Berlitz Pocket Guide France (Travel Guide eBook)
By Berlitz
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About this ebook
Inside Berlitz Pocket Guide France:
· Where To Go details all the key sights in the country, including the iconic Eiffel Tower and world-famous Louvre museum in Paris, to the historic D-day beaches in Normandy and the glittering French Riviera, while handy maps on the cover flaps help you find your way around, and are cross-referenced to the text.
· Top 10 Attractions gives a run-down of the best sights to take in on your trip, including Paris's Notre-Dame.
· Perfect Day provides an itinerary for one day in the country.
· What To Do is a snapshot of ways to spend your spare time in the country, from walking the streets of Paris, to lazing on golden sand beaches.
· Essential information on France's culture, including a brief history of the country.
· Eating Out covers the country's best cuisine.
· Curated listings of the best hotels and restaurants.
· A-Z of all the practical information you'll need.
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Berlitz Pocket Guide France (Travel Guide eBook) - Berlitz
How To Use This E-Book
Getting Around the e-Book
This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to France, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.
The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of France, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.
In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.
Maps
All key attractions and sights in France are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.
Images
You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of France. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.
About Berlitz Pocket Guides
The Berlitz story began in 1877 when Maximilian Berlitz devised his revolutionary method of language learning. More than 130 years later, Berlitz is a household name, famed not only for language schools but also as a provider of best-selling language and travel guides.
Our wide-ranging travel products – printed travel guides and phrase books, as well as apps and ebooks – offer all the information you need for a perfect trip, and are regularly updated by our team of expert local authors. Their practical emphasis means they are perfect for use on the ground. Wherever you’re going – whether it’s on a short break, the trip of a lifetime, a cruise or a business trip – we offer the ideal guide for your needs.
Our Berlitz Pocket Guides are the perfect choice if you need reliable, concise information in a handy format. We provide amazing value for money – these guides may be small, but they are packed with information. No wonder they have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.
© 2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd
Table of Contents
France’s Top 10 Attractions
Top Attraction #1
Top Attraction #2
Top Attraction #3
Top Attraction #4
Top Attraction #5
Top Attraction #6
Top Attraction #7
Top Attraction #8
Top Attraction #9
Top Attraction #10
A Perfect Tour of Normandy and Brittany
Introduction
Geography
The Northwest
Border Country
Wine Country
Southern Heartland, Côte d’Azur and Corsica
The Capital
A Cultural Responsibility
A Brief History
From Gaul to France
The Middle Ages
The Ancien Régime
The Sun King
The Revolution
Napoleon Bonaparte
Towards Democracy
The Third Republic
War and Peace
May 1968
The Presidents
Into the 21st Century
Historical Landmarks
Where To Go
Paris
The Islands
Ile de la Cité
Ile St-Louis
The Right Bank
Etoile to place de la Concorde
The Louvre
Palais Royal
Les Halles
Centre Pompidou
The Marais
The Bastille
Place Vendôme
The Opéra and Grands Boulevards
Place de la Madeleine
Place d’Iéna and Palais de Chaillot
Montmartre and Pigalle
La Villette
The Left Bank
The Latin Quarter
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Musée d’Orsay
Around the Invalides
The Eiffel Tower
Montparnasse
West Paris
Ile-de-France
Versailles
The Palace
The Gardens
Chartres
Fontainebleau
Parc Astérix and Disneyland Resort Paris
The Northeast
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Le Touquet and Boulogne-sur-Mer
Montreuil-sur-Mer
Hesdin and Les Sept Vallées
St-Omer
Lille
Lens
Arras
Picardy
St-Valéry-sur-Somme and Péronne
Amiens
Compiègne
Senlis
Chantilly
Champagne-Ardennes
Reims
Epernay
Troyes
Lorraine
Nancy
Metz
Alsace
Strasbourg
Route du Vin
Colmar
Burgundy
Auxerre
Vallée du Serein
Abbaye de Fontenay
Vézelay
Autun
