800 years ago, this place was a monastery. Monks climbed the stairs of this abbey, passed under the vaulted ceilings, enjoyed the sunlight through these huge stained-glass windows.
But they didn’t walk on carpet on their way to eat in a Michelin-starred dining room. They didn’t rock in the huge wooden swing by the lake. Nor would they have crossed the hump-backed bridge to the tiny island with its trees and treehouse.
Back then there were no swings or treehouses and the lake was a sewage facility for the 12th century monastery. Now the lake is a home to ducks and a family of herons, and the abbey-turned-hotel has been sympathetically preserved by an English family to display its wonderful architecture to a whole new generation of worshipers.
Only now we come to admire the beauty of the building, the gourmet food and the tranquil setting instead of God. But if you have any spiritual awareness at all, you’ll quickly find this beautiful place resonating with your soul.
There are 20 rooms in total at the Abbaye de la Bussière explains owner Clive Cummings when he picks us up at Dijon train station, a half hour drive from the abbey, including rooms in the main house as well as the various other buildings around the grounds, some of which have been converted into family suites.
There are two restaurants, again with soaring arches and magnificent architecture. The fine dining Michelin-starred restaurant is a grand affair with stone arches and chandeliers and offers both a tasting menu – matched with wines – and an a la carte, with choices including frogs’ legs, local freshwater zander and pigeon. But in fairness, the quality of the food is just as good in the hotel bistro, pictured below.
Our cosy double is nestled under the eaves with views of the gardens and lake. As befits its luxurious setting, it’s kitted out with a Nespresso machine and a welcome bottle of home-made peach liqueur – there’s a jacuzzi bath in the bathroom, fluffy robes and slippers in the wardrobe.
Twinkling lights, carol singers, mulled wine – and lots of beautiful Christmas goodies. Christmas markets at home and abroad are about so much more than the shopping. Whether you’re keeping it local or treating yourself to trip abroad, we’ve got the low-down on the very best markets across the UK and Europe. And, once you’ve packed your bags with handmade decorations and festive foods, check out our list of top British shopping destinations to bag even more Christmas bargains.
Frankfurt
26 November to 22 December
The Frankfurt Christmas Market is one of the largest and oldest in Germany and has been running since the 14th century in the scenic surrounds of the Römerberg. Fill your bags with its traditional wooden toys, giant sugar-coated biscuits, German sausages and the miniature candy figures called Brenten, Bethmaennchen and Quetschemaennchen. And don’t forget to take time to admire the huge Christmas tree outside the town hall, one of the largest in the country.
Cologne
26 November to 23 December
Cologne has no less than seven Christmas markets – but not only that. One of its biggest takes place beside the city’s magnificent cathedral, where the bodies of the three wise men are said to be buried, pictured above. You’ll find arts and crafts and lots of delicious food across the city and, down in front of the medieval gate, a whole village dedicated to St Nicholas. There’s a maritime themed Harbour market, a romantic Christmas village, an LGBT celebration market and, at the oldest market of all in Neumarkt, a flock of wandering angels.
Nuremberg
30 November to 24 December
Christkindlemarkt in this medieval Bavarian city has a long tradition, running in the central square since the 17th century. No mass-produced tat here, only fine handicrafts and designs. Pick up a traditional ‘prune man’ to take home – but don’t eat him, he is purely for decoration and believed to bring good fortune to the home that displays him. There’s a ‘Kinderweihnacht’ children’s market with merry-go-round and steam railway and the ‘Christkind’, the young child that takes the place of Santa to bestow gifts in this region.
Salzburg
22 November to 26 December
One of the oldest Christmas markets in the world, the Salzburg Christkindlmarkt is held in the heart of Salzburg’s World Heritage-listed Old City, with its backdrop of snow-covered mountains. After you’ve shopped for traditional Christmas decorations and gifts, check out the carol concerts, readings and parades taking place around the squares. Sample a spicy Bosna sandwich and wash down with some gluhwein – pay a few euros extra to keep the mug it is served in for a festive memento of your visit.
