Things to do in France
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Pozzetto
Urban myth says this gelato maker opened when a group of friends from northern Italy couldn’t find their favourite ice cream in Paris so they imported the ingredients to create it from scratch. Twelve flavours – spatula’d, not scooped – include gianduia torinese (hazelnut chocolate from Turin) and zabaione, made from egg yolks, sugar and sweet Marsala wine, along with the more usual peach, pistachio and poire William. Great Italian coffee, too.
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Pho 67 Restaurant Vietnam
Tuck into Vietnamese dishes such as fried boned eel, crusty lacquered duck, rare tender goat with ginger, sweetened pork and North Vietnamese soup amid the burgundy walls and suspended rattan lamps of this unpretentious gem. Pho's hidden in a little backstreet of the Latin Quarter, but is fortunately away from the over-touristy little maze of restaurants surrounding rue de la Huchette.
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Berthillon
Berthillon is to ice cream what Château Lafite Rothschild is to wine and Valhrona is to chocolate. And with nigh on 70 flavours to choose from, you’ll be spoiled for choice.
While the fruit-flavoured sorbets (cassis, blackberry etc) produced by this celebrated glacier (ice-cream maker) are renowned, the chocolate, coffee, marrons glacés (candied chestnuts), Agenaise (Armagnac and prunes), noisette (hazelnut) and nougat au miel (honey nougat) are richer. Eat in or grab a cone with one/two/three/four small scoops (€2.30/3.60/4.90/6.20) to takeaway.
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Brasserie La Cigale
No visit to Nantes is complete without joining the old ladies with perfectly manicured hair for a coffee and cake or an all-out feast at 1890s Brasserie La Cigale. Several salons of original gilded tilework and frescoed ceilings are attended by white-aproned waiters.
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Moulin Rouge
Immortalised in the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec and later on screen by Baz Luhrmann, the Moulin Rouge twinkles beneath a 1925 replica of its original red windmill. Yes, it’s rife with bus-tour crowds. But from the opening bars of music to the last high kick it’s a whirl of fantastical costumes, sets, choreography and champagne. Booking advised.
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Les Deux Magots
If ever there were a cafe that summed up St-Germain des Prés’ early-20th-century literary scene, it’s this former hangout of anyone who was anyone. You will spend beaucoup to sip a coffee in a wicker chair on the terrace shaded by dark-green awnings and geraniums spilling from window boxes, but it’s an undeniable piece of Parisian history.
If you’re feeling decadent, order its famous shop-made hot chocolate, served in porcelain jugs. The name refers to the two magots (grotesque figurines) of Chinese dignitaries at the entrance.
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Grande Arche de la Défense
La Défense’s landmark edifice is the white marble Grande Arche, a striking cubelike structure that was built in the 1980s and is now home to government and business offices. The arch marks the western end of the Axe Historique (Historic Axis), though Danish architect Johan-Otto von Sprekelsen deliberately placed the Grande Arche fractionally out of alignment.
Access to the roof has been suspended indefinitely for security reasons.
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Gare Montparnasse
Brittany and places en route from Paris (eg Chartres, Angers, Nantes); TGV Atlantique Ouest and TGV Atlantique Sud-Ouest trains to Tours, Nantes, Bordeaux and other destinations in southwestern France.
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Disneyland Resort Paris
Visitors (mostly families) pour into this park to scare themselves silly in the bloodcurdling Tower of Terror, dance in a High School Musical, dive with Nemo, hit 70km/h in a Space Mountain rocket, shake Winnie the Pooh’s paw and share a fiesta of other magical moments with Mickey and his Disney mates. And the kids can’t seem to get enough. As its marketing bumph boasts, at Disneyland ‘the party never stops’.
One-day admission fees at Disneyland Resort Paris include unlimited access to all rides and activities in either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park. Those who opt for the latter can enter Disneyland Park three hours before it closes. Multiple-day…
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Aiguilles de Bavella
The Col de Bavella (Bavella Pass) is overlooked by the imposing silhouette of one of the most striking and beautiful landscape features in the south of Corsica: the sharp points of Aiguilles de Bavella, also called the Bavella Needles. If you're lucky you may spot a few of the mouflons (wild mountain sheep) that sashay around the area.
