Page 124 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

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Angers
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This is the big one – an epic trek that travels all the : # Nantes
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way from the chilly waters of the English Channel : : / ·
to the gleaming blue Mediterranean. Along the way, Parc Naturel \ #
you’ll stop off at some of France’s most iconic sights: Interrégional du
Marais Poitevin
the château of Versailles, the abbey of Mont St- La Rochelle # \ / ·
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Michel, the summit of Mont Blanc and the beaches of A T L A N T I C # Saintes
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the French Riviera. Allez-y! O C E A N
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Bordeaux#
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Parc / ·
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Naturel
Bay of Régional des
Biscay Landes de
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a villagey charm, despite # \ / ·
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1 Paris the throngs of tourists. # \ # \ #
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San
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For that essentially The centre of Mont- Sebastián Pau
Parisian experience, it’s martre is place du Tertre,
hard to beat Montmartre once the village’s main
square, now packed with
– the neighbourhood of :
cobbled lanes and cafe- buskers and portrait art- \ # :
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lined squares beloved by ists. You can get a sense of once occupied by Renoir
writers and painters since how the area would once and Utrillo.
have looked at the Musée
the 19th century. This Nearby, Montmartre’s
was once a notoriously de Montmartre (%01 49 25 finest view unfolds from
ramshackle part of Paris, 89 39; www.museede the dome of the Basilique
full of bordellos, brothels, montmartre.fr; 12 rue Cortot, du Sacré-Coeur (%01 53
dance halls and bars, 18e; adult/child €9.50/5.50; 41 89 00; www.sacre-coeur-
as well as the city’s first h10am-6pm; mLamarck- montmartre.com; place du
Caulaincourt), which details
can-can clubs. Though Parvis du Sacré-Cœur; dome
its hedonistic heyday the area’s bohemian past. adult/child €6/4, cash only;
has long since passed, It’s inside Montmartre’s h6am-10.30pm, dome
Montmartre still retains oldest building, a 17th- 8.30am-8pm May-Sep, to 5pm
century manor house
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