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L'Aisne
| Laon
is set on a small plateau overlooking the great plains of Picardie and Champagne.
It was a was a royal city from the 7th to the 11th century,.
Dominating the town and visible for miles around, the cathedral of Notre-Dame
is one of the earliest and finest examples of Gothic architecture in France. It is one of Laon's beautiful edifices with its unfinished
towers.
Other places of interest in Laon are, the Templars' chapel (12th
century), the
episcopal palace (13th - 17th centuries), the
Saint-Martin abbey (12th - 13th centuries) as well as the
ancient ramparts surrounding the actual administrative city.
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©
Sedecs/Terroirs-of-France/ M. Durman |
Laon’s area is also rich with abbeys and convents you should
discover, as the Abbaye de Vauclair.
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Citadelle
de Laon
© Sedecs/Terroirs-of-France/ M. Durman |
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Do not miss Coucy-le-Château,
the most beautiful castle never built
up in Europe with the highest dungeon of France, destructed in 1917 by the German army
(actually in ruins), and also Fère-en-Tardenois : its feudal
castle, its
16th century church and the house of Paul Claudel (museum).
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Abbaye
de Vauclair
©
Sedecs/Terroirs-of-France/ M. Durman |
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Gauchy
and its Flemish town hall, the romanesque and gothic fortified churches,
the Chemin des Dames (famous battlefield of the First World
War), and the amazing Fort de Condé.
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| L'Oise
Beauvais :
The Saint-Pierre cathedrale of Beauvais has the highest gothic choir of the world
(1225-1324). You ought also to visit the museum of tapestry (Beauvais had a notorious
tapestry school), the town hall (facade of the 18th century), the court house
(ancient
episcopal palace with a tower of the 11th century).
In Compiègne you should discover the neoclassical
castle, the
figurine’s museum and, in the forest of Rethondes, the glade of the 1918 Armistice.
Do not miss the magnificient castle and the racecourse of Chantilly,
the castle of Pierrefonds, the ruins of Champlieu at Orrouy,
and the city of Senlis. |
| La
Somme
Amiens :
Amiens keeps the traces of the royal past with the King's Home (15th century). When
visiting the city, you should discover the gothic cathedrale (1220 to 1270) with the
statue of Beau Dieu - the vastest church of France. Other edifices are not to be missed as
the Saint-Leu and Saint-Germain churches, the ancient district of Saint-Leu, the
typical hortillonnages (whole of gardens surrounded with arms of rivers),
the zoological park of Hottoie, the House of Sagittarius (facade of a Renaissance house
rebuilt in 1940).
Many other places should be visited as the abbeys of Gard
(at Saint-Pierre-à-Gouy), Saint-Riquier ; the castles of
Rambure, Bagatelle
and the Picardian littoral with the Hable of Ault, the
spit of Hourdel, the Marquenterre (ornithological park), the bays of Authie and Somme. with the Hable of Ault, the
spit of Hourdel, the Marquenterre (ornithological park), the bays of Authie and Somme. |
