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Elegant 18th C. cottage in a garden 5 min to vineyards, 1 hour to Paris
| Reviews and photos of Champagne-Ardenne attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Champagne-Ardenne sightseeing. Map |
 | Champagne-Ardenne Things To Do | Tips 11 - 20 of 59 |  |
On our way to Luxembourg, we passed a few kilometres through the Lorraine region, and there we arrived to Montmedy ; I never had thought I will visit this place (Few minutes before, I even did not know that place exists! I love random wanderings!), and when arriving on the road, looking at the hill (Main picture), capped by the fortress and the two bell towers, we decided to have a closer look!
Montmedy is divided in two main parts, the upper village, small, surrounded by the citadel walls, and the lower city, the main part, modern which we did not visit.
The church St Martin has been built in the 18th century and is mainly remarkable from its setting, and that you can see it from very far; it is not in a very good shape, and has no obvious architectural particularities; but inside, you will see very wide paintings and a few statues; one of them is a painted Virgin with Jesus from the 14th century (Second picture), of unknown origin, except, it was German soldiers who brought it there in 1914 and “forgot” to take it back. . . . . I also liked this St Christoph (Third picture).
Montmedy is a very quiet village, and is mainly a “residences secondaires” place ( holiday houses), where people spend week ends and holidays, repairing the old houses (Fourth and Fifth pictures). Quite nice to walk on the main village place and enjoy the views.
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Stenay is located 9 km inside the Lorraine region, east of the Champagne Ardennes border, on the Meuse valley.
Let us first have a walk in the small city and tour the market (Friday morning), then we will go to a very special museum (next tip).
Like in every medium to big size city in France, there is a “mairie” or “Hotel de ville”, both meaning city hall or town hall; to you who read English, read the inscription on the main picture, (inset on the upper left corner is an enlargement of the figure on the fronton) pronounce it loudly. . . . . yes! Hotel Devil. Just for fun. . . . be wary of words. . . . here it applies. By the way, Hotel de ville is city hall and not a hotel as I have read in a VTpage about a big city in a former French colony (I suggested the author to “correct” his page, but he ignored. . . . Ignorance! (me too I am not devoid of it, but I tend to reckon. . . )).
Back to Stenay and to our walk in the market: lots of cheap clothes, but most interesting are the local products, like cheese, (Second picture), vegetables sold by the farmers (Third picture), or even food for your picnic later in the day (Fourth picture); and I like a lot watching the locals who meet on the market, share news, chat about whatever. . . (Fifth picture).
So if you pass by Stenay on a Friday morning, do not miss a tour in the market. Directions: See text
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Take a few hours and drive along the Meuse Valley, not on the main road, but on the towing trail (chemin de halage); this trail was used by heavy horses or bullocks to tow the barges and canal boats upstream before they were motorized.
This trail is sealed now, lots of bikers use it but very few cars; you can drive slowly there, enjoy the views on the river, watch the boats, stop at some canal lock, see villages on the opposite bank. . . . In one word, a very nice trip in deep Ardennes, and its beautiful landscapes.
On the road from Monthermé to Revin, at the village of Deville, reach the right bank of the Meuse and drive down one of the numerous little streets leading to the river, you come on the towing trail; then follow it upstream (at 10-15 km/h)until Revin. You will not regret this detour (it also can be a day hike or a bike tour): look at the pictures, it was misty and rainy that day, but even with that weather it was beautiful.
