DESTINATION FRANCE

Full country name: French Republic
Area: 457,030 sq km (176,460 sq mi)
Population: 58.1 million
Capital city: Paris (pop 13 million)
People: 92% French, 3% North African, 2% German, 1% Breton, 2% Other (including Provençal, Catalan & Basque)
Language: French (also Flemish, Alsacian, Breton, Basque, Catalan, Provençal & Corsican)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant, 1% Muslim, 1% Jewish, 6% unaffiliated
Government: Democracy
President: Jacques Chirac
Prime Minister: Lionel Jospin


Fundamental romance props: evening in a French cafe (20K)

Environment

Slightly larger than California, France is the largest country in Europe after Russia and Ukraine. The English Channel lies to the north-west and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Spain broils across the Pyrenees to the south, the Mediterranean (including Corsica) is to the south-east and over the eastern Alps and Jura ranges lie Switzerland and Italy. France's relatively flat north-eastern borders abut Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.

Since 1790, France has been divided into administrative units of about 6100 sq km (2380 sq mi) called départements. There are 96 départements in France and a further five overseas, expanses of ocean being no impediment to Frankish administrative zeal. The départements d'outre-mer (overseas departments) are the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique; the Pacific island groups of New Caledonia, Tahiti and French Polynesia; French Guiana, in South America; Réunion, in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar; and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, in the Atlantic Ocean just south of Newfoundland.

The French Alps include Mont Blanc, which at 4800m (15,750ft) is Europe's highest peak. The most spectacular of France's ancient ranges is the Massif Central, a huge region in the middle of France that covers one-sixth of the country. The country's longest river, the Loire, runs 1020km (630mi) from the Massif Central to the Atlantic. The Seine, Rhône, Garonne and Rhine are France's other major waterways, draining the plains and funnelling huge mountain run-offs. Over 3200km (1985mi) of coastline ranges from the chalk cliffs of Normandy and the promontories of Brittany to the fine-sand beaches along the Atlantic. The south-eastern Mediterranean coast tends to have pebbly, sometimes rocky beaches, though the Languedoc and some of the Roussillon beaches have sand-castle potential.

Field of sunflowers in the Champagne region (23K)

France's mix of climates and terrains endowed it with a rich variety of flora and fauna. Unfortunately, due to agricultural overkill, pollution and encroaching urbanisation, many fragile species such as the Pyrenees ibex, Corsican deer, brown bear, wolf and otter now face extinction. Some animals and birds - the chamois (a mountain antelope), the larger bouquetin (a type of ibex), beaver, stork and vulture - still live in the wild thanks to re-introduction programmes based in national parks. Forests - mostly beech, oak and pine - cover roughly one-fifth of the country. These wooded areas, as well as vast wetlands, support the bulk of the country's mammals and birds.

France has a predominantly temperate climate, with mild winters, except in mountain areas and the north-east. The Atlantic has a profound impact on the north-west, where the weather is characterised by high humidity, often violent westerly winds and lots of rain. France's north-east has a classic continental climate, with fairly hot summers and cold winters. Midway between the two, the Paris basin boasts the nation's lowest annual precipitation, but rainfall patterns are erratic. Paris' average annual temperature is 12°C (52°F), but the mercury sometimes drops below zero in January and can climb to the mid-30s°C (95°F) or higher in August. The southern coastal plains are subject to a pleasant Mediterranean climate: frost is rare, spring and autumn downpours are sudden but brief and summer is virtually without rain. The south is also the region of the 'mistral', a cold, dry wind that blows down the Rhône Valley for about 100 days a year. Relentless and unforgiving in spring, it is blamed for sending people into fits of pique.

History

Human presence in what is now France dates from the Middle Palaeolithic Age, about 90,000 to 40,000 years ago. These first inhabitants were followed by the Stone Age Cro-Magnon people who appeared on the scene around 25,000 BC and were superseded some 16,000 years later by the Neolithic take on civilisation.

Many flint tools later, the Celtic Gauls arrived between 1500 and 500 BC. After several centuries of conflict between the Gauls and Rome, Julius Caesar took control of the territory in 52 BC, and by the 2nd century AD the region had been partly Christianised. The area remained under Roman rule until the 5th century, when the Franks (thus 'France') and other Germanic groups overran the country.

