France – Langres (En)
Langres is a town in northeastern France, in the region of Grand Est. It has the longest ramparts in Europe but fewer than 8000 residents. It is the birthplace of one of the Enlightenment’s most famous philosophers Denis Diderot, is one of France’s oldest towns and is home to the oldest hotel in France.
We stayed in the motorhome area of the town (47.854841, 5.335031 lat, long) with electricity, water and emptying of black and grey water for 10.50 euros per day. You also can stay free outside of the area where there is massive parking. It is just outside the town centre so we walked with Asha to see the town. You entered the city through the Gate of the Windmills of 1647. The gate is part of the fortifications, built between 1642 and 1647 to the south of the urban limits. The war-like decors evoke the outcome of the Thirty Years War between France and Spain, a denouement that favoured France. We went inside and we discovered that there was a street market selling all kinds of things and the town streets were decorated with colours lights.
Then we went to see the Navarre and Orval Towers. The Navarre Tower is a 20m round Renaissance structure with walls that are 7m thick (23ft). There’s no other tower like it in France. During the building, it was discovered that the tower was too low to avoid the eventual enemy attack, so it was raised by 2.5 meters. But this now meant canons couldn’t be rolled in from the ramparts and so the Tour d’Orval was built next door, with a spiral ramp that allowed weaponry to be moved around.
Given that Langres is Europe’s largest entirely walled city, walking the ramparts is the obvious thing to do. It’s a wonderful walk, with a giant open view in all directions. The walls also contain an intriguing anomaly – a first-century Gallo-Roman gate which was still in use in medieval times but has since been walled up and incorporated into the city walls.
Our next stop was the Saint-Mammès Cathedral. This 12th-century Cathédrale sits in the heart of what was once the ecclesiastical quarter of Langres, which covered a third of the town. When you enter you can see the giant tapestries that cover some of its walls. Outside the Cathedral you will find the gazebo, fanfares and plays take place here but in earlier times, the pond that sits next to this gazebo was a baptismal font, where both Diderot and Jeanne Mance were baptized.
Langres is an old town, made for meandering, down streets and lanes and over cobblestones. You’ll find striking hotels or historical homes, and ancient schools and churches, all plunging you back centuries. Walking around you will find the statue of Diderot (designed by none other than Bertholdi, of Statue of Liberty fame) was erected in 1884, at a time when Langres was highly religious. The statue created quite a stir when it was erected because Diderot was renowned for his anti-clerical beliefs. Just across from the statue is the house where he was born, the one with green shutters.
We finished our visit to Langres and the next day we went to Troyes a city located on the banks of the Seine River with a medieval old town which you can see in the next post!