Dijon
Route des Grands Crus
Beaune
Chalon-sur-Saône
Cluny
The Jura
Besançon
Arc-et-Senans
Vallée de la Loue
Les Reculées
The Northwest
Normandy
Dieppe
Rouen
Jumièges
Honfleur
Deauville
Côte Fleurie
Pays d’Auge
Caen
Bayeux
D-Day Beaches
Mont-St-Michel
Brittany
Côte d’Emeraude
Dinan
The Parish Close Road
Huelgoat
Brest
Carnac
La Baule
Loire Valley
Orléans
Blois
Chambord
Amboise
Chenonceau
Loches
Azay-le-Rideau
Saumur
Angers
Nantes
The Southeast
Savoie
Chamonix
Annecy
Aix-les-Bains
The Rhône Valley
Lyon
Auvergne
Provence
Orange
Vaison-la-Romaine
Pont du Gard
Arles
The Camargue
Les Baux-de-Provence
Avignon
The Lubéron and Vaucluse
Aix-en-Provence
The Côte d’Azur
Marseille
St-Tropez
Cannes to Biot
St-Paul-de-Vence
Nice
Les Corniches
Monaco
Corsica
Ajaccio
Bonifacio
Porto-Vecchio
Golfe de Porto
The Southwest
Berry-Limousin
Bourges
Limoges
Uzerche
Périgord
Vallée de la Vézère
Dordogne
Sarlat
Rocamadour
The Atlantic Coast
La Rochelle
Ile de Ré
Bordeaux
St-Emilion
The Pyrenees
Biarritz
Pays Basque
Pau
Toulouse
Albi
Languedoc-Roussillon
Carcassonne
Perpignan
Béziers and the Golfe du Lion
Montpellier
Nîmes
What To Do
Sports
Outdoor Pursuits
Winter Activities
Water Sports
Spectator Sports
Entertainment
Classical Music, Opera and Ballet
Theatre
Jazz
Rock
Clubbing
Cinema
Shopping
Shopping by Area
Opening Hours
Market Shopping
Buying Direct
Tax
Festivals and Events
Eating Out
Where to Eat
Menu Choices
What to Eat
Regional Cuisine
What to Drink
Apéritifs
Wine, Beer and Water
Digestifs
Reading the Menu
Useful Phrases
To Help You Order…
…and Read the Menu
A–Z Travel Tips
A
Accommodation
Airports (aéroports)
B
Bicycle and Moped Hire (location de bicyclettes/mobylettes)
Budgeting for Your Trip
C
Camping
Car Hire (location de voitures)
Climate
Crime and Theft (délit; vol)
D
Driving
E
Electricity
Embassies and Consulates (ambassades; consulats)
Emergencies (urgence)
G
Gay and Lesbian Travellers
Getting There (see also Airports)
H
Health and Medical Care
L
Language
M
Maps
Media
Money
O
Opening Times
P
Police
Post Offices (bureau de poste)
Public Holidays
T
Telephones (téléphones)
Time Differences
Tipping
Toilets (toilettes)
Tourist Information
Transport
V
Visas and Entry Requirements
W
Websites
France’s Top 10 Attractions
Top Attraction #1
iStock
The Côte d’Azur
This glamorous stretch of coast has long been the playground of the rich and famous. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #2
Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications
Bayeux Tapestry
Normandy’s great treasure and a fascinating glimpse into the past. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #3
Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications
Wine tours
Exploring the vineyards of Alsace, Burgundy or the Rhône Valley makes for a fabulous driving holiday. For more information, click here, click here andclick here.
Top Attraction #4
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications
The Eiffel Tower
One of the most evocative images of France. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #5
Shutterstock
The French Alps
This spectacular natural border to the east is a magnet for skiers. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #6
iStock
Provence
This southern region is packed with historical and cultural gems. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #7
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Versailles
A magnificent palace every bit as extravagant as its creator, Louis XIV. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #8
iStock
The Loire Valley
The elaborate châteaux are icons of romance. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #9
Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications
The Louvre
This erstwhile palace is now home to the largest art collection in the world. For more information, click here.
Top Attraction #10
Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications
Lascaux
The 17,000-year-old cave paintings in Périgord are the jewels of an area blessed with many prehistoric remains. For more information, click here.
A Perfect Tour of Normandy and Brittany
Day 1
Discover Normandy
Whether approaching from Paris or the Channel ports, our tour starts in Rouen, the home of Impressionism. Begin by exploring its spectacular cathedral and its many historic sights before heading north to the coast to the picturesque port of Honfleur or elegant Deauville. Enjoy the catch-of-the-day at a nearby seafood restaurant.
