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Observatoire de Haute
This national astronomical research centre fascinates with up-close examination of Frances only active-use high tech 193cm telescope, plus a good film about the centres research. Buy tickets for the 30-minute guided tour from the ticket office in St-Michel’s village square; in July
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Musée de Préhistoire
Twenty-seven kilometres northwest of Perpignan along the D117, the cave-riddled cliffs above Tautavel have yielded a host of prehistoric finds – most notably a human skull, estimated to be 450,000 years old, making it one of the oldest such discoveries in Europe. This museum delves
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Tour St
Just north of place du Châtelet, the Flamboyant Gothic, 54m-high St James Tower is all that remains of the Église St-Jacques la Boucherie, built by the powerful butchers guild in 1523 as a starting point for pilgrims setting out for the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostela
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Moulin
Ten generations ago, wheat flour was milled and linseed oil pressed just as it is today at this wooden windmill, perched on the highest point in town to catch the wind. The mill-keeper offers excellent 45-minute tours in which he demonstrates the internal workings of the mill and e
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La Piscine Musée dArt et dIndustrie
If Paris can turn a disused train station into a world-class museum (the Musée dOrsay), why not transform an art deco municipal swimming pool (built 1927-32) – an architectural masterpiece inspired by civic pride and hygienic high-mindedness – into a temple of the arts? This innova
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Maison Bonaparte
Napoléon spent his first nine years in this house. Ransacked by Corsican nationalists in 1793, requisitioned by English troops from 1794 to 1796, and eventually rebuilt by Napoléon’s mother, the house became a place of pilgrimage for French revolutionaries. It hosts memorabilia of
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Palais de Chaillot
The two curved, colonnaded wings of this palace and the terrace in between them afford an exceptional panorama of the Jardins du Trocadéro , the Seine and the Eiffel Tower. The palaces eastern wing houses the standout Cité de lArchitecture et du Patrimoine , devoted to French archi
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Maison Carrée
Constructed in gleaming limestone around AD 5, this temple was built to honour Emperor Augustus’ two adopted sons. Despite the name, the Maison Carrée (Square House) is actually rectangular – to the Romans, ‘square’ simply meant a building with right angles. The building is beautif
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Musée Maxims
During la belle époque, Maxims bistro was the most glamorous place to be in the capital. The restaurant has lost much of its cachet (though the food is actually excellent), but for art nouveau buffs, the real treasure is the upstairs museum. Opened by Maxims owner, fashion designer
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Maison de la Rose
The facade of this eye-catching hôtel particulier dating from 1900 is pure romance. Sitting pretty in pink on the left as you walk from the car park to village centre, the mansions exquistely sculpted floral facade shields an elegant interior dressed with original furnishings. Its
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Terra Vecchia
A spiderweb of narrow lanes, Terra Vecchia is Bastia’s heart and soul. Shady place de l’Hôtel de Ville hosts a lively morning market on Saturday and Sunday. One block west, baroque Chapelle de l’Immaculée Conception , with its elaborately painted barrel-vaulted ceiling, briefly ser
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Maison de Jules Verne
Jules Verne (1828–1905) wrote many of his best-known works of brain-tingling – and eerily prescient – science fiction under the eaves of this turreted Amiens home. The models, prints, posters and other items inspired by Vernes fecund imagination afford a fascinating opportunity to
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Grand Aquarium
A must-see for families, this aquarium is about 4km south of the city centre. Kids will adore the Nautibus ride – a simulated descent aboard an underwater submarine – and the bassin tactile (touch pool), where they can fondle rays and turbots. The exhibits on local marine life, tro
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Chapelle Expiatoire
The austere, neoclassical Atonement Chapel, opposite 36 rue Pasquier, sits atop the section of a cemetery where Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and many other victims of the Reign of Terror were buried after their executions in 1793. It was erected by Louis’ brother, the restored Bourb
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Bastide du Jas de Bouffan
In 1859 Cézanne’s father bought Le Jas de Bouffan, a country manor west of Aix centre where Cézanne painted furiously, producing 36 oils and 17 watercolours in the decades that followed depicting the house, farm, chestnut alley, green park and so forth. Visits are by guided tour on
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Nausicaā
One of Europes premier aquariums, Nausicaā lets you get up close and personal with an amazing variety of marine species, including jellyfish, sharks, caimans, conger eels, turtles and colourful tropical reef species. Kid-friendly activities include feeding sessions and fish petting
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Musée de la Camargue
Inside a 19th-century sheep shed 10km southwest of Arles, this museum evokes traditional local life: exhibitions cover history, ecosystems, farming techniques, flora and fauna. LOeuvre Horizons by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata – aka a wooden observatory shaped like a boat – prov
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Place du Forum
Just as social, political and religious life revolved around the forum in Roman Arles so this busy plane-tree-shaded square buzzes with cafe life today. Underneath it lie the underground galleries of Cryptoportiques – the forums subterranean foundations and buried arcades (89m long
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Prison des Évêques
Dating back to the 14th century, this vaulted cellar served as the town jail from 1795, as a military lock-up in the 19th century, then as a place of internment during WWII for those caught trying to flee to nominally neutral Spain. The lower section dates from the 13th century, wh
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La Grande Mine
Just outside the hamlet of La Boisselle, this enormous crater looks like the site of a meteor impact. Some 100m across and 30m deep, the Lochnagar Crater Memorial (as its officially known) was created on the morning of the first day of the First Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916) by
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