La citadelle de Besançon (29 September 2024)

October 06, 2024

The sun was shining when we awoke. A good omen for our visit to the La citadelle de Besançon.

We wandered into the old town area looking for a coffee. I was not that optimistic as it was Sunday and in France it seems that a lot of retail does not open, even hospitality. On the way we passed a little farmers market with vegetables and meat products being sold. It all looked very fresh.

Another hundred metres on we came across a bar/pizzeria that was open and selling coffee. Bev was able to get a cappuccino and to my surprise I was able to get a decaffeinated coffee.

The citadel is situated high on an escarpment, surrounded on three sides by the river Doubs which made it a great place for a fortress. Of course this was another of Vauban’s engineering feats. The citadel was completed in 1684 giving Besançon an important strategic role at the border of King Louis IV’s eastern part of the kingdom.

Some of the many steps we climbed

Vauban

We climbed a large number of steps which made it a great competitor for Wellington in the number of steps one has to climb to reach a destination. In terms of length it was more than Allenby Terrace although the steps on the Allenby climb are steeper.

As we came out of the trees and looked up the slope there was this sentinel seemingly part of the landscape and at the same time not part of it. The area covered was very large. Just when you thought you were in the citadel you found that it was just the outer defensive cordon.

It was a fascinating place in which to spend all day. As we looked down into a deep but empty moat like structure we saw these unusual animals. They were threatened animals from North Africa. It turned out that part of the citadel is a wildlife park. They even had a few kangaroos which made Bev feel very much at home.

Once inside the citadel there were three museums to visit. First of all though we sat and had some lunch that we had bought with us looking at a mockup of a plane that Antoine de Saint-Expuréy (the author of The Little Prince) had flown in his North African and South American adventures.

The homage to Saint-Expuréy

We wandered past a tribute to the 100 French resistant fighters who had been executed by the Nazis when it was a prison during World War 2. A rather sombre reminder of conflict in Europe not so long ago.

The resistance fighters were executed by firing squad here.

We climbed the ramparts and I took some photos. Bev being much braver than me wandered along the highest of the ramparts that looked over the side of a cliff. My vertigo got the better of me after a few minutes. I stayed long enough to get some very good photos. Afterwards we went into the soldiers quarters and saw one that had been mocked up to show how they would have lived a couple of centuries ago.

A view of some of the fortifications

We visited the Museum of Deportation and Resistance which has one of the largest collections of material related to the period with a large collection of concentration camp art. It told a fascinating but disturbing story of bravery and resistance. The other part was the cruelty that some humans can exhibit. It showed how resilient some humans can be. By the time we exited the museum it was getting late and we just had time to climb up another rampart before walking back to our apartment.

On the way back to the apartment we called into a rather magnificent looking cathedral, parts of it had been around since the 13^th century. It was rather beautiful. A few metres down the road leading to the church was a 2^nd century Roman triumphal arch that was heavily decorated and rather beautiful as well. . A little further down the road were some Roman ruins including a part of an aqueduct. So much built history in such a small area.