Day 2
World War II
Head west along the D513 to Caen to visit the memorial museum, which places the D-Day beaches in context. Alternatively continue over the Pegasus Bridge directly to the D-Day beaches. After the poignant experience make your way south to Bayeux to spend two nights.
Day 3
Bayeux Tapestry
Given that the queues can be long make an early start to view the wonderful Bayeux Tapestry (9am). There is, however, more to the town than this treasure, so wander the streets of this ancient place that retains its buildings untouched by war and discover some excellent restaurants. If there is time, go back to the coast on the D6 to the attractive fishing village of Port-en-Bessin.
Day 4
Mont St-Michel
Head out early southwest on the D57 bypassing St-Lô and on to the D999 south to Villedieu-les-Poêles, then take the more scenic D924 to Granville and hug the coast road to Mont-St-Michel. Here you can explore the Benedictine abbey with its spectacular views of the bay. Do not cross by any other route than the causeway as the tides and quicksands are dangerous. Continue along the coast road and stay the night at the walled city of St-Malo.
Day 5
Explore Brittany
Spend the day in St Malo, stroll its attractive streets or take a bracing walk with views of the Emerald Coast. Or relax at the elegant resort of Dinard. Then check out the pretty town of Dinan just inland. If it happens to be a Thursday there is a colourful local market.
Days 6-7
Back to nature
Take the faster route via the E50 165km (103 miles) to Morlaix and then the D769 south to Huelgoat and spend a couple of days walking or cycling in the enchanting Parc Régional d’Armorique, staying in a B & B in the pretty little town.
Day 8
Ancient Carnac
Continue (approx. 130km/81 miles) south cross-country on the D769 and finally follow the coast road to Carnac with its fascinating megaliths. Learn more about the ancient stones at the Musée de la Préhistoire. There are plenty of places to spend the night and you can round off the day with a seafood meal.
Day 9
Beachside
Head south to relax on the beach at sophisticated La Baule or, to wind down, visit the fishing port of Le Croisic on the peninsula. If you need to stretch your legs there are some great hiking trails along the rugged coastline.
Introduction
For many years France was a nation of internal contrasts – between the more urban and industrial north and the rural south, between the intellectual élite and the largely agricultural workforce, between chic Paris and the less sophisticated provincial cities – and a nation that saw itself as standing alone, distinct from all others. Much has changed in recent times. Paris is no longer the exclusive Mecca for ambitious young French from the provinces; cities around the country are attracting young professionals who want to escape the more frenetic life in the Ile de France; the number of agricultural workers has shrunk dramatically; industrial and high-tech centres have sprung up around the country; provincial cities are developing their own international reputations; and immigration and increasing migration of populations within a ‘border-free’ European Union are blurring the edges of the French identity.
Quality of life remains a paramount preoccupation. It is no accident that the French are best known for their food and wine, their clothes and perfumes, their art and monumental architecture. Their love of perfection serves them well.
Geography
France is blessed with an astonishing variety of landscapes: long, high dunes on the Atlantic Coast; craggy coves in Brittany; vineyards in Burgundy; steep gorges in the Tarn Valley; volcanic landscapes in the Auvergne, olive trees, umbrella pines and cypresses in Provence and beautiful beaches in the Côte d’Azur. At around 550,980 sq km (212,735 sq miles), France is the 48th largest country in the world. It escaped the gouging glaciers of the Ice Age, so on the whole its landscape is mellow and pastoral, characterised by gentle hills and plateaux, carved by deep river valleys. Imposing mountains lie only along the eastern and southern frontiers. Outside the major urban industrial areas, the rural population is spread thinly over huge areas.
Later geophysical development in the southeastern Garonne region left profound impressions between younger and older hills, providing perfect conditions for the formation of valuable minerals as well as oil and natural gas. To add to France’s fortune, an extensive network of rivers, such as the Garonne, provides much fertile agricultural land. Some 34 percent of the land is farmed, and although the economic importance of the agricultural sector is declining, there has been a substantial increase in the number of small organic farms in recent years.