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The meander of Monthermé is marked as a “must see” on every map of the Ardennes; arriving by car, a very good view is from road D989, drive slowly and stop on one of the parking places a few km before arriving at Monthermé; I just can wish you a better weather than I had, but even with cloudy weather, it is beautiful; a wonderful view over a village nested in a green cradle. There are other stops on the road down where you can admire the hills and the forest; the oblique light under black clouds was beautiful when I was there (picture 2). Monthermé is surrounded by forests (picture 3). The Semoy river merges with the Meuse at Monthermé and in the village a few boats like the one on picture 4 are parked on the calm waters of the Semoy. Near the northern entrance of the village is a small monument (picture 5) commemorating an abbey where the monks were brewers (like many nowadays in Belgium) since the 12th century. The wind vane comes from the brewery; it was used like a chimney, for aerating the malting rooms of the brewery. Directions: Montherme is 21 km North of Charleville, on D989, the road to Belgium
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The most important “thing to see” in Montmedy is the fortress which has been built by Charles V of Hapsburg, king of Spain, all Americas, Philippines, Nederland, Austria, etc. . . . to defend Nederland from France. This Fortress has been conquered by French military engineer Vauban who “improved it a lot, giving its general shape we can observe today. The fortress had been ran over by the Prussian in 1870, and after the defeat of 1870-1871, French General Serré de Rivières added blockhouses, widened the walls and installed underground barracks. That helped a lot, as the German in 1914 and in 1940 took the place within a few hours. . . . . Ah, these military engineers! Well, this fortress is part of the North East defence line of France since the 18th century, composed of more than 200 fortresses, not telling about many walls, isolated blockhouses. . . .
In “normal” circumstances you will have to pay 4 Euro to visit the fortress, and see two museums, one dedicated to the fortresses line, the other to a local painter. Access to the walls is not free, there are barbed wires big steel gates; I did not want to spend too much time and in an isolated place south west of the village we managed to climb on the wall and made a tour on the walls to enjoy the landscape of Lorraine (Main picture), and have a look at the fortifications only.
The walls are very wide, and they are doubled, leaving space for people under big roof covered with grass , and in front are lots of bastions (Second picture), they are quite high on places (Third picture). You can play the little soldier, walking through tunnels (Fourth picture), and make some strange discoveries like this wooden Virgin, in a niche of the walls, near the main entrance (Fifth picture). Even entering illegally (for me it is not illegal!), you can go out by the main entrance without climbing down the walls.
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The weather was improving in the beginning afternoon, and still wandering around we came across this little castle in the village of Mesmont.
The castle has been built in the 15th century, and has since been renovated several times, but the original lay out and the renaissance style has been kept;
I quote the plaque at the entrance: “the Chateau de Mesmont was built by the Pavant family in the 15th century, and then passed by marriage into the hans of the family of Romance in 1638. The end lodge, the square building date from the period of Henri IV while the communal building and the vault at the entrance are Louis XIII (17th century).”
On a nice day, it is very peaceful and relaxing to walk around the castle (entrance forbidden!), look at the buildings, the beautiful little tower above the ditch, sit in the grass for a while, enjoy the calm of the place. I found the square lay out very well balanced and beautiful; I am sure there are lots of little gems like this in the area! So, a few pictures.
Directions: Twenty one km north of Rethel on D 985; Turn left at Novion Porcien; 2 km to go. From North, on D 985, past Signy l’Abbayye, 10 km, turn right, you see the tower of the church. The little castle is at the western end of the village.
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We are now on the Belgian side of the Ardennes, the landscape did not change, neither the language of people; here too, there are a number of hikes, check on the website.
Driving back from Germany to Charlevilles-Mezieres, through the forests, we decided to have a quick lunch at Rochehaut, where the map indicated a look-out. We were above the Frahan meander, a beautiful view above the small village of Frahan (Google Earth: 49° 50’ 03”N : 50° 00’ 04”E) surrounded by a meander of the Semoy river.
I was not at the restaurant of picture 3, I took the picture for its name: a balcony in the forest. It is the title of a novel from Julien Gracq (see intro) who describes a few month of the life of a soldier in the Ardennes waiting for the German attack on France; except the Wagnerian end of the novel, it is a description of the forest, the life in the forest, the deep relationship this man built with the forest, the seasons, the special light. . . . In a very different style of Buzzati’s “Desert of the Tartars”. And here, at Rochehaut, we were like on a balcony above the little village of Frahan. The fourth picture has been taken from the restaurant (“La Cabane”, Rue des Moissons, 10 B-6830 Rochehaut
Tél:061/46.65.23, a small, unpretentious restaurant) where we had lunch. Of course, we had later a short visit to Frahan, on the banks of the river, and rain and mist do not take away some of the beauty. . . . . (picture5).