The Middle Ages were marked by a succession of power struggles between the warring Frankish dynasties. Charlemagne, who ruled from 768 to 814, stopped the rot by significantly extending the boundaries of his kingdom, claiming the crown of Holy Roman Emperor in 800. His reign was followed by the Capetian Dynasty, a time of prosperity and scholarly revivalism in France despite the country's continued battles with England over feudal rights. During this period, the country was also embroiled in the Crusades, a holy war instigated by the Church to quell non-Christians.

The Capetian Dynasty had waned by the early 15th century as France continued to labour against England in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). National morale was significantly boosted by a 17-year-old stripling known as Jeanne d'Arc, who surfaced in 1429 and rallied the French troops to defeat the English at Orléans. The unfortunate Joan was soon captured, turned over to the English and convicted of heresy. She was later burned at the stake in Rouen. The English were expelled from all of French territory (excepting Calais) in 1453.

Religious and political persecution, culminating in the Wars of Religion (1562-98), continued to threaten France's stability during the 16th century. In 1572, some 3000 Protestant Huguenots were slaughtered at the Saint Bartholemew's Day Massacre in Paris. The Huguenots were later guaranteed religious, civil and political rights as France slowly clawed its way out of war. By the early 17th century the country was held in thrall by the notorious Cardinal Richelieu, who moved to establish an absolute monarchy and increase French power in Europe.

Louis XIV (the Sun King) ascended the throne in 1643 at the tender age of five and ruled until 1715. Throughout his long reign, he hounded the Protestant minority (later revoking their rights), quashed the feuding aristocracy and created the first centralised French state. But as the 18th century progressed, the ancien régime (old order) was rendered dangerously out of synch with the social and economic needs of the country. The regime was further weakened by the anti-Establishment and anticlerical ideas of the Enlightenment. Perhaps more telling was France's involvement in the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and the American War of Independence (1776-83), both financially ruinous for the monarchy. The latter also provided ample ammunition for opponents of French absolutism.

By the late 1780s, the peasants, urban poor, bougeoisie, nobles, upper aristocracy, reformists and reactionaries all had strong (if contradictory) reasons for being fed up with Louis XVI and his swell-headed queen, Marie Antoinette. When the king tried to neutralise the power of reform-minded economists, the urban masses took to the streets. On 14 July 1789, a Parisian mob attacked the Invalides, seized weapons and stormed the Bastille prison, the ultimate symbol of the despotism of the ancien régime. At first, the Revolution was in the hands of relative moderates, but from this milieu emerged the radical Jacobins, led by Robespierre, Danton and Marat. They established the First Republic in 1792, holding virtual dictatorial control over the country during the Reign of Terror (1793-4), which saw mass executions, religious freedoms curtailed and churches closed. In the end the Revolution turned on its own, and many of its leaders, including Robespierre and Danton, were pruned by Madame la Guillotine.

From amidst the chaos emerged the mercurial Napoleon Bonaparte. Buoyed by a series of military victories abroad, the Little Corporal assumed domestic power in 1799. So began a seemingly endless series of wars in which France came to control most of Europe. Ultimately, it was a disastrous campaign against Russia in 1812 that led to Bony's downfall and banishment to the tiny Mediterranean island of Elba. His escape and re-installation as Emperor lasted a mere hundred days before his forces were defeated by the English at Waterloo. The English exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. Despite reactionary tendencies, Napoleon is remembered as a great hero not so much for his military gusto but for his preservation of the bulk of changes wrought by the Revolution and the promulgation of the Code Civil (or Napoleonic Code), which forms the basis of the French legal system to this day.