Paris
November to January
Enjoy three Christmas markets in this atmospheric city this year. Over 70 chalets make up the Christmas Village in Les Halles, selling traditional gifts, decorations and food, as well as an Enchanted Forest and Santa’s House for the kids (27 November to 31 December). Over at Champ de Mars you’ll find festive stalls and a skating rink underneath the Eiffel Tower from December until January, while the traditional Christmas market at Notre Dame Cathedral runs from December 15 until Christmas Eve.
Lille
17 November to 27 December
An easy trip from London – just an hour and a half on Eurostar – Lille’s Christmas market is located in the centre of town, just 10 minutes’ walk from the station. There are 80 stalls on the Place Rihour and a huge Christmas tree and Ferris wheel on nearby Grand Place.
Dubrovnik
2 December to 6 January
Unlike the centuries-old festive celebrations in Germany and Austria, the Winter Festival in this atmospheric medieval walled city is just four years old, but none the less beautiful for it. The main street, Stradun, is transformed into a twinkling marketplace selling gifts and festive foods, there’s snow at the bell tower and regular carol concerts in front of the magnificent St Blaise’s Church.
Our favourite Christmas markets in the UK
London
November to January
From festive chalets at the Southbank to Winter Wonderland at Hyde and Christmas By the River close to Tower Bridge, the capital city will be fully festived up this Christmas. And if that wasn’t enough, Leicester Square is also joining the fun – decking itself out in full seasonal marketplace splendour from November 9 to January 5. See more magical things to do in London for Christmas.
Winter Wonderland Hyde Park
November 22 to January 6
The Hyde Park extravaganza returns for its 12th year and its huge Christmas market features over 200 Bavarian style wooden chalets, packed with festive gifts, designer arts and crafts and traditional Christmas food and drink. Afterwards you could go skating on the UK’s biggest ice rink, visit the Magical Ice Kingdom, the Enchanted Forest and Santa Land, sample not one but two circuses or hang out in one of the themed bars, including a fabulously freezing Ice Bar.
Southbank Centre’s Winter Market
November 9 to December 27
With Alpine-style huts by the river, brightly lit up with fairy lights and showcasing the wares of 29 traders from around the world, the Southbank Winter Market is one of the most popular in the capital. This year it’s featuring two new pop-up bars, Bar Under the Bridge and The Circus Bar, offering tastebud-tingling cocktails and festive food in cosy hideaways by the river.
Christmas by the River
November 29 to January 2
With stunning views of the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the iconic City of London skyline, this is one of most scenic Christmas market under the stars. Browse fabulously festive finds, as well as traditional food and drink and try one of the free workshops running in December.
Bath
22 November 22 to 9 December
A magical market in one of the UK’s most beautiful cities, it’s not hard to see why Bath remains one of the best loved Christmas destinations in the country. Over 200 twinkling chalets line the atmospheric Georgian streets around the picturesque Roman Baths and the Abbey. Snap up handmade and locally-produced buys, including festive food, gifts and decorations.
York
15 November to 23 December
Equally atmospheric, the medieval laneways and cobbled streets of York make a wonderful backdrop to the city’s annual Christmas market. You’ll find chalet market stalls at St Nicholas Fair and local food and drink finds at Yorkshire Barn.
Birmingham
15 November to 23 December
If you can’t make it to Frankfurt, head for Birmingham instead. The city’s Frankfurt Christmas Market is the UK’s largest German market, featuring over 200 stalls. It’s also the largest German market held outside Germany and Austria and attracts over 3 million visitors to the city every year. From German food and drink to traditional decorations and gifts in Victoria Square, local craftspeople and artists sell their festive wares in the Christmas Craft Fair next door.
Edinburgh
16 November to 5 January
The Scottish capital is sporting two festive markets this year, with the traditional East Princes Street Gardens market offering Christmas shopping in the heart of the city, as well as a big wheel and fairground rides. It runs until January 5. Meanwhile the George St Christmas market runs until Christmas Eve, with festive stalls, Santa’s grotto and ice skating.
Winchester
17 November to 20 December
One of the largest Christmas markets in the south of England, Winchester also enjoys one of the most spectacular backdrops, with its 100 wooden chalets ranged around its stunning medieval cathedral. As well as arts, crafts, decorations and food, visitors to the festive celebration can also enjoy an open-air ice rink in Cathedral Close.
