France | Top 10 Places to Visit in France
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FrancePoints of interest
Eiffel Tower
Landmark 324m-high 19th-century tower
The Louvre
Landmark art museum with vast collection
Notre-Dame de Paris
Iconic Gothic church with literary link
Arc de Triomphe
Triumphal arch & national monument
Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV's gilded palace & gardens
Sacré-Cœur, Paris
Landmark hilltop white basilica
Tuileries Garden
Vast statue-studded 17th-century gardens
Place de la Concorde
18th-century plaza with Egyptian obelisk
Jardin du Luxembourg
Park with manicured lawns & statues
French Riviera
Saint-Tropez, Cannes, Nice & Monaco
Centre Georges Pompidou
Avant-garde multicultural complex
Champs-Élysées
Shopping, monument, palace, and fashion
Château de Chambord
Vast Renaissance palace in a wooded park
Le Marais
Shopping, bistros, art, fashion, and art museums
Mont Saint-Michel
Abbeys, monasteries, castles, middle ages, and chapels
Montmartre
Vincent van Gogh, painting, Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and vineyard
Pont du Gard
Landmark Roman aqueduct with 3 tiers
Panthéon
Colonnaded neoclassical mausoleum
Grand Palais
1900 exhibition hall with glass roof
Les Invalides
Military museums & interred war heroes
Verdon Gorge
Verdon River & Musée de la Faïence
Mont Blanc
Mountaineering, hiking, climbing, trail running, and glacier
Île de la Cité
Chapel, cathedral, monument, palace, and church
Camargue
Flamingos, nature reserves, wetlands, birdwatching, and horseback riding
Palais des Papes
14th-century papal palace with frescoes
Musée Rodin
Mansion & garden with sculptor's works
Walt Disney Studios Park
Themepark focused on Disney animations
Garonne
Rivers, estuaries, canals, châteaus, and wine
Aiguille du Midi
Mountaineering, glacier, hiking, backcountry skiing, and mountain
Musée de l'Orangerie
Gallery for major 20th-century artworks
Notre-Dame de la Garde
Landmark basilica with city views
Puy du Fou
Theme park with historical re-enactments
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Jazz, brasseries, shopping, bistros, and churches
Strasbourg Cathedral
Gothic building with astronomical clock
Musée Picasso
5,000 Picasso artworks & his archive
Lake Annecy
Saint-Jorioz beach & Annecy old town
Promenade des Anglais
Chartres Cathedral
Imposing Gothic cathedral with 2 spires
Dune of Pilat
Paragliding, camping, beach, oyster, and desert
Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
Hilltop church & religious art museum
Moulin Rouge
Legendary Belle Epoque cabaret
Champ de Mars
Landscaped park with extensive lawns
Sainte-Chapelle
Gothic chapel with stained-glass windows
Courchevel
Tourist office in an alpine chalet
Lake Geneva
Geneva, Swiss Riviera & French spa towns
Tour Montparnasse
59-story skyscraper with viewing deck
Catacombs of Paris
Tunnel complex for millions of skeletons
Conciergerie
14th-century royal palace & prison
Loire river, Amboise, Centre, France, Europe
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of 1,012 kilometres (629 mi), it drains an area of 117,054 km2 (45,195 sq mi), or more than a fifth of France's land area, and is the 170th longest river in the world. It rises in the highlands of the southeastern quarter of the Massif Central in the Cévennes range (in the département of Ardèche) at 1,350 m (4,430 ft) near Mont Gerbier de Jonc; it flows northward for over 1,000 km (620 mi) through Nevers to Orléans, then west through Tours and Nantes until it reaches the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean) at St Nazaire. Its main tributaries include the Nièvre, Maine and the Erdre rivers on its right bank, and the Allier, Cher, Indre, Vienne, and the Sèvre Nantaise rivers to the left bank. The Loire gives its name to six départements: Loire, Haute-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, and Saône-et-Loire. The central part of the Loire Valley was added to the World Heritage Sites list of UNESCO on December 2, 2000. The banks are characterized by vineyards and chateaux in the Loire Valley. Historicity of the Loire River valley begins with the Middle Palaeolithic period of 90--40 kya (thousand years ago), followed by modern humans (about 30 kya), succeeded by the Neolithic period (6,000 to 4,500 BC), all of the recent Stone Age in Europe. Then came the Gauls, the historical tribes in the Loire during the Iron Age period 1500 to 500 BC; they made the Loire a major riverine trading route by 600 BC, establishing trade with the Greeks on the Mediterranean coast. Gallic rule ended in the valley in 56 BC when Julius Caesar conquered the adjacent provinces for Rome. Christianity made entry into this valley from 3rd century AD with many saints converting the pagans. This was also the time when wineries came to be established in the valley. The Loire Valley has been called the Garden of France and is studded with over a thousand chateaux, each with distinct architectural embellishments covering a wide range of variations, from the early medieval to the late Renaissance periods. They were originally created as feudal strongholds, over centuries past, in the strategic divide between southern and northern France; now many are privately owned. During the Roman period, they successfully subdued the Gauls in 52 BC and began developing Cenabum which they named Aurelianis and also began building the city of Caesarodunum, now Tours, from AD 1. The Romans used the Loire as far as Roanne, only around 150 km (93 mi) from the source. After AD 16, the Loire river valley became part of the Roman province of Aquitania, with its capital at Avaricum. From the 3rd century, Christianity spread through the river basin and many religious figures began cultivating vineyards along the river banks. In the 5th century, the Roman Empire declined and the Franks and the Alemanni came to the area from the east. Following this there was ongoing belligerence between the Franks and the Visigoths. In the 9th century, the Vikings began invading the west coast of France and used long ships to navigate the Loire. In 853 they ruined Tours and its famous abbey, later ruining Angers in 854 and 872. In 877 Charles the Bald died, marking an end to the Carolingian dynasty. After considerable conflict in the region, in 898 Foulques le Roux of Anjou gained power. During the Hundred Years' War from 1337 to 1453, the Loire River marked the border between the French and the English. One-third of the inhabitants died from the Black Death of 1348--9. The English defeated the French in 1356 and Aquitaine became English in 1360. In 1429, Joan of Arc persuaded Charles VII to banish the English from the country. Her successful relief of the siege of Orléans, on the Loire, was the turning point of the war. In 1477, the first printing press in France was established in Angers, and around this time the Chateau de Langeais was built. During the reign of François I from 1515 to 1547, the Italian Renaissance had a profound impact upon the region, and became deeply ingrained in the architecture and culture of the region, particularly among the elite and their chateaus. In the 1530s, the Reformation ideas reached the Loire valley and in 1560 Catholics drowned several hundred Protestants in the river. During the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598, Orléans served as a prominent stronghold for the Huguenots but in 1568 Orléans Cathedral was blown up by the Protestants. In 1572 the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre saw some 3000 Huguenots slaughtered in Paris, followed by the drowning of hundreds of them by the Catholics in the Loire River.