzerland in the foothills of the Jura mountains, Arbois is a tranquil small town surrounded by a lush landscape of rolling pastures and vineyards. Not at all the place where you would expect to find a home-laboratory for a man who made some of the most important scientific findings of the age. Of any age. Now, 200 years after his birth, there are thought to be more French streets named after Louis Pasteur than any other public figure. So what exactly did he do?

To those of us with a sketchy grasp of science, the technicalities of Pasteur’s achievements can be hard to understand, especially when it comes to his first big discovery, molecular asymmetry. But it’s not hard to appreciate the difference his findings made to a 19^th century society that understood little about the causes of disease in plants, animals and humans. Pasteur was to change all that.

The story of Louis Pasteur

The story begins in Dole where Louis was born on 27 December 1882, the son of a tanner who had been decorated during the Napoleonic Wars. Two centuries later, the genius from the Jura has been celebrated throughout 2022 with exhibitions, scientific workshops and family activities across his native area and beyond.

But you can get close to this amazing man at any time. From February to November, the two properties most closely associated with the scientist and his family are open to the public, key sites on a self-drive Route Pasteur.

When Louis was four, the family moved to Arbois, 35 Km from Dole, where he attended the local primary school before moving to secondary school in nearby Besançon. In 1845, he was awarded a science degree in Paris and from then on, Pasteur focussed on a career on scientific research and teaching.

The discovery of Pasteurisation

At the age of just 31, Pasteur was appointed Dean of the Science Faculty at Lille University where he began to study fermentation. He spent several years studying both the beneficial and harmful effects of microbes on foodstuffs, applying his findings to the contamination problems that beset the French wine and beer industries. And in 1862, he came up with a revolutionary process to kill off bad microbes. Named pasteurization in his honour, it has been applied to milk and a wide range of other foods ever since.

Pasteur’s legacy

One discovery led to another. By 1866, Pasteur and his wife Marie had lost three of their five children – two to typhoid fever and one from a liver tumour. Diseases, he realised, were caused by germs, and from 1867, Pasteur promoted the sterilization of surgical instruments and the importance of cleaning wounds that soon produced radical improvements in public health. He also addressed the disease crisis in the French silk industry and identified the organisms responsible for contaminating silkworms. But there was still work to be done. During the anthrax epidemic of the 1870s, Pasteur turned his attention to immunology, coming up with vaccines for both anthrax and rabies.

Louis Pasteur’s health declined steadily after a stroke in 1894 and he died a year later on 28 September 1895 in Paris, where he had lived with his wife for the last seven years. At her request, he was buried in a crypt beneath the Pasteur Institute, founded by him in 1888 for research into infectious diseases, his tomb surrounded by Byzantine-style mosaics that honour his many discoveries.

But step inside Pasteur’s front door in Dole or in Arbois and you are instantly transported back two centuries to a world before modern medicine to meet a man whose curiosity and determination changed all our lives for the better. The very least we can do is name roads after him.

PASTEUR COUNTRY

Dole: Visit Pasteur’s birthplace close to the banks of the Doubs and the canal that linked the former tanneries. Follow the brass plates in the pavement of a perched cat – Le Circuit du Chat Perché – for 4Km to discover the hidden treasures of this charming Art & History town, capital of the Comté region in the 15^th century. Doletourisme.fr

Arbois: Centre of the Jura winemaking industry, Arbois was home to the Pasteur family from 1823; visit at your own pace with a tablet, ‘guided’ by his nephew.  Walk the Circuit Pasteur; indulge yourself with handmade chocolates from Maison Hirsinger; and explore the vineyards and hiking trails of the local Coeur du Jura area. coeurdujura-tourisme.com

Gillian Thornton is a writer who specialises in France and lifestyle.

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Discover the cuisine credentials of France’s most famous novelist – Alexandre Dumas…

In 2002, for the bicentennial of Alexandre Dumas’ birth, then French President Jacques Chirac arranged a ceremony honouring the renowned author by transferring his ashes to the Panthéon, a mausoleum for France’s most distinguished citizens, in Paris. The most read French novelist in the world, Dumas’ remains were laid to rest alongside those of Victor Hugo and Émile Zola, his casket was carried through the street of Paris by Four Republican guards dressed as the 4 Musketeers

Dumas, wrote in an amazing variety of genres – plays, essays, short stories, histories, historical novels, romances, crime stories and travel books. And he also wrote a cookbook: the 1,150-page, Le Grand Dictionaire de Cuisine for he was not only a prolific writer, but a consummate gourmet cook and bon vivant.