Other cathedral city Christmas markets this year include Salisbury, from November 29 to December 23 in Guildhall Square, Canterbury market at Whitefriars Square and the wonderfully original Dickens Christmas Festival in Rochester on December 1 and 2, featuring festive street entertainment, famous literary characters and a 2-day Christmas market.
Leeds
9 November to 22 December
Promising a continental-style festive shopping experience and offering German festive delicacies, Millennium Square in Leeds will play host to over 40 traditional wooden chalets as it transforms into a winter village for Christmas this year. Other attractions include the popular Christmas carousel, the indoor Frankfurter Scheune meeting hall and Alp Chalet Bavarian eatery.
Cardiff
15 November to 23 December
Taking place across the pedestrianised shopping area in the city centre, the Cardiff Christmas market this year promises an eclectic mix of new stalls and old favourites offering original and handmade buys and festive food and drink.
Getting there: travel to Europe
Interrail One Country Passes let you start your journey from your local station and get in to the heart of the country you’re travelling to from just £47; visit MyInterrail.co.uk for more information.
Getting there: fly from UK
Flybmi is offering special deal ‘Christmas market flights’ from Bristol, East Midlands, Aberdeen and Newcastle to 10 European cities including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Paris, with prices starting from £75 and including 23kg checked baggage (to bring all your goodies home!), complimentary in-flight drinks and snacks and allocated leather seating. For more information visit Flybmi
Getting there: travelling in the UK
Invest in a railcard to help you save one third off most rail fares and 60% off kids’ fares when using a Family & Friends railcard. Railcards can save you an average of £152 per year and cost just £30 – a cost which you can make back in just one trip! Visit Railcard.co.uk to find out more.
Christmas packages
For travel and accommodation in the UK and abroad, SuperBreak has a variety of packages to choose from for destinations including Edinburgh, York, Liverpool, Paris, Bruges and more, from £110 per person. Visit the website for more information.
Christmas shopping: bag a bargain
Where the savvy shoppers go for great Christmas bargains right across the UK
Bicester Village, Oxfordshire
Over 160 outlets offering savings up to 60% on standard retail prices, from brands including Prada, Gucci, Armani and Versace, Superdry, The White Company and the Cosmetics Company Store. Just one hour away from London with regular bus and train services.
Cheshire Oaks, Chester
Close to both Manchester and Liverpool, over 145 designer outlets include Burberry, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Cath Kidston, All Saints and Hobbs to name just a few, with play areas for kids, a leisure park and regular entertainment.
Birmingham
The Bullring is the city’s biggest shopping centre and there’s also the canalside Mailbox with its mix of designer shops, restaurants and bars.
Bluewater, Kent
The third largest shopping centre in the UK has over 330 stores and over 167,000 square metres of retail space centrally located close to London.
Looking for more festive fun? See our round-up of magical things to do in London for Christmas
More great shopping ideas
Day 1: 7.31am London St Pancras International to Gard du Nord Paris and a short metro hop to Montparnasse station for the south-bound train to Toulouse
Montparnasse station is clearly undergoing a major renovation, there are bare concrete walls and temporary wooden hoardings everywhere. It’s also currently undergoing an evacuation, with several policeman gesturing at me to leave the area where I’m currently having my first French coffee of the trip.
I have been brushing up on my French language skills using the Duolingo app but since I haven’t yet progressed much past identifying apples and greeting people, I’m not really sure what they are saying to me. I catch the word ‘baggage’ and so I bundle up my bags and follow along with everybody else.
Around the corner, people stop walking so quickly, here everything seems business as usual and people are buying baguettes and pastries from stalls in the vast station concourse, under the large lit-up boards with their lists of destinations. It’s not until half an hour later, when I’m hurrying along to platform 8 to catch the 13.47 to Toulouse that I see someone’s replied to my evacuation Tweet with the word ‘explosion’ and hitting Google Translate – very quickly – I discover that the station was closed when the authorities found a piece of unidentified baggage and carried out a controlled explosion to destroy it.
Had they found an disposed-of-incorrectly used-coffee-cup, they couldn’t have acted with any more calmness, efficiently or ease. It’s been a lesson in how to not panic a large group of people – the fact that one of that group had no idea at all what was happening is beside the point – and also a lesson to all of us travellers, not to stupidly leave our bags unattended. Because not only will we cause a major incident – we will also find ourselves suddenly without any luggage.
