Mont Saint-Michel
1. Stroll Paris. It doesn't matter how you put it. Here we have talked a thousand times about Paris and nobody gets tired of it. She is the perfect lover, the one who never stops metamorphosing, the one who reinvents herself, gets bored and reinvents herself. But, above all, the one that she is able to embellish every moment, every street food, every corner and every old ruin. That's why you have to walk it overcoming the border of the neighborhoods with adventurous obstinacy and blame this frame of supreme happiness.
two. And of course, Climb to the eiffel tower, pinch the sky and curse its steps. But never eat dinner there.
3. Go through the Louvre like crazy, dance at the D'Orsay and learn at the Pompidou.
Four. Believing that creativity sweats in Montmartre . Try to check it out and buy it. Impossible.
5. Put on a wig at Versailles and dream of being a courtier. Even imagining oneself chasing a hysterical piglet through the mile-long gardens until you find Marie Antoinette's reign . And back to reality in the Grand Royal Apartments, although so much ostentation and so much luxury are as real as unreal.
Marie Antoinette, ahead of her time, has inspired the Maison Abriza perfumes.
6. Submit to a bath of color admiring the Chartres Cathedral stained glass.
7. Tour the north from museum to museum, starting at the Louvre in Lens , passing through the Lam in Lille to finish at the surprising Piscine de Roubaix .
8. To be on D-day at H-hour on the beaches of Normandy to do a bit of tourism looking for the traces of one of the bloodiest battles in history. And with this inertia end up in solemn and vast cemeteries like the one in Colleville-sur-Mer.
9. Enjoy the beaches that appear and disappear along the Normandy coast. Begin an impossible pilgrimage of sand and umbrellas from **Calvados** to Saint Malo between clean waters, vintage nostalgia and Art Nouveau boardwalks.
10.**Not resisting the Saint-Michel,** but always spending more time observing the island in disbelief from its different viewpoints than dodging tourists.
Don't resist Saint-Michel
eleven. Get lost among the half-timbered houses of Rennes to finish toasting with a cider in hand and a couple of crepes on the tablecloth.
12. Drive tirelessly through the rough skin of Brittany , from its border castles to its most artistic and creative coast , without forgetting its most charismatic towns .
13. Ride alongside a giant mechanical elephant in Nantes. And by the way, discover why it is a very, very Hipster city.
hipster city
14. Discover the double life of Poitiers, from its incorrupt old city to its very modern Futuroscope .
fifteen. Go up the Loire from castle to castle to talk about princes, princesses, concubines and how it became fashionable to touch the tawdry on the riverbed.
16. Deviate at any sign from Chateau . And if it is surrounded by vineyards, all the better.
17. Recognize the unrecognizable Bordeaux between its very modern urbanism and its famous wines.
18. Surf along the coasts of Aquitaine and 'click' the table in the dunes that reign between Hossegor and Biarritz.
19. Sailing around the Bay of Arcachon while avoiding little unimportant lies.
20. **Climb the Dordogne **, probably the river with the most personality and art in all of France. A must stop at Bergerac, Sarlat and let yourself fall through its multifaceted valley.
Climb the Dordogne
twenty-one. Go up, down and go up again by motorcycle the most mythical climbs of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees , kissing the ground at every turn and stopping at charming villages with lots of phlegm like Bagnerres de Bigorre or Saint Lary. And if you believe, stop in Lourdes , but this is already to the taste of the traveler.
22. Try the Cassoulet, that kind of stew with duck. In other words, try everything that is made with duck south of the Dordogne.
Cassoulet, the definitive French stew
23. Marvel at the Millau Viaduct and, if it's a cloudy day, go through the clouds as an adrenaline shot.
24. Circumambulate at least once ** Carcassonne .** Then already, if that, conquer it with patience by the sword.
25. Get lost in the lavender fields of ** Provence .**
Tour the lavender fields of Provence
26. Surprise yourself with the rarities of Nimes : from its impressive Roman amphitheater to the Roman Maison Carree.
27. Get naked (because the script says so) on the beaches of the Cap d'Agde.
28. A toast to that renewed Marseille, to that neighborhood of Le Panier, to that cultural capital so well managed and used, and to Zinedine Zidane.
29. Stroll like a blessed fan through ** Cannes between the luxury of the Côte d'Azur** and the passion for cinema.
30. dock at Saint-Tropez (and don't sell a kidney trying) .
31. conquer Avignon , that little town that wanted to be Rome and that became a papal city for a sigh.
32. Search for Van Gogh's ear in Arles, while passing through a Roman amphitheater and countless craft shops.
33. Eating (literally) Lyon on the trail of Paul Bocuse.
Auberge du Pont de Collonges-Paul Bocuse
3. 4. 'Browse' the streets of that little Savoyard (and Venetian) sweetie that is Annecy.
35. Sigh to tread Mont Blanc while caressing the peaks from the cable car Aiguille du Midi.
36. drink the burgundy , fall in love with its pinot noir, its (still) winemaking crafts, its raw and forceful gastronomy and some other surprises like Dijon.
Annecy
37. Divert to Ronchamp to adore - just for one day - Le Corbusier while admiring the unique church of Notre Dame du Haut.
38. Diving through the Champagne cellars , to learn a little about the most famous sparkling wine in the world while, incidentally, it is demystified a little, the nonsense is removed and it is enjoyed more.
39. Sit on the benches to marvel more comfortably in three pieces of cathedrals in the north of the country: Metz, Nancy and Reims.
40. Shipwreck in the precious Grand Island of Strasbourg.
Navigate the streets and canals of the Grande Île
41. Sweeten your life at Disneyland Paris, which doesn't hurt either.
42. And never, never refuse a wine and a piece of cheese Whatever it is, wherever it comes from.
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*** You may also be interested in...**
- Brittany: road, blanket and Middle Ages
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- Surfing in Biarritz
- A 'sauvage' trip on the Dordogne
- The essential landscapes of the Tour de France
- Four reasons to go and four reasons to return to Carcassonne
- 10 reasons to sleep in Provence
- Cannes Guide
- Le Panier, the hipster district of Marseille
- How to survive Disneyland Paris and even enjoy it
- All articles by Javier Zori del Amo
A wine and cheese picnic in Burgundy