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Too short visit here!
Charleville is really not a touristy town, and we spent only a shorttime for a quick city tour, it was late afternoon, and I wanted to sleep somewhere in the forest; too short because Charleville-M. is the hometown of Arthur Rimbaud, for me one of the greatest poets, the archetype of the rebellious poet, writing with an unsurpassed sensitivity, expressing with very simple words very complex feelings.
I was not at the museum where many of his original manuscripts have been collected, but there is not a lot more; I will check next time. His wanderings, travels, hikes in the Ardennes inspired him a lot, so I thought of him when I visited the forests of Ardennes.
Back to Charleville; this city had lots of industries in the 19th- beginning 20th centuries, but did not adapt to industrial changes of the second part of the 20th century; it is a quiet city and a walk will take you past old fortification walls (picture 2), after having left the main square with the city hall (picture 3) ; in fact the walk I took was mainly Mezières, where the old factories are located outside the walls, but I preferred to look at the fortifications, the old walls (picture 4); then walked a bit uphill and came back to the city hall; in a small street, I was a bit “shocked” by the way people “take advantage” of local celebrities: A shoe shop called itself “semelles de vent” (picture 5), as a reference to Rimbaud, who was nicknamed “l’homme aux semelles de vent” (the man with wind treads) referring to his long walks from Charleville to Paris or his hikes in the Ardennes. I will come back to feel more the atmosphere of this city, try to catch a few of what inspired Rimbaud.
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Visiting Champagne Ardennes without visiting this emblematic gothic monument would not have been a true visit to the area, so I took my muslim friend (after long talks about wine. . . ) to the cradle of Christian France, as it was here that Clovis, king of the Francs has been baptised by St Remi on Christmas day 495 (or 496?) and became king of France in (the name of France comes from his German tribe the Francs, history has so strange links and tortuous ways. . . ), the Catholic France, “elder daughter of the Church”.
The cathedral has been built later and Reims was not anymore a paramount city of France but it remained the place for crowning of the French kings until the revolution and even after, during the “Restauration” (period of monarchy after the revolution; Charles X was crowned here).
The cathedral of Reims, built between 1211 and 1275 (quite fast, comparing to ND de Paris) has been named the “martyr” cathedral after WWI, as it suffered lots of damages (before, the French Revolution made few in this city), and renovation works (with Rockfeller money among other contributions) began in 1919, and still are under way today.
It was a short visit: let us have only a short overview of this very aerial (I would qualify it “light”) gothic monument, and at its beautiful statuary and some of the windows.
Driving towards Reims, you see the cathedral from very far, before you see the city (on purpose, that was wanted by the builders), and coming from South West on rue Libergier, you see the main façade dominating the surroundings.
Main entrance with small rosace above on the second picture.
The third picture shows the western tower seen from North West, with very high vaults and arches; the tower is 81 metres high, so think the statues you see under the “small” niches are 7-8 metres high; I would love to see them from near!
On a small square next to the cathedral is a statue of Jeanne d’Arc, which looks like she is charging the cathedral. . . (Picture 4).
Almost every square centimetre of the high, light façade is decorated; all statues, groups of statues tell histories, from biblical times or more recent times (Picture 5).
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And back to Champagne! On the route du Champagne, the small villages are decorated by local artists, celebrating the making of this beverage; in the village of Courtaumont, you will see this giant grape (main picture) showing the different phases in chronological order of wxine growing and Champagne making (and drinking at the end! Cheers! Shake the glasses, never drink Champagne (or stolen Chateau Lascombe) alone!
So, during my tour in Champagne, as I was with a muslim friend, I did not drink Champagne. . . . but if you want to come with me next time. . . . . There are lots of local small vineries in the villages, some have nice signs on the houses (second picture), most are indicated at the entrance of the villages (picture 3). Some of the cooperatives where the juice is processed are also decorated (picture 4). To end the trip, bye, bye to the little villages in the vineyards (picture 5).
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on June 1, 2008