Alexandre Dumas – nom de plume

Alexandre Dumas was born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie in 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts, Picardy, France, to Marie-Louise Labouret and General Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie. Dumas’ nom de plume derives from his grandmother on his father’s side, Marie-Cosette Dumas, a Haitian slave, and his grandfather, the Marquis Alexandre– Antoine Davy de La Pailleterie.

His father, Thomas-Alexandre, rose to the distinguished rank of general at the young age of 31 under Napoléon Bonaparte’s command, but died a few years later when Dumas was still a child. His mother, Marie-Louise, struggled to make ends meet and provide an education for her son using the few resources she had. The precocious Dumas’ young appetite lusted for literature and he read everything he could find, while his mother’s stories about his father’s bravery during Bonaparte’s campaigns fuelled his imagination. And, although poor, his paternal grandfather’s aristocratic lineage and his father’s illustrious reputation eventually helped him secure a place in school, and then, in 1822, at the age of 20, a position at the Palais Royal in Paris in the office of the Duc d’Orléans. In his spare time, while working for the Duc, Dumas began writing plays in a Romantic style similar to his contemporary (and later rival) Victor Hugo. They were so popular that he made enough money to quit his job and write full-time.

A man of prodigious appetites

In 1830, King of France Charles X was overthrown and the Duc d’Orléans became the ruler of France: King Louis-Philippe. By now Dumas was making good money and founded a writing studio with a willing cadre of assistants and collaborating writers. His novels including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo were so popular they were first translated into English, and then into a hundred languages, and were eventually transformed into over 200 films. The books earned him enormous sums of money and enabled him to indulge his love of sumptuous living. He loved rich food and expensive wine and was said to have more than 40 mistresses – despite being married. He was a man of tremendous energy and enormous self-esteem, described by peers as a giant, both in mind and body. Dumas boasted, “If I were locked in a room with five women, pens, paper, and a play to be written, by the end of an hour I would have finished the five acts and had the five women.”

He also had a castle built which he called the Chateau de Monte-Cristo. In the grounds was a smaller castle which was his writing studio. He called it the Chateau d’If after the setting of The Count of Monte Cristo, a small fortress island in the Bay of Marseille. Here he hosted fabulous parties, serving up dishes he created. The castle is now open to the public, a legacy of Dumas’ fertile imagination.

A consummate cookbook

The idea of writing a cookbook had been in Dumas’ mind for years. He would begin it, he said, “…when I caught the first glimpse of death on the horizon.”

In 1869 he retreated to Normandy with his cook. Six months later, his Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine was finished. Of his book he said, “It will be read by wordily people and used by professionals. In cookery as in writing, all things are possible.” He called it his “pillow of my old age.:

True to his vision, Dumas succumbed to a stroke in December 1870.

Dumas’s epicurean tour of the alphabet, from absinthe to zest, is a treasure chest of hundreds of recipes, and reminiscences. Written without measurements, it is a master storyteller’s collection of consummate prose, worthy of being read as literature. Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine was published posthumously in 1873 and remained in print in its original form until the 1950s. In 1882 Le Petit Dictionnaire de Cuisine was published consisting of just Dumas’ recipes. In 2005, Alexandre Dumas’ Dictionary of Cuisine was edited, abridged and translated into English by Louis Colman.

Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine is truly a monumental work. Not only amazing for its collection of old world recipes, stories and historical facts, it creates a cumulatively unique portrait of the man himself. Dumas avowed he would not eat pâté de foie gras because the ducks and geese “…are submitted to unheard of tortures worse than those suffered under the early Christians.”

A literary work – not just recipes

And his description of the perfect number of dinner guests within the parentheses of ancient history still holds true today: “…Varro, the learned librarian, tells us that the number of guests at a Roman dinner was ordinarily three or nine. As many as the Graces, no more than the Muses. Among the Greeks, there were sometimes seven diners, in honour of Pallas. The sterile number seven was consecrated to the goddess of wisdom, as a symbol of her virginity. But the Greeks especially liked the number six, because it is round. Plato favoured the number 28, in honour of Phoebe, who runs her course in 28 days. The Emperor Verus wanted 12 guests at his table in honour of Jupiter, which takes 12 years to revolve around the sun. Augustus, under whose reign women began to take their place in Roman society, habitually had 12 men and 12 women, in honour of the 12 gods and goddesses. In France, any number except 13 is good.”