I like the trains in France. The Eurostar from London to Paris has been comfortable but with Eurostar you expect that, zipping easily through 50.45 km of underground tunnel under 75m of seawater. Now I’m boarding a double-decker train for a 4-hour journey to Toulouse and my seating area is kitted out like a multi-functional work-station – I have plug sockets and phone charger connectors, a large and small size folding desk, a pull-out coat hanger and a pull-down footrest, integrated lighting, a cupholder and – love this – an in-seat mirror.
We travel through the vineyards of Bordeaux and Agen on the river Garonne, the sun is warm when we reach Toulouse and my hotel is just a 4-minute walk from the station. I’m going budget when it comes to accommodation for this Interrail trip; just 65 euros tonight in my beside-the-station-hotel that is rated as basic on TripAdvisor but with great staff.
And that’s the truth, the staff go out of their way to be helpful at The Occitania – the man on the desk going up to my room to see if he can manage to shove my misbehaving UK adaptor plug into an unyielding French socket. And he can.
There are plenty of neighbourhood bars and brasseries around here and I have a beer sitting on the pavement opposite a boulangerie, so I can watch the customers leaving with their French bread. It’s the equivalent of sitting outside a vegetable shop in Ireland watching the Irish haul home sacks of potatoes.
Then, tired after having spent a large part of the day on a train, I lie in my very comfortable, crisp-linened bed, still feeling like I’m being gently rocked as I drift off to sleep.
Day 2: Toulouse to Carcassonne: scheduled journey time 40 minutes; actual journey time following thunderstorm, slightly different…
Toulouse is a cool city. It’s got plenty to see and a nice laid-back vibe, lots of big squares kitted out with umbrellas and outdoor tables and small winding streets. Not only does it have a scenic river running through it, it also has a canal and the area in-between is where most of the action takes place with shopping streets, historic sights, hotels, restaurants and bars.
The city made its money from the colour blue. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Toulouse grew rich from the pastel trade with its isatis tinctorial plant the only means of dyeing textiles blue, the colour of nobility and royalty. Fortunes were made and mansions were built and today, while the pastel merchants are long gone, you can still visit some of their houses. The Dumay Mansion and the Hôtel de Bagis are both beautiful buildings, dating from the 16th century, and you can even go inside the Hôtel d’Assézat to see the Bemberg Foundation art gallery.
There is, of course, a cathedral; the Cathedral of St Etienne, with its magnificent organ hanging aloft over the nave, its music soaring majestically to the heavens. It’s not ornate however as its nearby neighbour, the Basilica of Saint Sermin, which was built between the 11th and 14th centuries and is one of the largest preserved Romanesque buildings in Europe. Its elegant apse and peaceful side chapels almost magical in their beauty.
Saint Sernin was a key stopping-off points for pilgrims following the Way of St James and the Santiago de Compostela, as was the city’s other great historic building, the Hotel-Dieu Saint Jacques hospital. Both today are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And so is the famous Canal du Midi, with its boat trips and cycle paths
There are a staggering 160 parks and gardens in Toulouse and down near at the Grand Rond and Jardin des Plantes, in quiet gardens between the city traffic, you will catch the locals engaging in games of boules while enjoying a couple of beers in the sun.
There’s an aerospace museum, as well as a chance to visit the A380 and A350 aircraft assembly lines. Toulouse is home to Airbus, as well as the Dewoitine and Aerospatiale aircraft manufacturers, and many of the world’s most famous aircraft make their maiden voyages from here.
You won’t squeeze it all into a day but I fit in as much as I can and am on the train to Carcassone at 6.50pm. It’s a nice short journey and we’re due to arrive just 40 minutes later. But an hour later the train is still sitting in the station, the deluge of rain we had earlier in the evening appears to have flooded the tracks.
So, we’re all given large boxes containing salads, snacks, treats, juice, water and – get this – a colouring book and pencils. Workers are pumping water from the tracks further down the line we’re told, as we sit here eating our dinner and doing colouring-in. We don’t move until 9.30pm, are on a bit of a go-slow due to the wet tracks and so I don’t see Carcassonne until 10.30pm.
