Through the French Provinces

By Ernest Peixotto

Travel book that takes the reader on a tour of France, from the fortress castles of Touraine to the Valley of the Rhone and the provinces of Aussois and Morvan. Boat trips up and down the Seine and the Oise, in a motor car through the Loire valley, and many more adventures.

“Through the French Provinces years ago, when I went as a mere boy to study in France, the country and its picturesque towns and villages took a strong hold upon me. Since then, despite repeated sojourns and years of travel, the French provinces seem ever to unfold new riches and to prove an inexhaustible mine of interest. With the possible exception of Italy, I know of no country whose little towns so well repay investigation, and yet, until recent years of automobiling, how little have they been visited by the tourist! If the succeeding pages serve to open new vistas to the careful traveller—to the lover of the picturesque or the student of architecture - and bring to his notice some hitherto unknown corners of an altogether fascinating country, the purpose of this book will have been fulfilled.”-Preface

• Language: English
• Publisher: Braunfell Books
• Release date: Feb 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805230724

Book preview

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© Braunfell Books 2023, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

PREFACE 7

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8

MOTOR-BOAT CRUISES 12

I—DOWN THE SEINE 12

II—UP THE OISE 29

LITTLE JOURNEYS FROM PARIS 38

UNFREQUENTED CHATEAUX NEAR FONTAINEBLEAU 45

I—VAUX-LE-VICOMTE 47

II—COURANCES 53

III—FLÈURY-EN-BIERE 57

MOTOR DRIVES 61

I—TO PROVINS, SENS, AND NEMOURS 61

II—TO ÉTAMPES, MAINTENON, AND CHARTRES 69

III—TO THE VALLEY OF THE LOIRE 76

IN TOURAINE 79

I—CLIFF-DWELLERS 79

II—CHINON AND LOCHES 84

LIMOGES AND ITS ENAMELS 93

IN THE LAND OF THE TROUBADOURS 100

A FORGOTTEN PILGRIMAGE 108

THE VALLEY OF THE LOT 118

THREE OLD HILL-TOWNS OF GASCONY 125

I—CORDES 125

II—ALBI 132

III—CARCASSONNE 139

THROUGH THE FRENCH PROVINCES

BY

ERNEST PEIXOTTO

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PREFACE

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YEARS ago, when I went as a mere boy to study in France, the country and its picturesque towns and villages took a strong hold upon me. Since then, despite repeated sojourns and years of travel, the French provinces seem ever to unfold new riches and to prove an inexhaustible mine of interest. With the possible exception of Italy, I know of no country whose little towns so well repay investigation, and yet, until recent years of automobiling, how little have they been visited by the tourist!

If the succeeding pages serve to open new vistas to the careful traveller—to the lover of the picturesque or the student of architecture—and bring to his notice some hitherto unknown corners of an altogether fascinating country, the purpose of this book will have been fulfilled.

The writer wishes to thank the friends in France who have contributed so much to the pleasure of these journeys and made so many of their most agreeable features possible.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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Carcassonne

A Quiet Part of the Seine at Poissy

Old Mill at Dennemont

In the Lock at Meulan

The Races at Mantes

Tower of St. Maclou, Mantes

The Ferry at Vetheuil

Château Gaillard

Market-place, Pont de l’Arche

Place des Arts, Rouen

Rue de l’Epicerie, Rouen

Rouen from the Faubourg of Saint Sever

Conflans

Poplar-fringed Banks

The River at Pontoise

The Oise at L’Isle Adam

The Church of St. Leu d’Esserent

Pont Sainte Maixence

The Castle of Pierrefonds

The Park, Saint Cloud

The Marchandes des Quatre Saisons

The Casino and Lake, Enghien

At Robinson’s

Ruins of the Abbey of Vaux de Cernay

The roadway describes a broad circle

The Entrance Gates, Vaux

Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux-le-Vicomte from the Parterre

