Sights in Europe
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Old City
Despite serious damage by German attacks in 1940, Blois' old city is worth exploring, especially around the 17th-century Cathédrale St-Louis, with its lovely multistoreyed bell tower, dramatically floodlit after dark. Most of the stained glass inside was installed by Dutch artist Jan Dibberts in 2000.
Across the square, the facade of Maison des Acrobates is decorated with wooden sculptures taken from medieval farces, and one of the few 15th-century houses to survive. There's another example at No 13 called Hôtel de Villebrême.
Lovely panoramas unfold across town from the peaceful Jardins de l'Évêché and the top of the Escalier Denis Papin.
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Neuf-Brisach
Shaped like an eight-pointed star, Vauban’s fortified town of Neuf-Brisach was commissioned by Louis XIV in 1697 to strengthen French defences and prevent the area from falling to the Habsburgs.
A Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008, the citadel has remarkably well-preserved fortifications. The Musée Vauban, below the porte de Belfort gate, tells the history of the citadel through models, documents and building plans. Neuf-Brisach is just 4km from its German twin Breisach am Rhein on the banks of the River Rhine.
To reach Neuf-Brisach, 16km southeast of Colmar, follow the signs on the D415.
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Natzweiler-Struthof
About 25km west of Obernai stands Natzweiler-Struthof, the only Nazi concentration camp on French territory. In all, some 22,000 (40% of the total) of the prisoners interned here and at nearby annexe camps died; many were shot or hanged. In early September 1944, as US Army forces approached, the 5517 surviving inmates were sent to Dachau.
Today, the sombre remains of the camp are still surrounded by guard towers and concentric, once-electrified, barbed-wire fences. The fourcrématoire (crematorium ovens), the salle d’autopsie (autopsy room) and the chambre à gaz (gas chamber), 1.7km from the camp gate, bear grim witness to the atrocities committed here.
To get there…
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Museums
Bordeaux has a healthy collection of museums and galleries. Gallo-Roman statues and relics dating back 25,000 years are among the highlights at the impressive Musée d'Aquitaine. Ask to borrow an English-language catalogue.
Built in 1824 as a warehouse for French colonial produce like coffee, cocoa, peanuts and vanilla, the cavernous Entrepôts Lainé creates a dramatic backdrop for cutting-edge modern art at the CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain.
The evolution of Occidental art from the Renaissance to the mid-20th century is on view at Bordeaux' Musée des Beaux-Arts. Occupying two wings of the 1770s-built Hôtel de Ville, either side of the Jardin de la Mairie (an elegant…
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Musée Vauban
The Musée Vauban, below the porte de Belfort gate, tells the history of Neuf-Brisach through models, documents and building plans. Neuf-Brisach is just 4km from its German twin Breisach am Rhein on the banks of the River Rhine.
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Musée Judéo-Alsacien
The Musée Judéo-Alsacien with exhibits related to Alsatian Judaism is housed in a converted synagogue in Bouxwiller, 40km northwest of Strasbourg.
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Musée du Débarquement
This museum is on Utah Beach.
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Musée de l'Objet
This brilliant modern arts museum is based on the collection of the artist Eric Fabre, and concentrates on artworks made using everyday materials. Among the best pieces are a sculpture of coat-hangers by Man Ray, an objet scatologique (involving a large high-heeled shoe) by Salvador Dalí and a TV Buddha by Nam June Paik.
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Monument Juif
Accessible via the rue aux Juifs, the Monument Juif is the oldest Jewish communal structure in France and the only reminder of Rouen’s medieval Jewish community, expelled by Philippe le Bel in 1306.
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Maison des Étangs
A museum exploring La Sologne’s 2800 étangs (ponds).
reviewed
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Maison des Acrobates
The facade of Maison des Acrobates is decorated with wooden sculptures taken from medieval farces, and is one of the few 15th-century houses to survive.
reviewed
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Maison de la Magie
Opposite the château you can't miss the former home of watchmaker, inventor and conjurer Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–71) when, on the hour, dragons emerge roaring from the windows. It has entertaining live magic shows (three to four daily), exhibits on the history of magic and loads of optical trickery including a mysterious 'Hallucinoscope'. It's goofy, good fun! The great Harry Houdini named himself after Houdin, and there is a short historical film about the American magician.
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Le Suquet
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Le Clos Lucé
Leonardo da Vinci (pronounced van-see in French) took up residence in the grand manor house at Le Clos Lucé in 1516 on the invitation of François I, who was greatly enamoured with the Italian Renaissance. Already 64 by the time he arrived, da Vinci spent his time sketching, tinkering and dreaming up new contraptions: the house is jammed with scale models of many of his inventions. The expansive, beautiful gardens wind through forest and stream and are dotted with full-size replicas of his inventions including a protoautomobile, tank, bridges, hydraulic turbine and even a primitive helicopter. He died here on 2 May 1519.