The peaks, which rise to a height of more than 1600m (5250ft) and which are also known as the Cornes d'Asinao (Asinao Horns), are jagged points whose colour ranges from ochre to golden depending on the position of the sun in the sky. Behind these stone 'needles' looms the profile of Monte Incudine (2134m/7000ft), which the GR20 links to the…
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Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation
Visionary architect Le Corbusier redefined urban living in 1952 with the completion of this vertical, 337-apartment ‘garden city’, also known as Cité Radieuse (Radiant City). Along its darkened hallways, primary-coloured downlights create eerie tunnels leading to a mini-supermarket, architectural bookshop and panoramic rooftop ‘desert garden’. However forward-thinking the architecture, it has esoteric appeal: many just see a concrete apartment block.
For Le Courbusier lovers, stay at Hôtel Le Corbusier, two floors in the middle of the tower. ‘Cabins’ are tiny cells; studios look sharp, particularly those with sea views and Le Corbusier chairs, but for design…
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Cathédrale Notre Dame
One of the crowning architectural achievements of Western civilisation, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres was built in the Gothic style during the first quarter of the 13th century to replace a Romanesque cathedral that had been devastated by fire – along with much of the town – in 1194. Because of effective fundraising and donated labour, construction took only 30 years, resulting in a high degree of architectural unity. It is France's best-preserved medieval cathedral, having been spared postmedieval modifications, the ravages of war and the Reign of Terror.
The cathedral's west, north and south entrances have superbly ornamented triple portals, but…
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Place de l’Opéra
The site of Paris’ world-famous (and original) opera house. It abuts the Grands Boulevards, the eight contiguous ‘Great Boulevards’ – Madeleine, Capucines, Italiens, Montmartre, Poissonnière, Bonne Nouvelle, St-Denis and St-Martin – that stretch from elegant place de la Madeleine in the 8e eastwards to the more plebeian place de la République in the 3e, a distance of just under 3km.
The Grands Boulevards were laid out in the 17th century on the site of obsolete city walls and served as a centre of café and theatre life in the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching the height of fashion during the belle époque. North of the western end of the Grands Boulevards is bd…
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City Walls
Wrapping around the city, Avignon's ramparts were built between 1359 and 1370. They were restored during the 19th century, minus their original moats - though even in the 14th century this defence system was hardly state-of-the-art, lacking machicolations (openings in the parapets for niceties like pouring boiling oil on attackers or shooting arrows at them).Within the walls are a wealth of fine museums - the Avignon Passion booklet lists the whole gamut.
The Avignon Passion pass entitles you to 20% to 50% discounted entry on your second and subsequent visits to museums and monuments (the equivalent of student prices), as well as reduced prices on the tourist office…
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Vieux Lyon's Traboules
The most celebrated of Vieux Lyon's traboules include those linking 27 rue St-Jean with 6 rue des Trois Maries; 54 rue St-Jean with 27 rue du Bœuf (push the intercom button to buzz open the door); 10 quai Romain Rolland with 2 place du Gouvernement; 17 quai Romain Rolland with 9 rue des Trois Maries; and 31 rue du Bœuf with 14 rue de la Bombarde. Although a couple of Vieux Lyon's traboules date from Roman times, most were constructed by canuts (silk weavers) in the 19th century to facilitate the transport of silk in inclement weather. Resistance fighters found them equally handy during WWII. Guided tours available.
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Musée Renoir
The city of Cagnes-sur-Mer is nothing to write home about. What is, however, is the exquisite Musée Renoir. Le Domaine des Collettes (as the property was known) was home and studio to an arthritis-crippled Renoir (1841–1919) from 1907 until his death. He lived there with his wife and three children, and the house is wonderfully evocative. Works on display include Les Grandes Baigneuses (The Women Bathers; 1892), a reworking of the 1887 original, and rooms are dotted with photographs and personal possessions. The beautiful olive and citrus groves are as much an attraction as the museum itself. Many visitors set up their own easel to paint.
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Roman Amphitheatre
Built around AD 100 to seat 24,000 spectators, this magnificent amphitheatre is wonderfully preserved, even retaining its upper storey. Its system of passages and exits are engagingly called vomitories and were designed so patricians attending combats never had to rub shoulders with the plebs up top. It lives on as Les Arènes, a sporting and cultural venue.
Les Arènes lives on as a frequent sporting and cultural venue - an excellent thing in itself though the scaffolding and temporary barriers do detract from its appeal as a historical site. Buy your ticket at the reception point, tucked into its northern walls.
