The French Mediterranean village of Collioure is nothing short of enchanting. Travel guru Rick Steves refers to it as “paradise reclaimed” – it’s hard to disagree. These gorgeous photos of  Collioure, basking in the sun, are sure to make you want to visit…

Collioure is everything that describes an idyllic postcard-perfect retreat from modern stresses… Cobblestone pedestrian streets and colourful narrow houses that are centuries old. A plethora of vine-covered dining patios and bars. Sandy (though sometimes rocky) beaches with clear almost turquoise water. Quality wine made nearby from local grapes. And, a vibrant  history dotted with the great and the famous including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and British author Patrick O’Brian.

Add gorgeous summer sunrises over the water and a pace of life that seems to be from times gone by, and Collioure is worth a detour on any Southern France itinerary.

Collioure is easily reachable by train. There is TGV service from Paris Gare de Lyon to nearby Perpignan. From here, visitors have choice of local train, rental car, or taxi to reach the town.

Lonna (Elle) Coleman is a recently-retired banking executive now focused on her true passions – travel photography, expressionist acrylic painting, and writing. Her photography and artwork are available at www.etsy.com/shop/ElleColemanPhotoArt

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Paris is the most visited Tourist destination in the world, it’s probably the most photographed too! We never tire of seeing pictures of the beautiful city of light.

These photos of Paris are by photographer John Woods from Madison, Wisconsin, US. He and wife Nancy say any time is good to take a photo in Paris but John especially likes “getting up early and walking down to the Seine to capture Notre Dame, the bridges across the river, the Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Montmartre, the gardens, the streets, the people, the monuments – really just about anywhere.”

Paris in Pictures

The colourful Place des Tertres, Montmartre is very photogenic. In the tree lined square, artists set up their easels, tourists amble and restaurant waiters dash in and out of tables delivering wine, hot chocolate, snacks and dishes of steaming food.

Read more about the artists of Montmartre

The south Rose window of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. There are three rose windows in this ancient cathedral, this one is 800 years old, a gift from King Louis IX, who was made a saint. Lit up by the sun, this masterpiece of stained glass, 42 feet across, looks jewel like and throws colourful hues across the inside of the church.

The Arc de Triomphe stands in the middle of a carousel surrounded by traffic with views over the surrounding boulevards and avenues.  Cross via the subway to admire the architecture, climb to the top and visit the museum and admire those views over Paris. Read more about the Arc de Triomphe

Places des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris, commissioned by King Henri IV is lined with gorgeous houses, one of them once home to the great Victor Hugo. The arched stone arcades brim with restaurants, art galleries and designer boutiques. Read more about the Place des Vosges 

In the 18th and 19th centuries there are a dozen covered shopping passages of Paris still in use today – and they’re very photogenic. Read more about the covered passages of Paris

The Musee de Carnavalet reveals the history of Paris in its beautiful stately home location. Sumptious rooms, elegant, lavish furnishing and exhibits make this a truly spectacular visit. Read more about the Carnavalet Museum (note it is closed for refurbishment until 2019).

Sainte-Chapelle church is like an 800 year old jewel box you can walk into. Not far from the much larger Cathedral of Notre-Dame, this chapel is one of the most incredible sites in Paris. Read more about Sainte-Chapelle

Apero time in Paris at the legendary Relais Odeon, Boulevard Saint-Germaine

A visit to a boulangerie is a must in Paris and there are hundreds to choose from including the very pretty Au Petit Versailles du Marais (1 Rue Tiron, 4th arrondissement).

More on Paris

Top ten Paris visits
5 Brilliant free museums in Paris
5 off the beaten track things to do in Paris, including the house of a man who appears in a Harry Potter story!
Rue Mouffetard – the oldest street in Paris
Saint-Ouen – the enormous flea market district of Paris

The post Paris in Photos | 10 views of the world’s favourite city appeared first on The Good Life France.

Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy is an iconic landmark. It’s one of the most incredible monuments in Europe and one of the wonders of the world.

Located in the Manche department,  on the edge of Normandy and almost in Brittany (which once claimed this little island for its own), the legendary island can be seen from miles around.

This place has long inspired awe and the imagination, in 1847 the great French writer Victor Hugo wrote:

“I was yesterday at Mont-Saint-Michel. Here, one would have to cram the superlatives of admiration, as the men have piled the buildings on the rocks and as nature has piled the rocks on the buildings”…

A miraculous island

Legend has it that an 8^th century bishop in Avranches in Normandy claimed that the Archangel Michael told him to build a church on top of the island. In the following centuries more buildings were added and Mont-Saint-Michel became an important place of pilgrimage and learning. Nowadays though the narrow cobbled streets are filled with cafés, tourist shops and restaurants. It’s still extraordinarily beautiful.

