France Travel Guide, BIGnavigator

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Paris

Banke Hôtel
20 Rue La Fayette , 09. Opéra, Paris

Avignon

Ibis Centre Pont De L´Europe
12 Boulevard Saint Dominique, Avignon

Lourdes

Hotel Roissy
16, Avenue Mgr. Schoepfer, Lourdes, 65100

Marseille

Newhotel Vieux-Port
3 bis, rue Reine-Elisabeth, Vieux Port - La Canebiére, Marseille

Nice

La Malmaison
8, Boulevard Victor Hugo, Nice

Toulouse

Pullman Toulouse Centre
84, Allées Jean Jaurès, Toulouse

FRANCE

French riviera General information

Capital Paris

Currency €

Area 551,500 square km metropolitan France
(643,427 square km – total)

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Practical info

Electrical voltage: 220 V

Area code to France: 00 + country code 33 + phone number (9 digits)

First digits of the phone number for larger cities: 1 Paris, 2 Brest, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Nantes, Orleans, Rouen, 3 Boulogne, Calais, Dijon, Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Reims, Troyes, 4 Cannes, Grenoble, Lyon, Marseille, Monaco, Nice, St. Etienne, Toulon, Valence, 5 Bordeaux, Limoges, Lourdes, Toulouse, 495 Corsica

Time: UTC + 1

Speed limit: 130 km/h (110 when wet) on motorways, 90 km/h (80 when wet) on open roads, 110 km/h (100 when wet) on carriage way, 50 km/h in town

For visiting drivers holding a licence for less than 2 years valid value when wet (in parentheses)

You can rent a car in the car rents in larger cities and on the airport.

Do not forget to taste magnificent French specialties as French are known to gourmets.

History

200,000 BC The Neanderthals in Europe

50,000 BC Homo sapiens entered Europe The caves paintings of Lascaux and Gargas as well

393 or 388 BC Gaulish war band led by Brennus invaded Rome

274 AD The Gallic Empire ended with Emperor Aurelian's victory at Chalons

4th A migration of Celts appeared in Armorica. They were led by the legendary king Conan Meriadoc

418 Aquitanian province was given to the Goths in exchange for their support

410 Goths established a capital in Toulouse.

451 at the Battle of Chalons, in which the Romans and Goths defeated Huns

486–987 4 Frankish kingdoms

987–1453 France in the Middle Ages

987–1328 House of Capetians

1328–1453 The early Valois Kings and the Hundred Years' War

1453–1789 Early Modern France

1477 The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by France after battle at Nancy

1532 Brittany was incorporated into the Kingdom of France

1494–1559 Italian Wars

The Renaissance writer François Rabelais 1494 helped to shape the French language as a literary language

1543 The Protestant Reformation led by John Calvin

16th century Jacques Cartier explorer who ventured deep into American territory

New France, and several cities such as Quebec City, Montreal, Detroit and New Orleans were founded by the French.

1562 Massacre of Huguenots at Vassy started the first of the French Wars of Religion

1598 Edict of Nantes

1627–1628 Siege of La Rochelle, Protestants and their English supporters were defeated

1643 The French forces won a decisive victory at Rocroi

1647 The Truce of Ulm

1648 The Peace of Westphalia

5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715 King Louis XIV

20^th June 1789 Tennis Court Oath

14^th July 1789 Storming of the Bastille

18^th May 1804 – 22^nd June 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte

18^th June 1815 Waterloo

19^th century The Restored Monarchy and the Second Empire

Late 19^th century and early 20^th Third Republic and the Belle Epoque

28^th July 1914 – 11^thNovember 1918 First World War

1920s The mad years

World War II

13^th October 1946 General Charles de Gaulle established Fourth Republic

5^th October 1958 French Fifth Republic

1962 Algeria became independent

1966 French withdrawal from the integrated military command of NATO

Preference Family and Kids, Couple, Group, Seniors, Single, Biker, Skier, Adventurer, Explorer, Outdoor traveler, Sportsman
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Weather, Top places of interest
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The Map of France
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Rarity and unique notes

Obsession for good food and French wine

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Visit also neighbors countries: Spain, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Monaco.

To enlarge photos and view more photos click to any picture.

Corsica
French island

Nice

Aix En Provence

Cassis
Cassis is located east of
Marseille

A national heroine

The maid of Orleans

Saint Joan of Arc known also as The Maid of Orléans led the French army to defeat the British to several important victories during the Hundred Years War. She joined the French Army at age 17 and dressed as a man. One of the most famed battles of that days was the Battle of Orleans. She was burned at the stake only nineteen years old as a heretic against the church. Pope Benedict XV declared Joan of Arc a Saint in May of 1920. It was early five centuries later.

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