France during the 19th century was characterised by inept government, quixotic wars and the founding of the Third Republic (1870), which finally established the country in a republican tradition. France was scandalised during this period by the Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jewish army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was framed and convicted in 1894 of betraying military secrets to Germany. Dreyfus languished on Devil's Island, a penal colony in French Guiana, until (despite bitter opposition from the army command and Catholic groups defending the army's honour) the case was reopened after significant evidence of Dreyfus' innocence came to light. By the time Dreyfus was vindicated in 1906, the army and the Catholic Church had already been greatly discredited, leading to a marked legal separation of church and state. Around the same time, the Entente Cordiale ended colonial rivalry between France and Britain in Africa, beginning a period of cooperation that has, more or less, continued to this day.

France's involvement in WWI came at high cost: over a million troops were killed, large parts of the country were devastated, industrial production dropped and the value of the franc was seriously undermined. The country fared little better during WWII, when it capitulated to Germany and the lackey Vichy government was installed. General Charles de Gaulle, France's under-secretary of war, set up a government-in-exile in London and established an underground resistance dedicated to continuing the fight against Germany. France was liberated by Allied forces in mid-1944.

De Gaulle returned to Paris and set up a provisional government, but he resigned as president in 1946 before the adoption of the Fourth Republic. Emboldened by massive American aid, the French re-asserted colonial control in Indochina, but their forces were defeated by Ho Chi Minh's cadres at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. France also tried to suppress Algerian independence, which spelt the demise of the Fourth Republic, ushering in the Fifth Republic and the return of De Gaulle to power in 1958. He negotiated an end to the war in Algeria four years later; in the meantime, almost all of the other French colonies and protectorates in Africa had demanded and achieved independence.

In May 1968, student protesters and striking workers surprised themselves and the world at large by bringing the country to a standstill. Just as anarchy seemed about to engulf France, De Gaulle went on national television and told everybody to calm down, go home and leave the running of the country to him. And they did. The government then announced a raft of important changes, including a reform of the higher education system, which was decentralised. De Gaulle resigned as president the following year.

France's president from 1981 to 1995 was the resilient François Mitterand, whose socialism was tempered by forced cohabitation with a lower house dominated by right wing parties, including the Rassemblement pour la Republique (RPR; Rally for the Republic) under Prime Minister Jacques Chirac. Chirac was elected president in May 1995, heading off the demoralised socialists and Jean-Marie Le Pen's anti-immigrant Front National (FN) (who gained an alarming 20% of the first round of votes). A series of bombings in Paris and Lyon from July 1995 by terrorists protesting French support of the Algerian government have contributed to anti-foreigner sentiment and lent a false legitimacy to the FN's odious racist stance.

Once president, Chirac initially received high marks for his stance on the European Union (EU), which he strongly endorses, and the war in former Yugoslavia. But the president's decision to conduct nuclear tests on the Polynesian island of Mururoa and a nearby atoll in late 1995 was met with outrage both in France and abroad. The tests, which Chirac claims were 'the final ones', have had adverse effects on France's diplomatic relations with countries of the Pacific rim. France's Pacific and Caribbean colonies have beefed up their rumblings on the independence drum, with Tahiti a recent site of particular agitation. On the home front, Chirac's moves to restrict welfare payments led to the largest protests since 1968. For three weeks in late 1995, Paris was crippled by public sector strikes, leaving the economy battered and increasing the uncertainty about France's likelihood of qualifying for scheduled European economic and monetary union.

Chirac called a snap election early in 1997, under the pretence of seeking a mandate for the final push towards meeting economic monetary union (EMU) controls. However, he did not count on the fickleness of the French people and his RPR party were ousted from government by an unlikely alliance between the socialists, communists and Greens. Now Chirac, who remains as president, is forced to two-step with socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin, with the EMU hanging in the balance.

The nation was recently thrust into the international spotlight by two front-page events: the August 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in an auto accident in Paris and the country's first-ever World Cup victory (3-0 over the odds-on favourite, Brazil) in July 1998. Both events brought the French out into the streets by the thousands and international press corps in droves.

Economic Profile

GDP: US$1.08 trillion
GDP per head: US$18,670
Annual growth: 2.1%
Inflation: 1.8%
Major industries: Oil refining, steel, cement, aluminium, agricultural products & foodstuffs, luxury goods, chemicals, motor manufacturing, energy products
Major trading partners: EU, USA

Culture

The concept of culture is of paramount importance in France, a country whose people have all but cornered the world market on urbane savoir faire. Their particular take doesn't always jibe with the rest of the world's tastes and ideas, but their devotion to their Frenchness is never in doubt.