Take a virtual tour of Mont-Saint-Michel

Google Arts and Culture have several free virtual tours of Mont-Saint-Michel. You can wander the streets, out into the bay, and see it from all angles. Head to the circles marked “EXPLORE” artsandculture.google.com/montstmichel

More on Mont-Saint-Michel

Wiggly, wobbly, wonderful Mont St Michel

The tides of Mont St Michel

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 This lovely photograph of Monet’s garden at Giverny was shared with us by David Stratton from Australia.

An appreciative audience of more than 60,000 people on The Good Life France Facebook page made this our photo of the week.

There is a poignant story behind this photo, David’s wife is unwell and undergoing chemotherapy treatment, he says that she gets through it by imagining she is in Monet’s garden which she absolutely loves.

David has asked us to share his wife’s blog, Walking in Monet’s Garden, he hopes that it will give hope to others going through difficult times “France is our favourite place to holiday and our last holiday when she was well was in France for 5 weeks so the joy we had there is a large part of our shared memories. We were talking today about giving others with brain tumours hope and someone to talk to; her blog might show others that there is always hope despite bad medical news”.

We all wish them well.

Monet’s garden can be visited from end March to end October but check the Monet Fondation website for precise details as the dates can change from one year to another.

More about Monet’s garden at Giverny

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Enter our Winter in France photo contest. You don’t have to be a professional or even a great photographer to take a great photograph.

We would love to see your photos of winter in France – it could be ski, snow, mountains, Christmas – anything French and related to winter. Whatever your favourite image is, share it with us and all our readers and friends.

Photos can be submitted from the present year or past years.

How to Enter

Just submit your photo via our Facebook page Timeline or Message, the bigger the picture the better and if the image is too small we may not be able to use it. Or you can send to editor (at) the goodlifefrance.com and please mark your email winter photo contest so we know to enter you.

Prize

The winning picture will be the one that gets the most likes on Facebook and we will send the winner a copy of Perry Taylor’s gorgeous book of pictures from France.

Rules

The deadline to send your photos in is 29 December 2014 and the contest is open to everyone. The winner will be announced in January 2015.

See the winning photograph and some of the wonderful entries in our Summer Photo Contest:

Note: In submitting a photo you agree that its content does not infringe copyrights or other property rights of any party. You also agree that the photo you are submitting is your own and that we may reproduce, publish, edit and modify for use by The Good Life France.

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We thought, if we hold a competition to share photos of France from our readers around the world we would receive a few great photos…

How wrong can you be?

Postcard from France Contest

In just one week we received more than 250 photos and all of them were great! Some of them were more technically advanced, some had such beautiful subject matter that you just had to aim and point, some were so gorgeously colourful it took your breath away. Here at The Good Life France we’re used to working with professional photographers and it is not an exaggeration to say that several of those who sent images in would absolutely give the pros a run for their money.

So, how did we pick a winner?

In the end we decided it was impossible and unfair for us to choose because each day bought a fresh batch of beautiful photos and it just got harder and harder to agree. So, we turned the competition over to our more than 12000 Twitter and Facebook friends to pick the winner by voting for their favourite and thousands of votes were cast!

To everyone who sent in a photo, “Liked” and “Shared” on Facebook and spread the word on Twitter – THANK YOU SO MUCH.

The Winner

The overall winner was Josianne Takassaki Ferrari from Sao Paulo, Brasil. Her photograph of a winding walkway in the centre of St Paul de Vence in Provence struck a chord with many viewers with its beautiful colours and evocative quality of one of the most loved areas of France.

Second was Donna and John Weatherhead from Brisbane, Australia whose photograph of Riquewihr in Alsace perfectly depicted a mellow day in the town.

Third was another picturesque St Paul de Vence photo (seems you all can’t get enough of the lovely town) by Kylie Russell from Victoria, Australia

Fourth was “A beautiful February morning in Honfleur” by Sally Coppack, Deux Sevres, France

You can see all the photos on our Facebook page

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The beautiful Chateau de Chenonceau, located in the Loire Valley, region of Centre is one of the most visited chateaux in France. When we held a French photo competition, it’s no surprise that we received no less than 3 Chateau de Chenonceau photos!

The picture above shows the chateau on a sunny day with a formation of rainbow coloured clouds in the sky. The image was sent in to us by Bev Doliber in Spain who visited the chateau and took the photo. She says “We took this photo on a day with a sunny sky and no rain in sight as we were leaving Château de Chenonceau in June.  It was an amazing sight; no one could believe their eyes.” Known as a circumhorizontal arc this is an optical phenomenon – an ice-halo formed by plate-shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds. Sometimes called a “fire rainbow” though nothing to do with fire or a rainbow. This is a rare phenomenon in northern Europe as the sun needs to be very high in the sky and that only happens for around 160 hours each year in this part of France.

Often described as ‘the ladies chateau’ thanks to the number of lady owners who have helped to shape it’s destiny including Diane de Poitiers who was gifted the chateau by her lover Henri II of France.