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Fort de la Bastille
These days, the strategic importance of Fort de la Bastille might have waned, but the city and mountain views it proffers are spectacular. Three viewpoint indicators explain the surrounding vistas (glimpse Mont Blanc on clear days) and panels maps out hiking trails, some of which lead down the hillside.
To get to the fort, hop aboard the riverside Téléphérique Grenoble Bastille. The ascent in egg-shaped pods, which climb 264m from the quay over the swift waters of the River Isère, is almost more fun than the fort itself. Unsurprisingly, it gets crowded in summer - leave early to avoid the worst queues.
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Institut du Monde Arabe
The Institute of the Arab World, set up by France and 20 Arab countries to promote cultural contacts between the Arab world and the West, is housed in a highly praised building designed by Jean Nouvel; it opened in 1987. Its new-look museum, showcasing Arab art, artisanship and science, was unveiled in 2012.
Inspired by traditional latticed-wood windows, the stunning building blends modern and traditional Arab and Western elements, with thousands of mushrabiyah (or mouche-arabies) – photoelectrically sensitive apertures built into the glass walls that allow you to see out without being seen. The apertures are opened and closed by electric motors in order to regulate the…
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O’Neil
This micro brasserie brews its own: Taste all four with a palatte en dégustation (€5.90) or pick the colour to suit your – blonde (blond), blanche (white), brune (brown) or ambŕee (amber) – poured straight from the barrel. Weekday ‘Happy Hour’ (6pm to 8pm) spells good-value drinking, as does O’Neil’s mighty 1.8L pitchers of beer (€16/20 before/after 6pm). Beer cocktails (€4 to €9.60) and les chasse-bières (beer chasers; €7.50) are its unusual specialities.
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Parc du Château
On a rocky outcrop towering over Vieux Nice, this park offers a cinematic panorama of Nice and the Baie des Anges on one side, and the port on the other. The 12th-century castle was razed by Louis XIV in 1706; only the 16th-century Tour Bellanda remains. It is a fabulous place for picnics.
Other attractions include Cascade Donjon, an 18th-century artificial waterfall crowned with a viewing platform, and kids’ playgrounds. To get here, ride the Château Lift from beneath Tour Bellanda, or hike up the staircases on montée Lesage or the eastern end of rue Rossetti in Vieux Nice. From the port, follow montée Montfort.
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Tour Montparnasse
The 210m-high Montparnasse Tower, built in 1973 with steel and smoked glass and housing offices for 5000 workers, affords spectacular views over the city. (Bonus: its observation floor and terrace are about the only spots in Paris you can’t see this startlingly ugly, oversized lipstick tube, which in low-rise Paris sticks out like a sore thumb.)
Europe’s fastest lift/elevator whisks visitors up in 38 seconds to the indoor observatory on the 56th floor, with an exhibition centre, video clips, multimedia terminals and Paris’ highest restaurant, Le Ciel de Paris. Finish with a hike up the stairs to the open-air terrace on the 59th floor.
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Les Machines de l'Île de Nantes
The quirkiest sight in an altogether fairly quirky city has to be Les Machines de l'Île de Nantes. Inside this fantasy world it's perfectly possible to prance around like a Maharajah on the back of a 45-tonne mechanical elephant with a secret lounge inside its belly or voyage on a boat through rough and dangerous oceans where attacks from oversized squid and giant prawns are common. We can only think that Jules Verne would be smiling in his grave if he could see this lot! Gallery tickets are also good for the workshop, where you can watch these fantastical contraptions being built.
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Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence Antique
The fabulous story of Roman Arles takes centre stage at the state-of-the-art showpiece Musée de l'Arles et de la Provence Antiques. Within the triangular structure, which is fronted by a striking cobalt-blue façade, you can trace the area's evolution from 2500 BC through to the end of antiquity in the 6th century AD, or hone in on thematic aspects of trade, the economy and day-to-day life.
Highlights include Roman statues, artefacts, and a renowned assortment of early Christian sarcophagi from the 4th century.
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L'Impossible
Impossibly irresistible, the Impossible is a barn dating back to 1754 near the Aiguille du Midi cable car that has been transformed into a rustic but modern eating space - lots of wood, wicker, warm lighting, gilded gold frames and glass chandeliers. Quail stuffed with foie gras, garlic butter-oozing snails or pineapple carpaccio with ginger and mango sorbet are quintessential French dishes cooked with a twist at this ode to Sylvain Saudan (b 1936), extreme-skiing pioneer and self-proclaimed 'skier of the impossible'.
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