The first distinctively Gallic architecture was the Gothic style, which originated in the mid-12th century in northern France and is preserved in the seminal cathedral at Chartres and its successors at Reims and Amiens. The Renaissance first had an impact on France at the tail end of the 15th century when Charles VIII began a series of invasions of Italy. In the realms of architecture and the visual arts, the Renaissance was largely an imported phenomenon with few homegrown modifications. Local writers showed more verve, with Rabelais and Montaigne producing some of the landmarks of French literature.

A superior form of French wallpaper (23K)

During the Baroque era, which lasted from the end of the 16th century to the late 18th century, painting, sculpture and classical architecture were integrated to create structures of great subtlety, refinement and elegance. In France, the Baroque period is often subdivided into styles named after the various kings Louis (eg, 'that's a luvverly Louis Kanz sofa, Martha'). French Baroque music was influential throughout the continent, informing much of the wider European output, while Nicolas Poussin was the first French painter who really ba-rocked. French theatre guffawed with Molière, the most popular comic playwright of his time.

In the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste Chardin brought the humbler domesticity of the Dutch masters to French art. Later, Jacques Louis David was adopted by Napoleon as official state painter after being one of the leaders of the 1789 Revolution and a virtual dictator in matters of art. David produced vast pictures, the best remembered of which depicts Revolutionary-dictator Marat lying dead in his bath. The literature of this period is dominated by philosophers, among them Voltaire and Rousseau, while Berlioz dominated the music scene by founding modern orchestration and producing operas and symphonies that sparked the musical renaissance in France that would produce such greats as Gabriel Fauré and the Impressionists Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

Victor Hugo - widely acclaimed for his poetry as well as for his novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris - is the key figure of 19th-century French Romanticism. Other notable writers of this period are Stendhal, the pen name of Marie Henri Beyle; Honoré de Balzac, whose vast series of novels, La Comédie Humaine, approaches a social history of France; Aurore Dupain, better known as George Sand, who combined the themes of romantic love and social injustice; and Alexandre Dumas the elder, who wrote The Count of Monte-Cristo, The Three Musketeersand other swashbuckling adventures.

By the mid-19th century, Romanticism was evolving into new movements, both in fiction and poetry, and three stalwarts of French literature emerged: Gustave Flaubert, Charles Baudelaire and the controversial, innovative and powerful work of Émile Zola. The poet Arthur Rimbaud, as well as crowding rugged and exotic adventuring into his 37 years, produced two enduring pieces of work: Illuminations and Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell). The prevailing artistic climate allowed sculptor Auguste Rodin, regarded by some critics as the finest portraitist in the history of the art, to render his sumptuous bronze and marble figures. Painting as portraiture was simultaneously revamped by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix, while landscape painting was transformed first by Jean-François Millet and the Barbizon School, then by Édouard Manet and the realists. Manet's later work is influenced by the Claude Monet-prefected Impressionist school, which numbered Camille Pisarro and Edgar Degas among its students.

Post-impressionism gave way to a bewildering diversity of styles in the 20th century, two of which are particularly significant: Fauvism, à la wild-man Henri Matisse, and Cubism, as personified by Spanish-born Pablo Picasso. These were followed by the Dadaists, who reacted to the negativity of WWI by acting weird. Marcel 'Dada' Duchamp exhibited found objects, such as a urinal, which he titled Fountain and signed. Funny fellow, n'est pas?

In the world of letters, Marcel Proust dominated the early 20th century with his exquisitely excruciating seven-volume novel, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (Remembrance of Things Past). Poets André Breton and Paul Éluard were militant surrealist poets fascinated with dreams, divination and all manifestations of 'the marvellous'. After WWII, Existentialism developed around Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus, who stressed the importance of the writer's political engagement. De Beauvoir, author of the ground-breaking The Second Sex, had a profound influence on feminist thinking. By the late 1950s, younger writers began to look for new ways of organising narrative; novelist Nathalie Sarraute, for example, did away with the pesky conventions of identifiable character and plot. Marguerite Duras rejected association with the nouveau roman movement but employed similar abstractions, backgrounding character for mood. She came to the notice of an international public with her racy novel L'Amant (The Lover) in 1984.