But, just like yesterday, it’s all managed calmly and efficiently by the staff. I meet some lovely people on the train including French Edith who is surprised to find an Irish woman with a French name while hers is so very English. And Marie Do, in whose AirBnB studio I am staying for my two nights in Carcassonne, not only drives to the station to pick me up, she also gives me a big hug when she gets there.
And so I get my first view of the stunningly beautiful Cite de Carcassonne, high on its ramparts with towers floodlight against the night sky and Marie Do stops in the middle of the road so I can take a photo. Then I’m taken to a cosy studio apartment filled with books, dressed in fairy lights and sporting its own private outdoor terrace. I sleep the sleep of the very-tired-but-happy.
Day 3: Carcassonne, medieval monuments and a day without trains
800 years after the overthrow of the Cathars by the Crusaders, there is another ‘big row’ brewing in Carcassonne. It’s to do with concentric circles. Large yellow ones, specifically.
The stunning Cite de Carcassonne is a tiny fortified city enclosed by two outer walls and 53 towers, following a concentric design. It was first fortified by the Romans around 100BC, ceded to the Visgoths in the 5th century and passed through various rulers until it became a stronghold of the Occitan Cathars in the Middle Ages. Persecuted and driven out by the Catholic Church’s Crusaders, the city surrendered and passed into the hands of the King of France in 1247. He also founded the ‘new town’ across the river, today a thriving city centre, overlooked by the mighty fortress.
The fortifications date from a number of different periods, from Roman to medieval to modern, and were given a complete restoration in the 19th century by the famous French architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. He was criticised heavily for his use of some non-authentic materials in his renovation and now, here in the 21st century, the howls of criticism over another contemporary update can be heard again.
This time it’s Swiss artist Felice Varini suffering the tide of abuse. His crime? He’s covered the outside walls of the fortress around the Porte d’Aude with huge yellow concentric circles, a project commissioned by France’s Centre of National Monuments (CMN) and scheduled to run until September 2018.
He’s certainly brightened up the view on that side of the city – and also divided the locals. The city has aligned itself into camps of ‘Oui’ and ‘Non’ on this one. I was only 10-minutes inside the walls when I had met two vigorous advocates of both. My tour guide – ‘Oui’ – and a knight – ‘Non’.
The knight is Jean-Francois Vassal, who can trace his family in the area back to the 15th century and is one of only 50 people allowed to live within the ancient city walls. He’s a knight by design, rather than by honour, running the Centre d’Histoire Vivante Medievale offering guided tours and battle re-enactments, demonstrations of knightly lifestyles and insights into everyday existence in medieval times, as well as language courses and historical perspectives.
He holds an MA in Medieval History and one of his recent publications includes a chapter in the academic study From Carrickfergus to Carcassonne. Carrickfergus, as anyone who is familiar with the song ‘I wish I was in Carrickfergus’ will know, is an Irish town in Co Antrim, one of the oldest in the country. It’s not a place I expected to come across in Carcassone, much less find a scholarly book linking the two, but I’m liking the synchronicity.
I’ve wanted to see Carcassonne for a very long time, yes, even before the Germans invented the board game or Kate Mosse wrote Labyrinth . The ancient city itself is tiny and, as expected, quite busy with tourists. The best time to visit is morning, before most of them are up, and the best months to come are April, May, September and October, when the weather is still fine but the tiny ancient cobbled streets are quieter.
As well as the castle, there’s the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire to visit, currently being staked out by a quartet of Russian tenors who sing arias inside the beautiful building throughout the day, in the hope of selling CDs. There are shops stocking everything from local liqueurs and gourmet snacks to plastic swords and medieval princess costumes.
And there’s cassoulet. The quintessential dish from this part of the country that combines duck and sausage with flavoured white beans and is so famous it has two organisations dedicated to its support – the Academie Universelle de Cassoulet and the Route des Cassoulets.
There’s also the Carcassonne treasure. Stolen by the Visgoths from the Romans in the early Middle Ages, it reportedly languishes deep in one of the old city’s 22 medieval wells, though apparently the Germans had a good rummage around for it during the Second World War occupation.