Looking out to the Mont-St-Michel
Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications
Lie of the Land
France is by far the largest country in Western Europe, a hexagon measuring some 1,000km (620 miles) from north to south and east to west. It is bounded by three seas (the English Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean) and three mountain ranges (the Pyrénées, the Alps and the Jura). The country’s four main rivers are: the Loire, running west to the Atlantic from the plateau of the Massif Central; the Seine, flowing northwest from Burgundy through Paris to the Channel; the Garonne, which comes down from the Pyrénées past Toulouse and Bordeaux to the Atlantic; and the Rhône, which starts in the Swiss Alps, then turns south at Lyon and flows down to the Mediterranean.
The Northwest
To the northwest of the country are Brittany and Normandy, each with independent peoples and traditions dating back millennia. The thatched cottages, bent apple trees and locally produced cheeses and ciders of Normandy contribute to the region’s popularity as a place to visit. Many painters, understandably, have been drawn to the gentle green countryside, dotted with fields of black-and-white cows under a dramatic and often stormy sky, as well as to the picturesque, colourful fishing ports along the coast.
Further to the west, the craggy coastline and harsh landscape of Brittany continue to evoke the druidical presence of the region’s original Celtic roots. Particularly intriguing are the mysterious fields of megaliths and the pink granite rocks of the Corniche Bretonne. Fishing is a major industry in this area.
The subdued Loire Valley, dug out by France’s longest river (980km/609 miles), remains one of the country’s chief tourist attractions. The splendid châteaux and gardens of Touraine are still redolent of the glory of the Ancien Régime and its aristocratic pleasures.
Border Country
To the northeast are the old provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The Rhineland is the least well defined of the six borders of the hexagon, and the result has been an unending series of nasty territorial disputes between France and Germany over the past few centuries. Alsace was especially valuable because its mines turned France into an important producer of iron ore. The city of Strasbourg, which houses the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, has a German feel in its architecture and its culinary specialities but it remains nonetheless defiantly French. Indeed, that paragon of French patriotism, Joan of Arc, hailed from neighbouring Lorraine, although she was martyred by the English in Rouen.
Located not far south from Strasbourg are the gentle Jura mountains and below them the French Alps, which stretch all the way down to the Alpes Maritimes and Côte d’Azur in the far south of the country. The imposing icy white peak of Mont Blanc, at an impressive 4,810m (15,780ft), is the highest mountain in Europe, and its broad-shouldered shape, once seen, is never forgotten.
Wine Country
A large number of French towns and provinces are most famous for the high-quality wines that bear their name. Bubbly, for example, is the Champagne region’s best-known offering, but the entire northeast is also a major industrial and agricultural region. Similarly, the long river valley running parallel to the eastern frontier and connecting the Saône with the Rhône River not only cradles the vineyards of the regions of Burgundy, Beaujolais and the Rhône, it also aids communication between the north of the country and the south.
The world-renowned vineyards of Burgundy
Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications
Southern Heartland, Côte d’Azur and Corsica
Directly south of the Loire Valley is the enormous Massif Central, which lies in the heart of the country and supplies France with much of its grain. The strange puys of Auvergne (steep conical hills, caused by volcanic eruption during the earth’s formation) contrast pleasantly with the rolling hills, plateaux and deep river valleys of neighbouring Périgord and Limousin, located just over to its west.
That the lush Dordogne river valley, in Périgord, has been the site of human settlements for thousands upon thousands of years is evidenced by the prehistoric cave paintings found in its grottoes, particularly the enigmatic depictions of horses, elk and bison surrounded by arrows and strange symbols in the Lascaux cave complex, discovered in 1940 by two boys out walking their dog.
Further south still, basking under blue skies, is the sunny Midi. The landscape here, with its reds, yellows and browns, is very different again, with sun-baked clay buildings and a slower pace of life. That said, not even the south is visually uniform: the wide, yellow fields that seem to stretch forever, the even rows of plane trees and delightful red towns of Languedoc meld into the impossibly verdant Pyrenean mountain range towards the Spanish border, or the Cévennes and Ardèche national parks away to the east.
Many of the old southern cities, such as Toulouse, Montpellier and Nîmes have been quick to embrace the modern age, although there is still an indefinable languor about all of them. Montpellier is perhaps the most dynamic, with its many new buildings, a thriving university and medical school and TGV link to Paris, while Toulouse is famous for its aerospace industry and Nîmes has