The 1950s and 1960s was a period of French celluloid innovation, when new wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and Louis Malle burst onto the scene. The dominance of the auteur directors continued until the 1970s, by which time the new wave had lost its experimental edge and boosted the reputation of French cinema as an intellectual, elitist and, frankly, boring enterprise. The most successful directors of the 1980s and 1990s have produced original and visually striking films featuring unusual locations, bizarre stories and unique characters. Well-regarded directors include Jean-Jacques Beineix, who made Diva and Betty Blue, and Luc Besson, who wrote and directed The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita and The Professional.

The death of literary criticism

Philosophers such as Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and Julia Kristeva, best known for theoretical writings on literature and psychoanalysis, are other 'serious' authors associated with this period although the most admired national literature is the comic strip Astérix. When they pry their eyes from the finer arts, the French obsessions with soccer, rugby, basketball and cycling, especially the Tour de France, are given full rein. Traditional games such as pétanque and boules (similar to lawn bowling but played on a hard surface) are also popular.

How much is that French poodle in the fruit barrow? (19K)

Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in France, although church life is practically moribund and attendance - especially among the middle classes - is extremely low. Beliefs have generally been secularised ever since the Church and state were separated in 1905. Muslims are the second largest religious group followed by Protestants (Huguenots) and a substantial Jewish population in the country.

Wine label montage (20K)

Food is a subject of endless rumination. Consider just some of the country's epicurean delights - foie gras, truffles, Roquefort cheese, well-built crustaceans, succulent snails plucked off grape vines, sharp-tasting fruit tarts - and you begin to appreciate the Frankish culinary zeal. But one cannot live on escargot and vin de table alone. France's North African and Asian populations have contributed to the pot, bringing spice and colour to many dishes.

Getting downright cheesy (19K)

A typical day's eating begins with a bowl of café au lait, a croissant and a thin loaf of bread smeared with butter and jam. Lunch and dinner are virtually indistinguishable and can include a first course of fromage de tête pâté (made with pig's head set in jelly) or bouillabaisse (fish soup), followed by a main course of blanquette de veau or d' agneau (veal or lamb stew with white sauce) and rounded off with a plateau de fromage (cheese platter) or tarte aux pommes (apple tart). An appetite-stirring apéritif such as kir (white wine sweetened with syrup) is often served before a meal, while a digestif (cognac or Armagnac brandy) may be served at the end of a meal. Other beverages designed to aid digestion and stimulate conversation include espresso, beer, liqueurs such as pastis (a 90-proof, anise-flavoured cousin of the long-outlawed absinthe) and some of the best wine in the world.

Events

The French are a festive bunch with many cities hosting music, dance, theatre, cinema or art events each year. Rural villages hold fairs and fêtes honouring everything from local saints to the year's garlic crop. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in Provence is the venue for a colourful gypsy festival in late May honouring Sarah, patron saint of the gypsies. Frenzied singing and dancing characterise this extravaganza. Prominent national days off are May Day (1 May), when many people buy muguet (lily of the valley) - believed to bring good luck - to give to friends; and Bastille Day (14 July), which is celebrated by throwing firecrackers at friends. Regional events include the primping and preening prêt à porter fashion show in Paris (early February); the glittering and often canned Cannes Film Festival (mid-May); the International Music Festival in Strasbourg (first three weeks of June); the mainstream and fringe theatre of the Festival d'Avignon (mid-July to mid-August) and the Jazz Festival in Nancy (9-24 October).

