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Musée National du Moyen Âge
The National Museum of the Middle Ages holds a series of sublime treasures, from medieval statuary, stained glass and objets dart to its celebrated series of tapestries, The Lady with the Unicorn (1500). Throw in the extant architecture – an ornate 15th-century mansion (the Hôtel d
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Casino de Monte Carlo
Peeping inside Monte Carlo’s legendary marble-and-gold casino is a Monaco essential. The building, open to visitors every morning, is Europes most lavish example of belle epoque architecture. Prince Charles III came up with the idea of the casino and in 1866, three years after its
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Promenade des Anglais
Palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, paid for by Nice’s English colony in 1822, is a fine stage for a stroll and a flop on one of its iconic sea-blue chairs, immortalised by Niçoise sculptor Sabine Géraudie with her strikingly giant seafront sculpture La Chaise de SAB (2014). Historic
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Château de Beynac
Towering gloriously atop a limestone bluff, this 12th-century fortress’ panoramic position above the Dordogne made it a key defensive position during the Hundred Years War. Apart from a brief interlude under Richard the Lionheart, Beynac remained fiercely loyal to the French monarc
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Église Abbatiale
Perching above a sea of emerald vines and ablaze with forsythia and tulips in spring, Hautvillers is where Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638-1715) is popularly believed to have created Champagne. The good Dom’s tomb is in front of the altar of the Église Abbatiale, adorned with 17th-centur
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Gorges de Daluis
This stunning network of scarlet gorges looks for all the world like its been collected from Arizona and plonked down in Haute-Provence. Carved out over the millennia by the Var River, it runs for 6km between Guillaumes and Daluis, twisting high above the river past towering sandst
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Forteresse Royale de Chinon
The hilltop site, with fabulous views across town and the river, is split into three sections separated by dry moats. The 12th-century Fort St-Georges (which houses the ticket booth and shop) and the Middle Castle with the Logis Royal (Royal Lodgings) remain from the time when the
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Grotte de Font de Gaume
This extraordinary cave contains the only original polychrome (as opposed to single colour) paintings still open to the public. About 14,000 years ago, prehistoric artists created the gallery of over 230 figures, including bison, reindeer, horses, mammoths, bears and wolves, althou
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Musée Océanographique de Monaco
Stuck dramatically to the edge of a cliff since 1910, the world-renowned Musée Océanographique de Monaco, founded by Prince Albert I (1848–1922), is a stunner. Its centrepiece is its aquarium with a 6m-deep lagoon where sharks and marine predators are separated from colourful tropi
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Forteresse Royale de Najac
High on a hilltop 150m above a hairpin bend in the River Aveyron, Najac’s fortress looks as if its fallen from the pages of a fairy tale: slender towers and fluttering flags rise from crenellated ramparts, surrounded on every side by dizzying falaises (cliffs) dropping to the valle
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Institut du Monde Arabe
The Arab World Institute was jointly founded by France and 18 Middle Eastern and North African nations in 1980, with the aim of promoting cross-cultural dialogue. In addition to hosting concerts, film screenings and a research centre, the stunning landmark is also home to a new mus
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Palais Impérial
Visitors to this 1337-room palace, originally built under Louis XV, are struck by its imposing grandeur. This was the location of Napoléon IIIs dazzling hunting parties, which drew aristocrats from all around Europe.The same ticket grants access to the adjacent Musée du Second Empi
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École Nationale d’Équitation
Anchored in France’s academic-military riding tradition, Saumur has been an equine centre since 1593. Its École Nationale d’Équitation is one of France’s foremost riding academies, responsible for training the country’s Olympic teams and members of the elite Cadre Noir. Advance res
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Palais des Rois de Majorque
Perpignan’s most dominant monument, the Palace of the Kings of Mallorca, sprawls over a huge area to the south of the old town. Built in 1276, the castle was later refortified with massive red-brick walls by the medieval era’s foremost military architect, Vauban. These days the cit
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Monastère de la Verne
Majestic, 12th- to 13th-century Monastère de la Verne perches unbelievably on the hip of a mountain deep in the forest, but with a view to the sea. The Carthusian monastery was founded in 1170, possibly on the site of a temple to the goddess Laverna, protector of the bandits who hi
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Gallo
The ruined remains of Vasio Vocontiorum, the Roman city that flourished here between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC, fill two central Vaison sites. Two neighbourhoods of this once opulent city, Puymin and La Villasse , lie on either side of the tourist office and av du Général de Gau
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Chapelle du Rosaire
An ailing Henri Matisse moved to Vence in 1943, to be cared for by his former nurse and model, Monique Bourgeois, whod since become a Dominican nun. She persuaded him to design this extraordinary chapel for her community. The artist designed everything from the decor to the altar a
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Bayeux Tapestry
The world’s most celebrated embroidery depicts the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 from an unashamedly Norman perspective. Commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, for the opening of Bayeux’ cathedral in 1077, the 68.3m-long cartoon strip t
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Château de Langeais
Langeais was constructed as a fortress in the 1460s to cut off the likely invasion route from Brittany. Fantastically preserved inside and out, it remains every inch the medieval stronghold: crenellated ramparts and defensive towers jut out from the rooftops of the surrounding vill
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Basilique Ste
Founded in the 880s on a former Roman and Carolingian site, Vézelays stunning hilltop basilica was rebuilt between the 11th and 13th centuries. On the famous 12th-century tympanum, visible from the narthex (enclosed porch), Romanesque carvings show an enthroned Jesus radiating his
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