Hiking and Walking in France
Hiking near Paris The Parisian Banlieue – a term covering anything from just outside of the city limits to villages and small towns a one-hour railway journey away – has a bad reputation, not all of it undeserved. But for every town over which a pallor of tristesse – actually, the bitterness of exile –…
Day Trip from Paris Remember when I took you on an unexpectedly adventurous journey from Pontoise to the outskirts of Auvers sur Oise? And I promised you: no more bad surprises? Today, I am going to keep that promise. The Auvers-sur-Oise Van Gogh knew The first thing you will notice when crossing the bridge into…
Hiking in France We headed back to the Mediterranean for some unfinished business. The Sentier Littoral Revisited Last year, my son and I visited the southern French town of to hike along the Sentier Littoral, the footpath that stretches along the entire length of the country’s coastline. When we inquired at the local tourism office for…
French Riviera Walks How about this… … a short walk through the prettiest town in France, topped off by a visit to one of the world’s most famous gardens, with splendid views over the Mediterranean Sea throughout? Menton, in the extreme southeastern corner of France, combines the best of France – a downtown area of…
Hiking trails near Paris The Parisian banlieue has a bad reputation, not all of it undeserved. At its worst, the urban sprawl beyond the Parisian city limits is an uncomfortable and possibly even dangerous place (for those of you who haven’t seen the movie La Haine, think of the South Bronx or Tower Hamlets), while most…
Day Trip from Paris The White House Le Corbusier Built I am not a great fan of art museums – mainly because I have hardly ever learned anything from looking at a picture on a museum wall that I had not already learned from looking at a good reproduction in a book. Architecture, however, is…
Day Trip from Paris Memories of Two World Wars The highlight of our day hike in Compiegne was the visit to the Musee de l’Armistice to view some of the relics of two world wars. Aside from the monument erected to honour the war dead, we saw relics of two world wars that were on display too….
Hiking near Paris Easy Hiking in Compiegne Compiègne is a handsome market town 60 km north of Paris. It houses Napoleon’s favourite castle, a beautiful Renaissance Town Hall and a 13th century church. I bet you did not know that Compiegne has a proud history as an Olympic town, too – it hosted the golf competition…
In Memory of Angelique Dumetz The day we chose to hike in Compiegne was perfectly sunny and hot as any summer day considering Autumn has already arrived. We were jauntily reaching the end of the first half of the trail when we saw, alongside the trail, this “tomb” or what we took as one. It…
Hiking Holidays in Europe Hiking Along The French Coastline The “Sentier Littoral” is the footpath that stretches along the French coastline. All of it. In Napoleon’s view, the French coast represented a national treasure, and he gave all French citizens a universal right to access. A strip at least three meters wide, he decreed, would…