Facts for the Traveller

Visas: Nationals of the EU, the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Israel do not require visas to visit France as tourists for up to three months. Except for people from a handful of other European countries, everyone else must have a visa.
Health risks: Your main risks are likely to be sunburn, foot blisters, insect bites and upset stomachs from overeating and drinking.
Time: GMT/UTC plus one hour
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz
Weights & measures: Metric (see the conversion table.)
Tourism: 60.5 million visitors

Attractions

Paris

Saint Malo

Saint Malo's other attractions include placid beaches to the south of the Old City and further along the coast to the north-east. The area has some of the highest tidal variations in the world, so expect a hefty jaunt to reach the aqua at low tide: the high-water mark is often 13m (43ft) above the low-water mark. Saint Malo is an excellent base from which to explore the Côte d'Émeraude, and the famous abbey at Mont Saint Michel can be visited as a day trip.

Château de Chambord

Inside is a famed double-helix staircase that buxom mistresses and priapic princes chased each other up and down, when not assembled on the rooftop terrace to watch military exercises, tournaments and hounds and hunters returning from a day's deerstalking. From the terrace you can see the towers, cupolas, chimneys, mosaic slate roofs and lightning rods that comprise the chateau's imposing skyline.

Biarritz

A crowded Bedouin camp on the Grand Plage, Biarritz (23K)

Biarritz's fashionable beaches are lined with brightly striped bathing tents and packed with people during summer. After a busy day's frying you can play golf or cesta punta, the world's fastest game, played with a ball and scoop-like racquet; be entertained by nightly folklore performances; or trawl through displays of Basque music and handicrafts.

Sarlat-La-Canéda

Sarlat also makes an excellent base for trips to the nearby Vézère Valley, which is peppered with nearly 200 prehistoric sites including the Lascaux cave, thought to have been the site of a hunting cult where magical rites were performed. Discovered in 1940, this capacious labyrinth holds a number of 15,000-year-old doodles and paintings of bulls, horses and reindeer. There are other painted caves in the area, but Lascaux is sans pareil. Unfortunately, the exhalations of enthusiastic rock-watchers caused a carbon-dioxide fungus to cover the paintings; visitors today are restricted to a precise cement replica of the painted original, sealed off just a few hundred metres away.

Chamonix

Other activities in and around Chamonix include mountain biking, parasailing, ice-skating and screaming down a spit-shined summer luge track. The Swiss town of Martigny is only 40km (25mi) north of Chamonix, should you wish to border hop for watch repair or chocolate.

Arles

The narrow streets of Arles seen from Les Arènes (23K)

Arles' attractions include the Les Arènes, an enormous Roman ampitheatre built towards the end of the 1st century AD. Tens of thousands of men and animals were sacrificed here to that most noble of pursuits - sport. Chariot races and hand-to-hand battles were staged with slaughter emphasised over tactics, but the public seemed happy. The Arènes was later transformed into a fortress, then a residential area but its sanguinary origins have been reawakened in the full houses drawn to bullfights. Another of the city's Roman relics is the Théâtre Antique, which provides an ideal setting for open-air dance, film and music festivals in the summer.

Central Arles is a relaxed place of intimate squares, terraced brasseries perfect for sipping pastis and men with long pomaded moustaches playing pétanque.

Cannes

Très chic, très Cannes, très French (19K)

If you're not in town discussing the grim phenomena of John Travolta's resurrection or puckering up to the paparazzi, then you're here to people-watch. Every possible specimen is on promenade along the famous Boulevard de la Croisette: yesteryear starlets in string bikinis; vacationing Frenchmen carrying purses; wide Americans with Coppertone skins who wear their jewellery in the pool; and side-whiskered peasants in rough waistcoats and country boots wondering what all the fuss is about. After a walk, settle back at one of the many cafes and restaurants - overflowing with gold-carded patrons - which light up the area with splashy neon signs.

Just offshore is the eucalyptus and pine-covered Île Sainte Marguerite, which was exploited so effectively by Alexander Dumas in his classic novel The Man in the Iron Mask. This small island is vectored by trails and paths while its beaches are considerably less crowded than those on the mainland. Even smaller is the nearby Île Saint Honorat, once the site of a renowned and powerful monastery founded in the 5th century, and today the home of a Cistercian monastic order. Ferries run to both islands.

