I've been studying and learning French since 1963, when I was 14 years old. I've been spending time in France, either living here or coming here for vacations, for nearly 52 years — since 1969.
I've seen a lot of French towns, and I've spent significant amounts of time — about a third of my life altogether — in towns named Saint-Aignan (18 years), Paris (5 years), Rouen (1 year), Metz (9 months), Aix-en Provence (6 months), and Grenoble (6 weeks).
In my travels, as you can imagine, I've passed through or spent a few days in innumerable other French towns. Still, there are so many I've never seen, and so many I've so often heard of and would love to see but haven't yet had the occasion or the chance.
Do you know how many towns there are in France? I'll tell you; there are close to 35,000 of them — exactly 34,836 as of January 1, 2021. Many of them go by names that I've heard or read for years and years, and I love it when I can go to one of them and come away with an image of it imprinted on my mind and in my memory.
In this post, I give you one of those towns that I have actually seen, even though only one time for a few hours. It has a population of about 3,300 brave souls, and is not really close to any big cities. I'm sure nearly everybody in France knows its name, but I bet only a small percentage of the French population has ever actually been there.
I won't tell you its name right now. It has existed since pre-Roman times. Have you ever seen any place like it? If you've traveled around France, you probably have. It's not pictures like these that made me decide to go there one day. It was just a name I'd heard hundreds of times and I finally got to put a "face" on it.
Je donne ma langue au chat!
ReplyDeleteI give up as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll be interested to see what town this is -- I haven't the slightest idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is intriguing!
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at these pictures my first thought is: I think I might have been there. But then again, I'd probably say that if I looked at photos of hundreds of French towns which I've never been to. I'm curious to find out what town it is.
ReplyDeleteI spent some time poring over a map of France, but did not see anyplace that fits the "everyone in France knows its name" thing.
ReplyDeleteThe photos have an eastern-France feel.
Eagerly looking forward to the reveal.
Didn't know you'd lived in Metz.
I spent a school year teaching in Metz, and I had a tiny apartment there during that time. I only had classes to teach on Tues., Weds., and Thurs., so I took the train back and forth to Paris, where I spent Fri. thru Mon. "weekends"... The chairwoman of the English dept. at the U. de Metz also lived in Paris and commuted the way I did, so she couldn't object to my schedule.
DeleteI've always wanted to see Carcassone - don't know if that qualifies as a "true" town. I've had trouble posting lately - my comments get eaten by the system, lol.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had left a comment this morning, but it never showed up. I wonder why that happens.
DeleteRecently, I had problems pasting text in the box. Now that’s over, so I don’t know if it was what I did or Blogger.
DeleteEverybody knows Avignon but this is not it. I love Metz, it has everything of Paris but in mini-size, and possibly the best French cathedral of all.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to say that I don't remember visiting the cathedral in Metz, but I saw a TV documentary about it a couple of days ago.
DeleteSerendipity!
DeleteFrom the wooden framing on the stucco, I'm narrowing it down to Normandy. I'm wondering if it is the town that Gustave Flaubert (well - that took me a couple of minutes to remember that!) based his famous novel, Madame Bovary? Keep up the guessing games! It is fun, even if I'm not the best at arriving at the winner!
ReplyDeleteNo, it isn't Normandy. I've been to that Madame Bovary village near Rouen. It's called Ry, but Flaubert gave it a fictional name in his novel.
DeleteThe trouble is that in France, as elsewhere, small towns are just dying on their feet - with shops and facilities closing and used only as a dormitory or for summer visits. Roderick
ReplyDeleteDepends on which French towns you're talking about...
DeleteI'm still wondering where this is. I think I've never been there.
ReplyDeleteIt looks a little like the Dordogne to me.
ReplyDeleteNot too far from the Dordogne, E.
DeleteUsually, names of small towns known by the majority of the population are associated with historic events, like Domrémy, Joan of Arc’s birth place, or Verdun, site of a great battle, in WWI.
ReplyDeleteBut here, it is hard to locate the region where this town is by the style of the houses. I, for one, don’t think I have ever been there.
My latest guesses are the Correze or the Drome. But there are so many other possibilities.
ReplyDeleteLa Corrèze is in the region.
DeleteIt's not Carcassonne, for Diogenes. Guessing that it's not the south, because the roofs there are red tile. And it doesn't feel like Normandy or the Charente. Somewhere in Correze or Cantal? Uzerche?
ReplyDeleteYou're close, Emm. Have you been to Uzerche? I went there in 2006.
DeleteI thought Treignac, but figured that was too far away. Maybe not.
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