Until we came again to small patches of woodland

Courances

Courances from the Gardens

Corner of the Moat, Fleury

Fleury and its Church

Fleury, the Forecourt

The broad white road and its attendant trees

The Rue Couverte, Provins

Sens on a Fête Day

Sens Cathedral from the Tapis Vert

The Château of Nemours

The Walls and Gate, Moret

Old Mill near Étampes

Étampes, the Church

The Castle of Philip Augustus, Dourdan

Château of Maintenon

The great plains of the Beauce

Chartres Cathedral

Château de Bénéhart

The Court, Château de Chaumont

Towered a huge mass of overhanging rock

A Cliff-dwelling

A Cliff-dweller’s Home

Chinon from the Marketplace

The Castle, Chinon

An Old Street, Chinon

Loches

Rises like a fortress

The Porte Picoys and Hôtel de Ville, Loches

Rue de la Boucherie, Limoges

Pont Saint Etienne, Limoges

Ox-cart

House at Sarlat where Etienne de la Boëtie was born

On every crag is perched a feudal castle

The mediæval vision of Begnac seated on its proud cliff

Vers

The Shadowy Vale of Rocamadour

The Chapels

Procession on Ascension Day

Rocamadour from the River Alzon

Rocamadour

Crucifix in the Church of Saint Sauveur

With his pig hunting for truffles

Cajarc

Saint Cirq-la-Popie

Pont Valentré, Cahors

Barbreau and Tour des Pendus, Cahors

Cordes

The Book of Iron

A By-way

Stairway of the Pater Noster, Cordes

The Cathedral and Archbishop’s Palace, Albi

A Side Street, Albi

Albi Cathedral from the Market

A Lane, Albi

The Upper City, Carcassonne

The Porte Narbonnaise, Carcassonne

MOTOR-BOAT CRUISES

I—DOWN THE SEINE

IT had all been arranged a week or two before. I was to spend Saturday night with my friend in his villa at La Frette, not far from Maisons Laffitte, and early Sunday morning we were to be up and off to Poissy, so as to arrive for the signal gun at nine o’clock.

As we looked from our window over a broad curve of the river, an ideal July morning greeted us—not too warm, a clear blue sky, and just enough of a breeze to temper the sun’s rays. On reaching the river bank, we found the Narcisse ready and waiting, with George, the mécanicien, giving the final adjustment to his motor. Many a happy day had I passed in this same boat, cruising up and down the river with my friend C——and his sister, but neither he nor I had ever before attempted so long a voyage as this on which we were about to start.

Its programme, arranged by the Hélice Club (read Propeller Club) of France, was as follows: To start from the bridge at Poissy at nine on Sunday morning; reach Mantes at noon; there to remain for the races or go on at will; but all the boats were finally to meet on the following afternoon in the lock at Martot, the first above Rouen, so that all could dock at the landing stage in Rouen at about the same time.

We were off in good season, and it was not long before we came in sight of the bridge at Poissy, with its long, low row of buttressed arches so agreeably topped by an old mill perched over the centre pier. Here we found a score of other boats, waiting, like ourselves, for the signal of departure. They represented all types of motor boats: pleasure yachts, racers, cruisers, and launches. Our boat was a trim little craft in the smaller cruiser class, with a broad, comfortable seat for three just forward of the motor.

As far as I know, she is the only motor boat on the Seine—or on any of the French rivers, for that matter—that flies the American flag, and this badge of the foreigner attracted universal attention, both from the people gathered in large numbers on the bridge and on the river bank, from our fellow yachtsmen, and especially from the committee on board the Korrigan, which was acting as flagship of the squadron.

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Instantly we were dubbed le petit Américain!

Promptly at nine o’clock the Korrigan’s cannon gave the signal for departure, and every boat fled off at top speed through the arches of the bridge and on down the river. How the flags fluttered and snapped in the wind! How the smaller craft rocked and tumbled in the wake of their larger sisters! Though this was a cruise and not a race, who, under the circumstances, could refrain from a test of fleetness? The big boats, with powerful motors coughing and wheezing as they shot by, soon forged far ahead, but we in the smaller cruisers knew that we should meet them in the lock at Meulan. George put on our second speed, and we were happy to find that we maintained our position well in the lead of the boats of our class—for our own sakes and for the sake of the flag we were flying.

The shores went swiftly by and, the excitement of the start once over, we settled down to the full enjoyment of the fresh morning air.

The banks of the Seine at this point remain distinctly suburban in character, for though Poissy is some distance from Paris, by the river, the railway has cut off so many of the loops that Poissy has been brought well into the environs. Villa gardens border both shores, shaded by heavy foliage and decorated along the water’s edge by many a rustic arbour, boat-house, and landing stage at which launches, rowboats, and yachts lie moored.

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This pleasant Sunday morning, these gardens were alive with men and women in light summer clothes lounging in easy-chairs sipping their matinal cafʹ au lait, or preparing for a day of idleness upon the river.

Various and many are the types one sees; strange and wonderful is their raiment! To my mind, surely, the most amusing is the fisherman. The Parisian disciple of Izaak Walton is a true philosopher. Fishing with him is a pastime, not a sport. He rents, by the year, the right to plant two poles at a certain spot in the river, and to these he ties his broad, steady punt. Shaded by an awning, comfortably