Off the Beaten Track

Île d'Ouessant

While the inhabitants are no longer isolated from the rest of the world, centuries of tradition prevail: houses are painted blue and white for the Virgin Mary, or green and white to symbolise hope with interiors furnished from driftwood; gnarled old women make lace crosses to represent the souls of their husbands lost at sea; small black sheep roam freely over the land; and ragoût de mouton (lamb baked under a layer of roots and herbs) remains a staple dish. Ouessant also has the world's most powerful lighthouse, good museums on local history and stunning walks and scenery.

The island is 20km from the mainland and can be reached from the ports of Brest or Le Conquet on Brittany's north-western coast.

Parc National des Pyrénées

A big favourite with rock climbers and hikers, the park has 350km (215mi) of trails - some interlinked with trails in Spain - plus a good number of refuges (basic mountain huts) that are open throughout the year. Companies in nearby Pau can arrange guided treks for small groups as well as logistical support for unaccompanied hikes and cycling trips. Cauterets, in the eastern portion of the park and 30km (20mi) south of Lourdes, is the easiest and most accessible entry point.

Vézelay

Vézelay is 15km (9mi) from Avallon, 51km (31mi) from Auxerre, and lies within the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan.

Grasse

Of the 40 perfumeries, only three are open to the public. The conveniently placed Fragonard is housed in a 17th-century former tannery. A tour will take you through cellars filled with stacks of soaps, bales of scented leather, and chests and crates stuffed with spices. Every stage of perfume production is evidenced here, from extraction and distillation to the work of the nez, as well as the vast number of flowers needed to make one litre of essence. At the end you'll be squirted with a few house scents, invited to purchase as many as you'd like and will leave the scene reeking.

Corsica

Activities

France's varied geography and climate allow for a wide ride range of outdoor pursuits. The French have taken to hiking with gusto, and there are walking paths through every imaginable kind of terrain. Probably the best known trails are the sentiers de grande randonnée, long-distance footpaths designated by the letters GR. The GR 5 winds through the Alps, the GR 4 is in the Massif Central and the popular GR 10 runs along the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Cycling is another mania in France. La Margeride in Languedoc is a particularly inviting area for mountain biking, as are the Alps, Brittany and the Pyrenees. Skiing is also popular with some of Europe's finest - and most expensive - facilities in the Alps (at Chamonix, for example), though prices tend to be much cheaper in the Pyrenees around Cauterets and the Massif Central, which is good for cross-country skiing.


Skiing from sawtooth ridges near Tignes in the French Alps (23K)

The best swimming spots are found along the Atlantic coast (near La Rochelle), the Channel coast of Normandy, southern Brittany, the Mediterranean (including the coast of Corsica) as well as on lakes such as Lac d'Annecy and Lake Geneva. The French are at ease with their bodies, and this is reflected in a number of venues for naturism (walking around bollock naked), mostly in Langedoc-Rousillon and the Côte d'Azur. Other activities include: rock climbing in the Alps and the Pyrenees; horse riding in Burgundy and the French Basque Country; surfing in Biarritz; rafting down the Gorge du Verdon in Provence; and hang-gliding in Languedoc. If your interests are more cerebral, you can take French language courses or learn the ins and outs of the soufflé at regional cooking classes.

Getting There & Away

Air France, France's national carrier, and scores of other airlines link Paris with every part of the globe. Other French cities with direct international air links include Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse.

Paris is the country's main bus and rail hub, with services to/from every part of Europe. Buses are slower and less comfortable than trains, but they are cheaper, especially if you qualify for the 10% discount available to people under 26 or over 60 or hunt around for discount fares. The completion of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 has meant travel between England and France - on the silent, ultra-modern Eurostar rail service - is now quick and hassle-free. The Chunnel also has high-speed shuttle trains that whisk cars, motorbikes and coaches from England to France.

By sea, the quickest passenger ferries and hovercrafts to England run between Calais and Dover, and Boulogne and Folkestone. There are numerous routes linking Brittany and Normandy with England; Saint Malo is linked by car ferry and hydrofoil with Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth, while Roscoff has ferry links to Plymouth. Ferries also ply the waters between France and Ireland (Cherbourg-Cork), the Channel Islands, Sardinia (Marseille-Porto Torres), Italy (Corsica-Genoa) and North Africa (Marseille-Algiers, Marseille-Tunis, Sète-Tangier).

