Each year, approximately 80,000,000 tourists travel to the French Republic, more commonly known as France. The country’s capital is Paris, which was first settled by the Romans. The Roman settlement was named after the Celtic word Lutetia, meaning “a settlement near a swamp”. France has a population of 67,364,000, making it the second-most populated country in the European Union, right after Germany. It constitutes 13 per cent of the EU’s population. The French Republic encompasses the metropolitan area in Europe, which consists of thirteen regions, including Corsica, and five overseas territories. The metropolitan area makes up 95 per cent of the French population, while the overseas territories make up only five per cent.
GET YOUR GUIDE has quite a few travel tips for the five French overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte and Reunion, as well as French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands With an area of 643,801 square kilometres, France is the largest country in the European Union. The population is comprised of 85 per cent whites, 10 per cent North Africans and migrants from the African region of Maghreb, five per cent blacks and two per cent Asians.
France is the most visited country in the world. With its beautiful metropolises and picturesque towns and departments in the south-eastern part, France offers medieval architecture and lavish 18th-century palaces. The most visited destinations in France are Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, the Loire Valley, Mont Saint-Michel and Dordogne.
Paris is the largest city and is visited by 45,000,000 travellers each year. It’s a popular tourist and travel destination with wide boulevards and elaborate buildings as well as interesting tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Catacombs of Paris. All this combined tells the history of the city and the French nation. You can read about what to see and experience in Paris, and how to travel in Europe’s tenth-largest city by population, in the articles Major as Well as Free Attractions in Paris and 10 free things to do in Paris.
Marseille is one of the oldest cities in Europe and the second largest in France. It’s known for the famous Roman Catholic Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica which, as a symbol of the city and a popular pilgrimage centre, is one of the most visited tourist attractions. Its construction started in 1853 and was completed in 1897. It’s located on a 154-metre-high hill known as La colline de la Garde. The basilica’s belfry supports the famous statue of Virgin Mary, with a height of 11.20 metres. The Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica was built in the Byzantine style.
Lyon is the third largest city in France at the confluence of the Rhine and the Seine. In the city centre, in Place Saint-Jean, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the buildings and cultural landmarks that surround it, stands the Lyon Cathedral. Its construction lasted from 1180 to 1476. It was built in the Gothic style and the nave is 80 metres long, 20 metres wide and 32.50 metres high. It was dedicated to John the Baptist, an itinerant preacher who was spreading the Catholic religion between the 1st century BC and AD 30.
Toulouse or La Ville Rose (the Pink City) is the fourth largest city in France. In 1229, Count Raymond VII founded one of the first universities in Europe, which he named Université de Toulouse. This cosmopolitan city is home to about 140,000 students each year, making it the fourth largest university town in France. The UNESCO World Heritage list includes cultural landmarks in Toulouse, such as the Canal du Midi, the Basilica of Saint-Sernin and the pilgrimage route to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in the eponymous Spanish town.
The Loire Valley is a valley in the central part of France that spans 280 kilometres. The Loire Valley has an area of 800 square kilometres and is dotted with numerous lavish chateaus, such as Château d’Amboise, Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, Château de Chambord, Château de Chenonceau, Château de Chinon, Château de Montsoreau, Château du Rivau, Château d’Ussé and Château de Villandry. The valley draws travellers who like to taste fine wines, as the area is world-famous for its excellent fruity wines and cuisine.
Mont Saint-Michel is a small island town located in Lower Normandy. Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built the Mont Saint-Michel abbey in 709 on the island that has a population of about 30 people. The legend says that the bishop of Avranches saw Archangel Michael who told him to build a church on the rocky island. The abbey was built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The Le Mont Saint-Michel municipality, together with the abbey dating back to the year 709, is an inspiration for many artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians that create the modern pop culture.
Dordogne is a department or an administrative unit in southwestern France, which was founded during the French revolution and lies in the area of the ancient French county of Périgord. The Dordogne department is known for its caves, such as the Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume, Rouffignac, Villars, Combarelles, Abri de la Madeleine, Roc de Cazelle and Bernifal, which are archaeological sites with prehistoric cave paintings dating back to the Palaeolithic. Another interesting tourist and cultural attraction is the medieval fortress with a view of the Dordogne river – Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.
France, a European Union member state, is a rich country with natural and cultural landmarks that draws travellers from all over the world and invites them to explore its tourist attractions, its history and its superb cuisine. Alongside the important historical cities and landmarks, we shouldn’t forget the key figures, without which France wouldn’t have existed today as we know it. The famous historical philosophers and scientists from France are René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Charles Baudelaire, Gustave Flaubert, Louis Pasteur and Émilie du Châtelet. France is also famous for its painters, which include Claude Montet, Paul Cezanne, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and Paul Gauguin.
Influential figures from France’s history include Joan of Arc, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and a national hero, Louis XIV, the Sun King, Louis XVI, and the French political and military leader Napoleon Bonaparte. These great names from the French history are linked to the European ideology, literature, invention, works of art and a number of architectural gems as well as monuments. All of these make France the number one on the list of historically interesting countries that are popular with tourists and which travellers should visit.
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