Page updated on 10/22/2009
INTRODUCTION to FRANCE
The most visited country in the World
The most common way to introduce France is to talk about its gastronomy, its wines, its perfumes, its couturiers, its culture, its history, its castles, its cathedrals, its revolution, its inventions, its art of living, and so on. But, after so many qualities, and as "nobody is perfect", we forget to talk about one of the things that most of foreign visitors reproach us: Our bad-tempered... !
We could justify it by the language barrier which doesn't make the communication easy, French language is not as important as it was in the past, or by the diversity of its population; concerning that the general De Gaulle said that it was impossible to govern a country that has more than 360 cheeses, as well as by its history: never a country has been so much coveted and occupied than France. It is maybe this one of the reason to explain the particular French attitude against "the others". I believe, in any case, that what foreign visitors criticise in general is the particular attitude of some Parisians. By "Parisians", I mean the people living in Paris: those born there by generations, as well as French people coming from provinces and foreign people who settle in for economical reasons.
Nevertheless, it is a fact that the life in Paris is difficult. In the seventies, we used to summarize it by saying "metro, boulot, dodo" (tube, work and sleep). Parisians don't have time, they are always running like the rabbit in the story of Alice in the marvels country... Everybody is running to the search of the lost time and have no time to smile! This explains, a little, our bad mood. Aren't you convinced of that? Then, we invite you to discover the other France: the tourist one, the "cool" France, the one of the villages, of the provinces, of the regions where you will be welcome and served with smiles.
Often, after a trip in province, at the time when I escorted some of our "Tours in France", visitors used to say at the end "I didn't think that French people were like that, so hospitable. I had another idea of them. This trip was very worth!". Of course, these people came back a second or a third time to make another of those tours. Sometimes, happiness is in the meadow, "le bonheur est dans le pré", in the countryside, in the province cities, in the tourist regions of France.
France is an occidental European country which is limited :
- In the North-West by the Channel, the Pas de Calais, and the North Sea
- In the North-East by Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
- In the East by Switzerland
- In the South-East by Italy
- In the South by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and
- In the West by the Atlantic Ocean
France has a surface of 549 000 km², and a population of 61 044 684 inhabitants. The capital of France is Paris, with 2 144 700 inhabitants, and 9 644 507 inhabitants including Paris and Ile de France region.
After Paris, the 6 biggest cities of France are:
- Marseille-Aix en Provence with 1 349 772 inhabitants
- Lyon with 1 348 832 inhabitants
- Lille with 1 000 900 inhabitants
- Nice with 888 784 inhabitants
- Toulouse with 7 61 090 inhabitants
Metropolitan France is composed of 22 administrative regions:
- Alsace
- Aquitaine
- Auvergne
- Burgundy
- Brittany
- Center
- Champagne-Ardenne
- Corse
- Franche Comte
- Ile de France
- Languedoc Roussillon
- Limousin
- Lorraine
- Midi Pyrenees
- Nord Pas de Calais
- Upper-Normandy
- Lower-Normandy
- Pays de La Loire
- Picardy
- Poitou-Charentes
- Provence-Alps-Cote d'Azur
- Rhone-Alpes
France has an amazing diversity of landscapes, which is explained by the huge heritage of its nature and the human work. Those landscapes are the severe majesty of its Pyrenean or Alpine mountains, the impressive charm of the West pasture lands, the geometry of incredible plots in the Beauce or the Picardy, the rocky coasts in Brittany, the dunes of the Landes, the villages that delimited the vinyards area of Burgundy or Alsace, the strong brightness of Provence or that one nuanced of the North... Besides the beauty of its landscapes, France is also caracterised by its agriculture, as well as by the concentration of people in cities as Paris and those of Ile de France.
France is very important concerning its cultural heritage, its history, its tourist places and its art. For these reasons, we invite you to discover some Frances, such as :
- A Prehistoric, roman, and gallo-roman France: Lots of archeological sites, museums, monuments and excavations places. Some examples :
Carnac with its alignment of standing stones and menhirs, Mas d'Azil with its grotto, Saintes with the arch of Gernicus, St Remy de Provence with its excavations of Glanum, Orange with its antic-roman theater and its arc of Triumph, and Lyon, Arles and Nimes with their important remainders of roman constructions and so on...
- A romanesque France: Romanesque style developed itself thanks to the construction of churches during the Middle-Ages. Architecture and sculpture are different according to the regions. It is in the regions of Burgundy, Auvergne, Poitou, Provence... that this art developped the most. We can admire some romanesque constructions in:
The cloister of the cathedral in le Puy en Velay, the tympanum of the church of St Trophime in Arles, the basilica of St Madeleine in Vezelay, the church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande in Poitiers, the church of St Foy in Conques, the basilica of St Sernin in Toulouse, the south portal of the St Pierre chuch in Moissac, the basilica of Orcival, the basilica du Sacre-Coeur in Paray le Monial and so on...
- A gothic France: the Gothic style blossomed out the best in the constructions of cathedrals and abbeys because of its architectural and sculptural works; with the apparition of high columns, flying buttres and stained-glass-windows. It was born
in Ile de France, but it spread abroad as far as the Pyrenees in France and many occidental countries in Europe. You can admire some master pieces of this style in:
Paris with its cathedral of Notre-Dame and the church of Ste Chapelle, St Denis with its basilica, Amiens; Reims; Chartres; Strasbourg with their cathedral of Notre-Dame, Bourges with the cathedral of St Etienne and the Palace of Jacques-Coeur, Rouen with its cathedral and its palace of Justice and so on...