Getting Around

France's domestic airlines link most urban centres, but flights can be quite expensive. Occasionally discount tickets will work out cheaper than overland travel so it can be worth scouting around if you've got a big hop in mind. France has an excellent rail network, operated by the state-owned SCNF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer), which reaches almost every part of the country. Thanks to the high-speed TGV (train à grande vitesse), travel between some cities (eg Paris and Lyon) is faster and easier by rail than by air.

Inter-regional bus services are limited but buses are used extensively for short-distance travel within regions, especially in rural areas with relatively few train lines (eg Brittany and Normandy). On longer trips, buses tend to be much slower but slightly cheaper than trains; on short runs, buses are generally slower and more expensive.

Having your own vehicle can be expensive, and is sure to be inconvenient in city centres where parking and traffic are problematic. Be warned that most driving in France is done with the horn, or 'French Brake Pedal', as it is often called. As a rule of thumb, don't be timid or overly respectful once on the road as this technique will often confuse the natives. Renting a car is expensive if you walk into an office and hire a car on the spot, but prebooked and prepaid promotional rates are reasonable.

France is a superb country for motorcycle touring, with winding roads of good quality and lots of stunning scenery. It's also an eminently cyclable country, due largely to its extensive network of secondary and tertiary roads that are relatively lightly trafficked. Another relaxing way of seeing France is to cruise its canals and navigable rivers by houseboat. These usually accommodate four to 12 passengers and can be rented for a weekend or several weeks.

Local transport includes the cheap and efficient Metro and RER underground networks in Paris (there are also metro lines in other cities), trams, buses, téléphériques in the French Alps, expensive taxis (especially outside the major cities) and river shuttles.

Recommended Reading

• The historiography of France is vast. Of the general studies, the best is Alfred Cobban's A History of Modern France, which is a very readable three-volume set that covers the period from Louis XIV to 1962. For the dynamics of political history check out Simon Schama's Citizens, an influential and truly monumental work that examines the first few years after the storming of the Bastille in 1789.
• The literature on French social, cultural and intellectual development is also overwhelming. Theodore Zeldin's The French is a much trumpeted study of national passions, peculiarities and perspectives. In much the same vein is John Ardagh's France Today, an exhaustive review of all aspects of modern-day French society.
• On women's position in society, see Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, a pioneering work that helped inspire the modern feminist movement. A more contemporary exposition is Claire Duchen's Feminism in France, which charts the progress of feminism in France from 1968 to the mid-1980s.
• A very tasty - indeed, the definitive - region-by-region introduction to French cuisine is Waverly Root's The Food of France. First published in 1958, it has recently been reissued in paperback.
• For an overview of literature in French see the Culture section of this profile. Twentieth-century French writing has ranged from the weighty ponderings of Malraux, Camus and Sartre to the historical novels of Marguerite Yourcenar and the lighter fare of Françoise Sagan (Bonjour Tristesse). Georges Perec treated us to natty works, such as Life - A User's Manual and La Disparition, which was written without using the letter 'e' (and translated into English, just as e-less, as A Void). Alain Robbe-Grillet made a labour of literary play, redefining the French novel but leaving it unreadable. Emergent (and readable) voices in French literature include Annie Ernaux and Daniel Pennac (urban crime fiction).
• France has long attracted writers of the first rank from around the world. These include Ernest Hemingway, who wrote A Moveable Feast, a portrayal of bohemian life in Paris between the wars; and Gertrude Stein, whose The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas memorably recounts the author's years in Paris. Henry Miller also set a number of his 'sexy' novels in Paris, including the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. For a penetrating and poignant look at down-at-heel Paris in the late 1920s, read George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London.
• More recently, Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence and Toujours Provence are best-selling accounts that take a witty, patronising and very English look at the French. Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot is a highly entertaining novel that pays homage to the great French writer.
• Classic works of travel literature about France include Henry James' A Little Tour in France and Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey, a digressive and fanciful account of his 1765 coach tour through France and Italy. Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey is a reminder of the connection between hoofing it through remote regions and the increasing prettiness of Eeyore.

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