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Hôtels Particuliers
Many of Dijon's finest houses lie north of the Palais des Ducs on and around rue Verrerie, rue Vannerie and rue des Forges, whose names reflect the industries that once thrived there (glassmaking, basket-weaving and metalsmithery, respectively). The early-17th-century Maison des Cariatides, its facade a riot of stone caryatids, soldiers and vines,is particularly fine. A bit to the west you'll find the 13th-century Hôtel Aubriot and the Renaissance-style Maison Maillard, all garlands and lions. Go inside the truly splendid 17th-century Hôtel Chambellan, from whose courtyard a spiral stone staircase leads up to remarkable vaulting.
Behind Église Notre Dame, the 17th-…
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Hôtel Aubriot
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Holyhead Mountain
West of town is Holyhead Mountain (219m), the highest point on Anglesey. At its summit are a prehistoric hill-fort called Caer-y-Twr and the remains of a 19th-century semaphore station. On a clear day you can see Ireland and the Isle of Man. From a car park at the end of Beach Rd a footpath winds round the mountain; the best access to the site is on the western side.
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Holyhead Maritime Museum
The refurbished Holyhead Maritime Museum, located in what is believed to be the oldest lifeboat house in Wales (c 1858), has model ships, photographs and exhibits on Holyhead's maritime history from Roman times onwards. The new café/bistro is an excellent place to eat.
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Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création
This fine-arts centre, designed by Frank Gehry, is expected to open sometime in 2013. It’s located just south of the Jardin d’Acclimatation
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Ellin's Tower Seabird Centre
Just off the road above the lighthouse, the RSPB-run Ellin's Tower Seabird Centre is the ideal place to look down at the island's choughs, fulmars, kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills, gulls and, from about mid-April to July, puffins. Follow South Stack Rd for about 2 miles to a car park - it is located at the road's end, where there is also a café.
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Église Notre Dame
A block north of the Palais des Ducs, Église Notre Dame was built between 1220 and 1240. The extraordinary facade's three tiers are lined with leering gargoyles separated by two rows of pencil-thin columns. The interior has a vast transept and 13th-century stained glass. High atop the church, the 14th-century Horloge à Jacquemart (Jacquemart Clock) was transported from Flanders in 1383 by Philip the Bold, who claimed it as a trophy of war. It chimes every quarter-hour.
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Domaine National de Chambord
This huge hunting reserve (the largest in Europe) stretches for 54 sq km around the château, and is reserved solely for the use of high-ranking French government personalities (though somehow it’s difficult to imagine Sarkozy astride a galloping stallion). About 10 sq km of the park is publicly accessible, with trails open to walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders.
It’s great for wildlife-spotting, especially in September and October during the deer mating season. Observation towers dot the park; set out at dawn or dusk to spot stags, boars and red deer.
Hire bikes at a rental kiosk near the embarcadère (jetty) on the River Cosson, where you can also rent boats.…
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Colline du Château
From this 92m hilltop park, the glittering views of the Vieux Nice spires and Baie des Anges are mesmerising.
The shaded hill and park, at the eastern end of quai des États-Unis, are named after a 12th-century château that was razed by Louis XIV in a fit of pique in 1706 and never rebuilt. To reach the park you can walk up montée Lesage, climb the steps at the eastern end of rue Rossetti or take the ascenseur (lift; per person €1.10; 9am-7pm) under Tour Bellanda.
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Citadel
Behind Jardin Romieu looms Bastia's citadel, built from the 15th to 17th centuries as a stronghold for the city's Genoese masters. One of the citadel's landmarks, the Palais des Gouverneurs houses Musée d'Histoire de Bastia, which provides an overview of the history of the city. A few streets to the south, don't miss the majestic Église Ste-Marie and the nearby Église Ste-Croix, featuring gilded ceilings and a mysterious black-oak crucifix, which was found in the sea in 1428.
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Chaumont-sur-Loire
Set on a defensible bluff behind the Loire, Chaumont-sur-Loire presents a resolutely medieval face, with its cylindrical corner turrets and sturdy drawbridge, but the interior mostly dates from the 19th century.
At least two earlier fortresses occupied the site (whose name derives from Chauve Mont, ‘Bald Hill’), but the main phase of construction for the present château began sometime around 1465 under Pierre d’Amboise. Originally a strictly defensive fortress, the castle became a short-lived residence for Catherine de Médicis following the death of Henry II in 1560, and later passed into the hands of Diane de Poitiers (Henry II’s mistress), who was forced to swap the…
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