But the beautiful sunshine common to this part of the world has eluded it so far today; by early evening the sky is dark and brooding and the towers are throwing mighty shadows across the Porte Narbonnaise and its drawbridge. There’s a light wind blowing and if you listen carefully you can almost hear the horses’ hooves clattering up the cobblestones to the gate, the knights of the Cathars back once more to claim their birthright.
For a great up-to-date guide on the best of Carcassonne to see and do, as well as history and culture, eating and drinking and even advice on moving there, check out this information page, maintained by @CarcassonneAude – you’ll find him on Twitter – yet another Irish-connection I made on the trip. There are two official tourist offices in the city, in the old town close to the castle and in the new town’s Rue Verdun, close to the Place Carnot. Visit the website here.
Day 4: Carcassone to Montpellier: scheduled journey time, an hour and a half; chaos caused to schedule due to a train strike, huge
The man at the information desk in the train station is pointing to a screen that says the train to Montpellier leaves at 19.33, I am pointing to the information I have written down from the website that says it leaves at 13.27, with subsequent trains due to leave at 15.00 and 17.00. ‘Non’, says the man. ‘Pourquoi?’ I ask, thinking that Duolingo language app has really come in handy on this trip. He shrugs his shoulders. ‘La greve’.
Duolingo didn’t cover that one so I Google it. A strike. There’s a train strike and so, rather than getting to Montpellier to spend the afternoon wandering its old town, it looks like I’ll be staying in Carcassone and checking out its new one. While it’s pretty annoying having to wait 7 hours to get on a train I thought I was getting on right now, I’m glad that at least there is a train today and, as I didn’t have time to visit the main centre of Carcassone yesterday, I head for there now.
The ‘new’ city of Carcassonne is actually 800 years old and very atmospheric with lovely old architecture – the obligatory massive double doors and trellis-work balconies trailing hanging plants – and narrow pedestrianised streets that break out suddenly into a big sunny square with a fountain. And after paying a visit to the cathedral of Saint-Michel where I ‘find myself’ – St Bernadette deep in prayer in front of Mary,Queen of Lourdes – I take up residence for the afternoon in a red-cushioned wicker chair in the square, the Place Carnot.
Unlike the dark and somewhat brooding Carcassonne of yesterday, today is bright and sunny and although I should probably be feeling frustrated at not being in Montpellier by now, I’m not. I’m just sitting watching people and taking it all in. Not reading, not writing, not listening to music, not posting on social media, not even looking at my phone. Just sitting looking around me and enjoying it all. And I drank a beer and nobody came to hassle me when it was finished about buying another.
If I had gone to Montpellier on the train like I planned to, I would have been out now with my guidebook and my maps, pounding the pavement and seeing how many sights I could cram into an afternoon. But because I had no plans for Carcassonne I just sat and enjoyed it. It was a wonderful afternoon, snatched free from days of activity and travelling, one of the most enjoyable of my whole week. All because of a train strike. It reminded me that while we constantly ‘do’, sometimes it’s great to just ‘be’.
Day 5: Montpellier to Paris: scheduled time 3 and a half hours; Paris to London: scheduled time 2 and a half hours. Actual time: all of the above
I wake to intense bright sunshine and deep blue skies. Mainly because I hadn’t worked out how to close the shutters on the windows of my Montpellier AirBnB bedroom last night before I went to sleep.
I arrived at twilight in a street paved with shiny paving stones and lined with palm trees, into a mansion building with marble floors and a glass-covered courtyard. My bedroom is in a beautiful eclectic city apartment two floors up, with high ceilings and tall French windows looking out into the street. I have a whole little section to myself, with bedroom, bathroom and small foyer space, decked out with a microwave, kettle, utensils and a box of red wine. There are little madeleines in a bowl in the bedroom, a box of instant soups on the shelf by the kettle.
This interrail trip has been my first experience of using AirBnB and it’s been quite a revelation to stay with real people in the middle of areas where real people live, rather than holed up in a hotel in the tourist spots. Being nosey by nature – why else did I become a journalist – heaven is the inside of other people’s homes and AirBnB has given me legal access. From my cosy studio in Carcassonne to my mansion bedroom in Montpellier, the wonders of AirBnB have been a revelation.
