Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: France

  • Narbonne – Hotel F1 Narbonne Sud

    Hotel F1 is the cheapest brand of hotels in the Accor chain and they’re mostly, but not entirely, located in France following some rebranding of many of these locations as Ibis Budget. The remaining Hotel F1 locations are normally just outside of town centres and they’re keenly priced with plenty of car parking (not that this element matters to me).

    The rooms are similar to Ibis Budget hotels, but they have shared bathrooms. As shared bathrooms go though, these are some of the best as it’s clear which ones are in use and there are also so many that there isn’t usually any wait. The rooms, like Ibis Budget, have bunk beds and are relatively small in size.

    Hotels in France are usually expensive, so these locations offer a much affordable option. This particular hotel in Narbonne cost around £28 per night, as opposed to the nearly £100 per night accommodation options in the town centre. This hotel was clean and well presented, with the staff members being helpful and friendly. It’s all rather basic, but it’s well managed so that it’s still sufficiently comfortable. There’s also free wi-fi offered at the hotel, and it was surprisingly fast.

    The breakfast costs around £2.50 and allows for unlimited bread, jams, cereals, orange juice and coffees. It might be one of the most basic breakfasts offered by Accor hotels, but the price means that it’s still excellent value for money.

    The F1 hotels routinely get poor reviews, so perhaps they’re not managing expectations particularly well. This hotel is 20th out of 21 accommodation options on TripAdvisor for the town, and I sometime wonder what people actually expect.

  • Narbonne – Narbonne Cathedral (Unfinished Bit)

    I’ve told a lot of people how much I was fascinated by Narbonne Cathedral following my visit there in 2017. It’s really intriguing as it’s a cathedral which was never finished, with only the choir section having been completed. So what is left is the first part of the nave and the choir area, with the nave section having never been roofed.

    The unfinished nature of the structure gives an indication of how buildings like this were constructed, and it almost feels like being on a medieval building site. Where the rear of the nave would have been is now built on, but the central nave area has remained as it would have looked in the thirteenth century.

    The cathedral was never completed for numerous reasons, partly funding but also it would have meant moving the city walls and this would have been an expensive and time-consuming exercise. The cathedral itself was also one of the largest which was being built, so it would have been a huge commitment to see it through to the end.

    The unfinished elements are also visible from the side of the cathedral.

    This is the bit of the cathedral that was finished, which was effectively only the choir area. Today though the interior has been reconfigured to try and make the whole cathedral fit inside the space that they have. I’m unsure why the first section of the nave area was never finished, as this could have been done relatively cheaply since the walls were already up, but perhaps there was just never the need.

  • Chambery Walk

    Just photos on this post, this was a walk from Chambery railway station to the north-west of the city. It’s about three miles and was surprisingly pleasant, as the areas either side of the river are quite industrial. The river, with its impressively clear water, is La Leysse which is an Alpine river which crosses the region before ending up in Lake Bourget.

    Next time I visit the region though there are proper mountain walks to be completed!

  • Annemasse – Annemasse Railway Station to Bellegarde

    I didn’t get long to spend in Annemasse as I was getting a train to Chambery but first I had to get a train to Bellegarde. The station exterior above looked modern and well presented. The railway station was first opened in 1880 when the line was introduced to run from Paris to the Mediterranean.

    In March 1944 the allies dropped aid parcels in the area, with many of them landing near to the railway station. Today most of the rail routes are regional, there’s also a TGV service running through the station from Paris to Thonon-les-Bains.

    A memorial to those who had died in the wars.

    The ticket wasn’t unreasonable priced. I also much prefer the French tickets to those issued in the UK, they’re larger and have far more useful information on them. The cramming in information onto the smaller UK tickets usually means that it’s not as clear as it could be.

    A map at the station of the local rail routes.

    The train.

    The view from the train, which varied and was often interesting.

  • Annemasse

    I didn’t have very long in Annemasse during my visit, since I had a train to catch to Annecy. There seemed to be a lot of people going to work in Geneva from Annemasse, but the cost of living is much lower in France as opposed to Switzerland.

    A healthy local snack…..

    Église Saint-Joseph (St. Joseph’s Church) was constructed between 1941 and 1946, with the structure being made of reinforced concrete. The proposed bell tower wasn’t though ever built, so the church technically remains unfinished.

    Annemasse market, which takes place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

    I have to confess, I never did work out exactly what this was….