- A France of fortified castles and cities: Since the Middle Ages castles until the fortified villages and cities built by Vauban; who was the goverment ingeneer of Louis 14th, this militar patrimony almost always considered as an architectural prowess has emphasized the greatness of notable sites. We can admire some of those contructions in :
The Old Carcassonne (La cité) completed surrounded by ramparts, as well as Avignon that was fortified by the Popes, Sedan with its fortress built on a rock, Toul and Lille with their fortifications built by Vauvan, Aigues-Mortes with its ramparts built in the 13th century, Saint Malo, Tarascon, the castle of Bonaguil, Dinan, Angers, Brouage and so on...
- A France of beautiful castles: The defensive constructions were given up to leave the place to lordly castles, thanks to the influence of the Renaissance style that came from Italy. Some of these castles can be admired in:
Ile de France with the castle of Ecouen; of Meillant; of Grignan; of Fontainebleau, Valley of the Loire with the castle of Chenonceau; of Azay le Rideau; of Chambord; of Chaumont; of Usse and so on...
- A France of painters: Thanks to the impressionists painters, at the end of the 19th century, the cities and villages became important. Painters give up their studios and look for motives in the nature and they paint pleasantly in the open air. Post-impressionist and modern painters went on with that tradition. Some cities and painters who lived there are:
Paris for nearly all the impressionist painters, Giverny and Rouen for Monet, Auvers sur Oise for Cezanne and Van Gogh, Honfleur for Boudin, Pont-Aven for Gauguin and Bernard, Albi for Toulouse-Lautrec, Aix en Provence for Cezanne, Etretat for Courbet, La Rochelle and Saint Tropez for Signac, Collioure for Matisse, Nice for Dufy and Chagall and so on...
- A France of beautiful urban wholes: All those old quarters that were full of history have been renewed and have taken the colours and shapes of bygone days. Some of them can be seen in:
Le Mans in the old part of the city, Senlis in the old quarter near the cathedral, Montpellier in the "Place de la Comédie", Annecy; at both sides of the Thiou canal, Arras in the the "Grand' Place" area, the whole village of St Paul de Vence, the "Cité" of Carcassonne.
But, new and modern quarters also appeared at La Defense at the West of Paris, the city center of Le Havre and Roubaix and so on...
- A France of typical villages: Peillon, Gordes, Collioure, Locronan, the Baux en Provence, Saint Paul de Vence, Perouges, Riquewihr, Candes Saint Martin, Montsoreau, Crissay sur Manse, Montresor, Pasmes, Sarlat, Domme, Saint Emilion, Lourmarin, Gassin, and many others are some examples of typical and colourful smal villages and towns where the time came to a halt to fill them of charm, seduction and memories...
- A France of museums: Each French city is proud of its museum of Arts or museum of history or museum of local craftsmen, but those cities that have the most important museums are:
Paris with the Louvre Museum; the Orsay Museum; the Grand and Petit Palais; the Museum of Modern Art in Beaubourg, Rouen with the Fine Arts Museum, Grenoble with the Museum of Paintings and Sculptures, Lyon with the Museum of Tissue, Nancy with the Historical Lorraine Museum, Dijon with the Fine Arts Museum, Mulhouse with the Automobile Museum, Caen with the Memorial, the museum of the Chantilly castle, Cagnes-sur-Mer with the Renoir Museum, Albi with the Museum of Toulouse Lautrec, Castres with the Museum of Goya, Colmar with the Unterlinden Museum, Niza with Marc Chagall Museum, Douarnenez with the Port Museum, Alençon wiht the Pointlace Museum, Bievres with the Museum of Photography and so on... Anyway, to say the true: France is a big open aire museum!
- A France of technical and industrial tourism: Because of its agricultural; industrial and tecnological development, the creative spirit and "savoir-faire" (know-how) of its inhabitants and the improvement of many technics, France is an ideal destination for all those persons who want to know and to learn. Some places to visit are:
Cancale for "La Ferme Marine" -oyster cultivitation-, Vire for Guy Degrene factory -table service and silver goods manufacturing-, Coquainvilliers near Lisieux for the Espace Boulard -calvados production-, La Hague for La Cogema -treatment of used nuclear combustible-, Asnieres-sur-Seine for PSA Peugeot Citroen -montage of hydraulic suspension-, Boulogne-Billancourt for Renault Museum -history of the constructor; his realizations and success-, Roquefort for "Caves Société" -production of Roquefort cheese-, Toulouse for Usine Clement Ader -Airbus A330 and A340 joining- and so on...
- A Frances of gardens and woods: The blue colour is one of the prefered colours for French people. But in fact, the perfect colour for France should have to be blue and green. Why green ? Because, it is its colour surface due to its countryside: fields, woods and gardens. Some places to visit are:
Paris for the "Jardin des Plantes"; the Bagatelle garden; the woods of Vincennes and Boulogne, Lyon for the "Tête d'Or park", Chaumont for the gardens of its castle, Angers because it is the most flowery city in France, the Vosges chain because all its mountains are covered by woods, Saint Marguerite sur Mer for the Le Vasterival garden; one of the most beautifull gardens in Normandy and so on...
- A France of wines: From la Moselle to Corsica passing by the Pyrenees, more than the three quarters of the country is favourable to the vinyard cultivation. For this reason, France is one of the most important wine productors in the World. Some places to visit are:
Alsace region fot its white wine, Beaujolais area for its red wine, Bordeaux area for its red and white wine, Burgundy region for its red and white wine, Champagne region por its sparkling white wine, Loire region for ist white and red wine, Provence region for its pink wine, Rhone area for its red wine and so on...
We offer you the possibility of discovering some of the presented France by participating to one or more of our:
created specially for you.
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