I met my hostess Marvena briefly last night when I turned up 8 hours later than scheduled – the beauty of the AirBnB app makes it easy to communicate with your hosts and keep them updated on any changes – there’s even a ‘translate’ button for communicating in any language. Turns out on the AirBnB app, I speak French seamlessly.
This morning I meet Marvena’s brother who recommends that I visit the city’s Jardin des Plantes – dating from 1593, one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in Europe and the first to be created in France – and also mentions the cathedral. And so that’s what I do for the few hours admiring fountains and pretty squares as I wander the winding streets of the old town, climbing the cobblestone hill to the Saint-Pierre Cathedral and buying Hermione Lee’s biography of Virginia Woolf in a second-hand shop in the Place des Martyrs de la Resistance.
Then it’s time to catch the train from Montpellier to Paris Gare du Lyon, get myself by metro back to Gard du Nord, sit outside in the sun for a while eating a baguette – honestly, if I eat any more bread on this trip I will bleed yeast – and finally, get back on the Eurostar to London.
It’s been quite a journey – from explosions and floods to train strikes and meeting knights – but I’ve had a blast. I’ve been delighted, frustrated, excited and bemused in pretty much equal measures. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat and very much plan to. From just £220 to travel for six days in one country, what could be better than that?
I’ll tell you what. Buying a multi-country pass to travel in several countries. And that’s what I plan to do next.
An adult Interrail pass to travel in France for 6 days within 1 month is £220, travelling on any trains in the country. The pass does not have to be used within 6 days but allows for 6 days of travel over a month so you can stay for as long as you want at each destination. Simply record all of your journeys in the ‘journey details’ section of the travel report, printed on the ticket cover of your Interrail pass. You will need to show a valid passport/identify document together with your Interrail pass to train staff when requested.
All trains do not require reservations; however, reservations are required for all European night trains and most high-speed trains. Eurostar reservations, allowing you to travel from London to France to start your journey, usually cost about £30. The Interrail rail planner app provides information on the validity or your pass and additional benefits, and also allows you to make e-reservations.
You can buy an Interrail pass up to 11 months before you plan to leave.
For more information on interrailing in Europe and to book, visit www.myinterrail.co.uk
Images: Bernadette Fallon, Paul Palau
Paris for a day. It seemed an impossibly romantic notion. But there are great day-return deals to be had on Eurostar if you book in advance.
I decided to go. I would sit at pavement cafes. I’d eat frites. I’d wear red lipstick. I might even smoke a Gauloise. Though taking up smoking was probably a step too far – even for Paris.
And so I found myself applying red lipstick at 5.15 one morning, layering on the mascara, tying a Liberty scarf with a ‘sourire’, taking the early train to St Pancras and boarding the 7.22am Eurostar to Paris.
10.47am. Paris. Ha!
I am here – an accordian plays in my head, overlayered with Edif Piaf belting out ‘Non, je n’regrete rien’, there are croissants and men shouting in French. The strains of the accordion die away as I face the realisation I have no euros and cannot buy a map, jump on the metro, take a taxi or withdraw any cash as the only cash machine in the station is out of order. And so I find myself being fleeced by the station bureau de change who charge 7 euros for the privilege of giving me a colossally bad exchange rate for the 20 English pounds I luckily have in my handbag.
I then spend an age in the metro peering at a huge map and trying to work out how to get to Notre Dame while realising I should perhaps have done a bit more preparation than just putting on red lipstick.
Still, I cheer up when I come out at Cite station to find Notre Dame towering above me and a cluster of lovely flower shops selling Christmas decorations. I buy a Santa climbing up the Eiffel Tower for my nephew and a Felicitations card for his brother who is not yet 24 hours old. I go to Notre Dame, arriving during mass and take Holy Communion in French – turns out ‘Amen’ is the same in both languages.
I stare at the stained glass windows for a while and try to imagine what the jewel-like colours must have looked like to a 12th century congregation before books and colour printing and mass produced images kicked in. Several years later I’ll remember this thought as I write a series of books called Cathedrals in Britain.
