The charming town of Colmar is the ideal place to start exploring the so-called Route du Vin, and all the picturesque towns and villages of the Alsatian wine-growing region. It doesn’t get any prettier than Colmar, with its picturesque half-timbered houses, romantic canals, window boxes laden with bright flowers, a labyrinth of cobblestone lanes, and the delicious food and wine of the region.
The city of Mulhouse is located in the far south of the Alsace region, on the Ill river and a canal of the river Rhine, between the Vosges and Jura mountains, at the crossroads of three countries: France, Switzerland and Germany. Its location is reflected in the city’s rich cultural mix, language and cuisine. It became one of the most important industrial centres in the country, firstly for the textile industry and later for chemicals, engineering and vehicle manufacturing. Although these activities suggest a less-than-attractive destination, it is a surprisingly inviting city, with a rich heritage of historic buildings, attractive squares and pedestrianised streets. As well, Mulhouse is known for its museums, including one housing the world’s biggest car collection.
The famous passages couverts—covered passages—of Paris were an early form of shopping arcades, mostly dating from the first half of the 19th century. By the 1850s, there were around 150 covered passages in Paris, although Haussmann’s massive urban renewal program of Paris saw a number of these demolished. Of those that remain, some are still dusty and forgotten, awaiting revitalisation, but there are many that have been beautifully restored to their original Art Nouveau or Neoclassical splendour. Here are just some of them.
On a recent visit to France, we planned on visiting the beautiful Alsace Lorraine region on the country’s eastern border with Switzerland, where we had not been for a number of years. For a stopover, we decided to stay in Besançon, capital of the region of Franche Comté, a town that we had only briefly passed through years ago. We did some preliminary research into the attractions of Besançon and realised we had missed out on a very interesting, lovely town, whose history dates back to the 1st century BCE. It also has one of the country’s most spectacular citadels, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—surely a good enough reason to visit this fascinating town.
When news broke on 15 April 2019 that a fire had started to engulf the iconic Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, along with most of the world, we held our collective breaths as we sat, transfixed in front of the TV. The very thought that this wonderful building, which many regard as the true symbol of Paris, could collapse was almost too much to bear. We had been in Paris a few weeks before the fire and were due to return in May 2019, and we had mixed emotions, from dread at the sight of the appalling disaster to great curiosity and anticipation about seeing first-hand, the start of the massive stabilisation and conservation program that had been put in place with lightning speed.
