Besançon, France

The birthplace of Victor Hugo, the Citadelle (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and a rich clock making history are but a few of the many things to see and do in Besançon. What better way to take in the sights of a city than by foot or by bike, and we did both. With the Doubs River forming a horseshoe around the city, it was easy to keep our bearings and navigate in all directions. And we kept asking ourselves why we never ventured to this city before, being that it is roughly two hours from our home.

Birthplace of Victor Hugo, the poet and novelist.
His most famous literary works; Les Misérables and 
Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) 

Besançon's abundant fortifications can be seen throughout the city both high above at the Citadelle and surrounding the old town along the river. It was designed by Sébastien Le Prestre, Maréchal de Vauban and helped to define Europe's borders and influenced military architecture around the world for more than two centuries. With its walls averaging 17 feet thick, it is hard to imagine any military foe penetrating the Citadelle. It is one of Vauban's greatest achievements and is well preserved to this day. The high cliffs towering over the Doubs River rendered the Citadelle an excellent location for military strategies since Gallo-Roman times.

Citadelle

Diagram of the Citadelle - Vauban designed three gateways before the enemy could reach the king and queen.

Besançon, France - Doubs River

Other evidence of Gallo-Roman existence can be seen along the street leading to the Citadelle.

Roman triumphal archway. Erected in 175 A.D. in honor of emperor Marcus Aurelius

Roman triumphal arch

Roman columns excavated here and placed as part of this park.

Ancient aqueduct's water distribution tank

In the Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology you will discover Roman remains found during excavation periods in the city of Besançon. We were able to see only part of this museum as it is preparing to close this month for renovation.

Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology - Roman mosaic

The downtown shopping area of Besançon has something for everyone and being a college city adds to its vibrancy. Many beautiful and historic churches dot the city.

Sainte-Madeleine Church- built in 18th century

Confectioner shop window - preparing for Easter

Love this notion of artisan bread

Meringue is very popular in France

Ahhhh the cheese

The great thing about Besançon is that there are plaques next to significant historical buildings telling you a brief description about it. The architecture in Besançon is significant in itself. On the way to the museum we came upon this 13th century wooden arcade.

Completed in 1857 and located in the tower of Saint John's Cathedral is an Astronomical Clock extraordinaire. This clock has 30,000 mechanical working parts and 122 interdependent indications of time - times, dates, seasons, lengths of day and night, leap years, signs of the zodiac, tides at eight different maritime French cities, the times of 20 cities around the world, solar time, solstices and many more. It took two years to build.

The side of the clock depicting maritime French cities.

Clock front

Several miles south of Besançon, in Arbois, is the homestead of Louis Pasteur. We were disappointed to arrive too late to tour his home and the preserved laboratory. Compared to the significant contributions Pasteur made in the study of microbiology, his home is understated without a doubt.

Louis Pasteur homestead - Arbois, France

Arbois is in the heart of the beautiful Jura wine region. Home to vin jaune (yellow wine), a unique wine that has a definite acquired taste. This wine ages for six years before bottled and tastes similar to a sherry wine but different. Arbois is your typical wine country town with vendors selling their wines in the centrally located shops.

Here's a link to some more photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjX6HnYE