Summer 2024

Renaissance to art deco, and contemporary.
There are great shopping facilities, including
a super Saturday morning market in Rue de
Mars, the perfect place to pick up some pink
biscuits, les biscuits roses, a Reims speciality
and traditionally dipped in Champagne.
They were invented in 1690, and served at
King Louis XVI at his coronation in the city in
1775 – he loved them and had them supplied
to the Palace of Versailles! Several museums
will please culture vultures including the
fabulous Tau Palace, the former home of the
Bishops of Reims. This is also where the Kings
stayed while awaiting their coronation in the
Cathedral next door, including 12-year-old
Louis XV, the first king to drink
Champagne. Tau Palace now
hosts an exceptional collection
of religious artefacts including
the Coronation chalice.
You’ll also spot Roman remains
as you wander – Reims was an
important city in Roman Gaul,
called Durocortorum, and the
monumental 30m high Mars
Gate, originally one of four
triumphal arches, is one of the
largest known porticos of the
Roman world.
The absolute must-see in
Reims is one of the world’s
most famous churches – the
great Gothic Cathedral of
Notre-Dame. Listening to the
sonorous bells of this working
church is mesmerising, and
the incredible facade is mindbogglingly
beautiful as you
enter under the gaze of a stone
angel seemingly beaming
with pleasure at church goers.
Inside, as the light shines
through the dazzling rose
window, kids run up and down
the nave, mums and dads
‘shush’ them, tourists from
around the globe ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’
at the beauty of this building
and its stained-glass windows. The coronations
of a mind-boggling 37 Kings of France took
place here, beginning with Charlemagne’s
son, Louis the Pious in 816, and ending with
Charles X in 1825. Charles VII, with Joan of
Arc at his side, was crowned here in 1429.
Built over the foundations of a 4th century
church, the Cathedral was begun in 1211 and
took almost 100 years to complete. It was
shelled by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian
War in 1870, and again in World War I, when
its dazzling stained-glass windows were
destroyed, but rose again to its former glory.
The restored cathedral was reopened in 1938
and miraculously avoided the destruction
suffered by much of the rest of Reims in World
War II. A truly divine must-see in Reims, a city
that sparkles from start to finish.
Get there: You can reach Reims in just 46
minutes by train from Gare de l’Est, Paris.
Stay: Hôtel La Caserne Chanzy A former
fire station converted into a 5-star spa hotel
offers lovely, luxurious rooms and great
Week-long Creative workshops for writing,
photography and painting in the south of France
Memoir writing
workshops
Be inspired and gain the skills
and confidence to tell the
story only you can tell.
Watercolour painting
workshops
Take a meditative approach
to watercolours inspired by
Japanese masters.
creativefranceworkshops.com
service (including valet-parking, a real bonus in a
city where parking isn’t always easy). There’s also
a fabulously glamorous and elegant Champagne
bar. And for extra wow factor, ask for a room with
a balcony overlooking the Cathedral opposite.
Useful websites: reims-tourisme.com
tourisme-en-champagne.co.uk
Scenic photography
workshop
Develop the skills to create
images that resonate with
emotion and authenticity.
38 | The Good Life France
The Good Life France | 39