I recently spent a literary weekend break in Paris exploring the haunts and hangouts of Paris’ glittering literati. From cafes and cemeteries to bookstores and Bouquinistes I utterly indulged my inner bookworm. This alone made it a weekend to remember but our library themed suite made it the Man Booker prize winner of brilliant weekends! Read on for details…
The City of Light is one of my favourite destinations for a European weekend break. Paris is heaving with iconic sights and attractions but it’s also loaded with literary landmarks of epic Parisian proportion. Over the centuries writers have sought inspiration from the city, used it as their muse and as a backdrop for many brilliant novels, books and plays.
On your weekend break in Paris instead of rushing around to visit the city’s big sights why not focus on its literary legacy. Having always been a bit of a bookworm I was in my element! If you love getting lost in a book, or a city for that matter, come with me on a literary tour of Paris.
The rendezvous point for our Secret Paris Food Tour is next to the Temple Metro station. I’m a few minutes early and am happy to soak up the Paris sunshine until our man, carrying an orange umbrella, appears. Our guide’s name, appropriately, is Christophe Boulanger and he comes armed with a bag of Parisian pastries. We nibble on the Chouquettes, sweet, bite-sized choux pastries, while the group assembles before heading off on a mouth-watering Le Marais Secret Food Tour.
Northern France is an area that, for some unknown reason, has completely escaped my travel radar. It’s easily accessible from England, especially as we live just over an hour’s drive from Dover, so it’s odd that we’ve not Channel hopped more. Maybe it’s because it’s just so close that when we’re planning our travels we’ve overlooked the hidden French gems that are right under our nose.
We rectified this last month with a mini road trip with DFDS Ferries to Hauts-de-France. Our mission was to explore Amiens, a city in northern France, a surprise attraction nearby and spend the night in some unusual accommodation. We also squeezed in a short visit to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a medieval coastal town.
I’m back from my camping Ilbarritz trip to Yelloh Village Ilbarritz near the French town of Biarritz in south west France. It was my first visit to Pays Basque and my first experience of camping in France. We usually head to the French Alps for winter skiing. I was looking forward to discovering what the region had to offer and seeing if the Basque region differed from the rest of France. I wasn’t disappointed. Fabulous beaches, the friendliest of people, excellent food and a few surprises along the way made it a brilliant weekend. Let me tell you about camping in Ilbarritz and what the area has to offer. (more…)
One of my favourite things is to go where I’ve never been and see what I’ve never seen before. I love the anticipation of visiting a new place and the surprises that await. The buzz of discovering a fabulous beach, an iconic town or a mouth-watering regional dish never fails to delight. In a couple of weeks I’ll be jetting off to French Basque Country in southwest France to discover all that and much more besides.