Read more about the Chateau de Chenonceau

The photo below shows the Chateau de Chenonceau in 1938, now, nearly 100 years later, nothing has changed. (Photo from Peter Jones in the UK).

The Chateau de Chenonceau gardens are famous for their colourful displays and with 130,000 bedding plants being used for summer planting displays it’s easy to see why. But it’s not just the castle grounds that are awash with colour – the village of Chenonceaux is also very pretty. Old houses festooned with window boxes, walls hung with vines and wisteria plants, birds flitting about and charming old houses.

Photo of a cottage at Chenonceaux by Karen Stephen, San Ramon, California US.

The Chateau of Chenonceau, history and facts

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Vacqueyras, in the heart of the Vaucluse is in many ways off the beaten track. Although famous for its wines it is not that well known to tourists.

Wine has been produced in this region since the 15th century and Vacqueryas is famous for its wine and well known to wine fans and buyers. Vacqueyras received the A.O.C. Côtes du Rhône Decree appellation in 1937 and then in 1990, it was granted its own AOC. Berry Bros & Rudd, the famous wine merchants in London say “Vacqueyras was the second Côtes du Rhônes Villages to be upgraded to AOC status (after Gigondas) in 1990 and rightly so. These excellent value wines are like turbo-charged Côtes du Rhônes: dark, rich wines with the classic herbs and warm peppery spice of the Southern Rhône.”

The village itself is surrounded by protective walls and has some wonderful old buildings, some of which date back to the 11^th and 12^th centuries.  The ramparts are from the 15^th Century and the remains of the Chateau, destroyed during the French Revolution date back to the 17^th Century. The little streets in the old village are shaded from the almost year round sun by plane trees and it has a feeling as though life has been largely unchanged for many years.

More on Wine

Top tips for wine tasting in France
Rosé Masterclass
Is it all about labels?
Vineyards in Paris

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Turenne, Correze in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (formerly Limousin region) is classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France (by Les Plus Beaux Villages de France group).

Turenne is a popular tourist destination thanks to its rather unique position on top of a cliff. What makes this so unusual and so spectacular is the sheer height – 320m up and perched on a very distinct hill. Full of beautiful winding streets, old buildings, castle ruins and a famous tower, Turenne sits atop a limestone hill known as the Martel Causse. The views from the top are spectacular, green fields, forests and beautiful countryside lay all around in an almost 360 degree application. On a clear day (and with good eyesight) you can see for 20 miles around – mountains, villages, forests and fields making a verdant patchwork of the beautiful landscape.

The cobbled streets, burgher houses made from limestone, abundance of towers and turrets make this little medieval village in the sky a place for exploration and discovery though the hilly paths are steep. The climb to the top cannot be undertaken by coach – passengers have to walk and only cars belonging to the inhabitants may be driven all the way up.

The town has a rich history, named after one of Louis XIV’s famous military commanders, Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, known as Viscount Turenne.  For a while the town was honoured with a quasi-independence from the crown; crusaders sheltered there, and thanks to the Sun King’s great Marshal Turenne it achieved a remarkable, international reputation. The castle was dismantled by Louis XV and there is now a garden among the ruins.

There are many very fine buildings, including a 12th century church and the César Tower built in the 11^th Century and with a spiral staircase leading to a viewing platform for those who have no fear of heights!

Video showing just how high and spectacular this little village is:

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The photo above was an entrant in our French photo competition and the lady who sent it said “It needs no introduction”. In many ways she was right because this fabulous image is of Étretat in the Pays de Caux region of Upper Normandy (Haute Normandie),  famous for its cliffs, giant formations in the sea, three natural arches and a pointed offshore “needle”.

For centuries the stunning view has attracted writers and artists keen to capture its magnificent qualities – Claude Monet and Eugène Boudin, amongst many others, loved to paint here. Guy de Maupassant wrote “The Englishman of Étretat” (L’Anglais d’Étretat) after spending much of his childhood in the area.  So in love with the views was he, that in later life he built a house in Etretat in what is now rue Guy-de-Maupassant.

The three arches which formed over many thousands of years are known Porte d’Aval, Porte Amont and Manneport. The latter can only be seen at low tide when you’ll also be able to see the emergence of the 18^th century oyster beds for which the town was famous.  Apparently Queen Marie Antoinette was much enamoured of the Etretat oysters which were not natural to the area and had to be transferred by ship from their birth place in Brittany to mature in the Etretat coastal waters. The natural springs in the area plus the salt water were said to give the oysters a delicate and unique taste.

Also famous in Etretat is the “trou à l’homme” – a hole in the rock said to have been created during a shipwreck in 1792. The town is a popular tourist destination with many pretty half-timbered houses, quaint cafés, a cliff top chapel and a charming chateau.

Photo Etretat Cliffs Normandy, by Kathryn Fowler (entry in our French photo completion Jan/Feb 2014)

Video of Etretat, glorious sunsets, beautiful scenery, luscious views…

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