For Dumas a perfect dinner is also “a major daily activity which can be accomplished in worthy fashion only by intelligent people. It is not enough to eat. To dine, there must be diversified conversation which should sparkle with rubies of wine between courses, be deliciously suave with the sweetness of dessert and acquire true profundity by the time coffee is served.”

Sue Aran lives in the Gers department of southwest France where she runs French Country Adventures which provides private, personally-guided, small-group food & wine adventures into Gascony, the Pays Basque, Tarn, Provence and beyond…

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Think of Nice and images of the glistening Mediterranean bordering the iconic Promenade des Anglais swim into view. Less well-known are the many sites and neighborhoods that achieved UNESCO World Heritage status in July 2021. According to UNESCO, Nice “reflects the development of a city devoted to winter tourism, making the most of its mild climate and its coastal situation, between sea and mountains.” Jeanne Oliver, author of Nice Uncovered: Walks Through the Secret Heart of a Historic City, explores the tourist heritage of Nice…

UNESCO-listed “Nice Winter Resort Town of the Riviera”

Tourism has defined the development of Nice for well over 200 years. And it’s this that has seen UNESCO recognise the “Outstanding Universal Value” of Nice’s heritage in terms of architecture, landscape and urban planning, and an area of 522 hectares shaped by the cosmopolitan winter resort which has resulted in a spectacular fusion of international cultural influences.

The first tourist was arguably Scotsman Tobias Smollett who praised Nice in his bestseller Travels Through France and Italy published in 1766. His British readers were intrigued and began visiting Nice in the late 18^th century. They first settled on the land west of Cours Saleya, which opened for development after the town walls were destroyed in 1706. Rue François de Paule was considered chic even before the Opera was built in the late 19^th century.

By the beginning of the 19th century the trickle of British visitors turned into a steady stream. They fanned out to what is now the Carré d’Or and clustered in a community around the Croix de Marbre. Stores selling products from home sprouted up in the neighborhood they called “Newborough”.

How Nice developed due to tourists

These early Brits avoided the crowded, dirty streets of the Old Town but they liked to stroll the rue des Ponchettes which bordered the square Cours Saleya which was turned into a garden promenade. However, to access the walkways, they had to cross a bridge which spanned the Paillon river and then make their way through the Old Town. In 1822 the Reverend Lewis Way of Nice’s new Anglican Church raised money to construct a path along the sea, easily accessible from their neighborhood. The path, Chemin des Anglais, was completed in 1824. It reached from the western banks of the Paillon river to rue Meyerbeer. Over the course of the 19^th century, it was extended west and eventually became the Promenade des Anglais.

A stroll west along the Promenade reveals spectacular examples of Belle Epoque architecture. The Villa Masséna, now the Masséna Museum, is a fine example of a private villa on the Promenade, while the Hotel Negresco heads a procession of elegant 19^th century hotels.

Nice’s 19th-century rulers, the Dukes of Savoy, quickly recognized the potential of the “distinguished foreign visitors” which included Russians, Germans, and Americans. From the mid-19th century onward, every urbanization decision taken was aimed at increasing the comfort and enjoyment of holidaymakers. Foreign tourists liked exotic vegetation? Let’s plant the Promenade des Anglais with palm trees! Foreign tourists liked gardens? The Jardin Albert 1er became a 19th-century seaside park, while the ruins of the old Colline du Chateau became a hilltop park with sea views.

Architectural style

The opening of the Nice train station in 1864 shortly after Nice became part of France in 1860, sparked the development of the Quartier des Musiciens. Boulevard Victor Hugo was the first street to be laid out and the rest followed in a grid pattern. Fabulous Belle Epoque residences such as the Palais Baréty were followed by a new style, Art Deco, in the interwar period.

The verdant hill of Cimiez already had a few Belle Epoque hotels even before Queen Victoria chose the Excelsior Regina Hotel as her preferred holiday spot in 1895. Within a decade the entire neighborhood was transformed from farmland to a playground for European nobility. The stately apartment buildings now lining the Boulevard de Cimiez were designed as hotels and followed contemporary tastes. When Orientalism came into vogue at the turn of the 20th century, minarets were chosen to adorn the Hotel Alhambra.

Another neighborhood favored by 19th-century Brits was Mont Boron, the hill between Nice and Villefranche-sur-Mer. In 1891 they founded the l’Association Des Amis Des Arbres to protect trees and wooded areas against over-development. The Chateau de l’Anglais, built by Colonel Robert Smith was inspired by his tour of duty in India and brings a touch of exoticism to this forested hill.

Just as the British aristocracy congregated in Cimiez and Mont Boron, the Russian aristocracy followed Tsar Alexander II to the Piol neighborhood after he wintered there in 1864. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, consecrated in 1912, testifies to the long Russian presence in Nice.