And with books on my mind I spend a very happy hour in Shakespeare and Company, the English language bookshop founded by George Whitman in 1951, named in tribute to the orginal Shakespeare and Company founded by Sylvia Beach in 1919, which became a meeting point for writers like Ernest Hemmingway, F Scott Fitzgearld and James Joyce in the 1920s. Sylvia Beach also published the first copies of Joyce’s Ulyssess.
If I ever opened a bookshop, it would be a bookshop like this; tables stacked with secondhand bargains outside and in the uneven-floored winding warren of rooms inside, rickety shelves piled high right to the roof. There are glass cabinets full of faded Penguin originals, library books, antique books and books that people have loved, alongside brand spanking new books in the front of the shop.
I buy a slender volume of Ernest Hemmingway’s prose writing on Paris and my purchase, A Moveable Feast, screams ‘pretentious tourist’ as I leave the shop and wander around the Left Bank. Past the Sorbonne and through the winding streets that are home to many more bookshops. I leave touristy Paris along the banks of the Seine behind as I walk through the ‘rues’ where people live and shop, past boulangeries, boucheries and hairdressers, past French ladies doing their shopping and people walking their dogs.
Lunchtime
I stop when I come to Place de la Contrescarpe to have lunch at La Contre which has been recommended by A Hedonist’s Guide to Paris, my bible for the trip. (It’s the perfect companion for a short stay, handbag-sized, covering the essentials – where to eat, drink, shop and stay, with a smattering of culture.) La Contre turns out to be exactly as good as promised, a large terrace overlooking the small square gives way to a lovely old wooden ‘library’ with bar and dining room behind.
Apart from a few tables of French men taking coffee and a lone writer tapping on his laptop, I have the place to myself and take a table by the window in the library, order onion soup, poulet supreme and frites. Hemingway lived on Place de la Contrescarpe in the 1920s, he describes it for me in the first chapter of A Moveable Feast, which I’ve given up trying to hide in my newspaper. Because there’s no way to hide I’m a tourist, regardless of how much lipstick I slap on.
Afternoon
After lunch I walk down to the Jardin du Luxembourg and have a great time taking photos of it on my new camera (an Olympus SP 810UZ in case you’re wondering) and try out both the watercolour and sketch effects – those poor old artists on their rickety wooden chairs really are wasting their time …
From here I walk all the way down Montparnasse, the centre of cultural coffee-house life in the 1920s, and through the grand military museums and monuments of Les Invalides to the Rodin Museum, arriving just as it shuts under its new winter closing regime. But I don’t care because this means I’ll have more time to wander down the Champs Elysee and oogle the designer shops on the Rue Du Fauborg Saint Honore. But not before I’ve spent another half hour photographing myself under golden-coloured trees on the Esplanade des Invalides.
Evening
So now it’s getting quite late as I reach the Champs Elysees and I take some photos of the Eiffel Tower outlined in the distance against a violet sky, and then it’s dark and the streaming traffic from the Arc de Triomphe makes beautiful ribbons of coloured light all along the wide boulevard. There’s just time for a quick walk along Fauborg de St Honore before I have to work out how to get to Gare du Nord for my 18.43 train home.
The spectacularly bad planning which has characterised the entire trip almost results in me missing it. Here’s a tip, remember that Paris has the same rush hour traffic as anywhere else at 6pm and the last place you want to be half an hour before your train leaves and you’re supposed to be checking in, is sitting in it.
I’ve treated myself to a Standard Premier ticket on the way back which means I get a big comfy seat, dinner and a glass of wine. Standard Premier on the way out gets you a continental breakfast.
My day in Paris has been wonderful but oh so quick, a quick flash of magic, a bonheur bref. But I have lovely memories and my photos, though none it turns out of me on the Esplanade des Invalides. I had to delete them. Paris may still be beautiful after almost two thousand years, but it looks like I can’t do close-ups past 40.
Travelling by Eurostar to Paris
Eurostar operates up to 18 daily services from London St Pancras International to Paris and the fastest journey time is 2 hours 15 minutes. Visit the website’s deals page to get the best bargains or phone 08432 186 186. Upgrade to Standard Premier for flexible fares, spacious on-board accommodation, a light meal and a selection of magazines.
What to take with you
A copy of Hg2: A Hedonist’s Guide to Paris, red lipstick, euros