A world famous heritage site

The only part of the more than 500-hectare UNESCO-protected area that had little to do with tourism development is Port Lympia. It was vital to Nice’s export trade however and most of it does date from the late 19th-century.

Nice’s World Heritage designated area covers almost all the city’s highlights except for one surprising omission. The winding streets of Vieux Nice north of Cours Saleya are not UNESCO listed. Most of the baroque churches and pastel buildings date from the 18th century and thus are before Nice’s development as a tourist destination.

Jeanne Oliver is a travel writer who lives in Nice. She is the author of Nice Uncovered: Walks through the Secret Heart of a Historic City. Find out more at jeanneoliver.net

The post The UNESCO-listed Treasures of Nice appeared first on The Good Life France.

Each year there is a contest in France in which the French vote for their favourite monument. Every region puts forward a candidate and a TV Show features each monument and the public get to decide who the winner is.

It’s not an easy choice, more than a dozen truly magnificent venues are put forward each year. In 2022 the list consisted of:

The Cherbourg Transatlantic Maritime Station and the Le Redoutable submarine in Normandy

The largest visitable submarine in the world and the Transatlantic Maritime station, in its time, the largest construction in France after Versailles. An aquarium, exhibitions, permanent collection – it’s an extraordinary ode to maritime history. This was the winner of France’s 2022 contest for Favourite Monument of the French

The Rock and the Chapel of Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

The chapel built on top of a tall rock is nothing short of mind-blowing. How did they do it? 268 steps to the top, the work that must have been involved in building this incredible monument is simply astonishing.

The Château d’Azay-le-Rideau in the Centre-Val de Loire

A romantic 16^th century castle on its own island in the middle of the Indre river in the Loire Valley – the Chateau of Azay le Rideau is utterly irresistible.

The prehistoric site of Filitosa in Corsica

The 8000 year old megalithic site in southern Corsica is truly stunning. Statues-menhirs and monuments trace the footsteps of one of the earliest civilisations on the island of beauty.

Read more about Corsica

The Chapel of the Maison Saint-Yves in Brittany

The chapel, a jewel of art deco style, was opened to the public in 2017. In the lovely Saint-Brieuc area, it’s just another reason to fall in love with Brittany’s Cote d’Armor.

Fontenay Abbey in Burgundy-Franche-Comté

Founded by Saint Bernard in 1118, the Abbey of Fontenay is one of the oldest Cistercian monasteries in France. Following Saint Bernard’s careful layout, visitors first explore the church, followed by the dormitory, the cloisters, the chapter house, the scriptorium, the warming room and the forge. It is one of the first French monuments to have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Fort of Schoenenbourg in the Grand Est

30 metres underground, 3 kilometres of galleries of the famed Maginot line a  vast fortified defence line built in the early 20^th century. A visit to this preserved section in Schoenenbourg near Riquewihr Alsace, speaks of the past.

The historic mining center of Lewarde in Hauts-de-France

Discover three centuries of the history of mining in France, a jewel of industrial heritage near Lens.

The Zévallos Habitation in Guadeloupe (Overseas)

In the overseas ‘department’ of France in sunny Guadeloupe, the heritage site and gardens are being restored and preserved.

The Castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte in Île-de-France

The Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte was commissioned by Louis XIV’s finance Minister Nicholas Fouquet. He lavished money on the design, employing the best artisans of the day. It took 20 years to build and Fouquet intended it to be good enough to house a King and invited Louis XIV to stay when it was complete. The King in a fit of jealousy threw Fouquet in prison – surely only by stealing could a non-royal build a better home than the King. Later Louis built Versailles. Never again would anyone outshine him…

The Rochefort Transporter Bridge in New Aquitaine

Inaugurated in July 1900, this is the last working ferry bridge in France. Travel back through history when you cross the River Charente on this extraordinary heritage mobile bridge near the historic city of Rochefort.

Saint-Martin-du-Canigou Abbey in Occitanie

Discover a thousand years of history at the 11^th century abbey built on a rock promontory near Perpignan.

The Robert Tatin Museum in Pays de la Loire

This weird, whacky and wonderful monument was the home of extraordinary French artist Robert Tatin. It features a walkway of giants, and the most incredible home which looks like it has been beamed to the countryside of Laval from an ancient south American site…

The Synagogue of Carpentras in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

The oldest active Synagogue in France, this 14^th century monument in Carpentras in Provence, is exceptionally beautiful and historic.

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