The Abbey of Saint-Remi | France

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The Abbey of Saint-Remi is an abbey in Reims, France, founded in the sixth century.

The Abbey, together with the nearby cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims and Palace of Tau, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

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Abbey of Fontenay | France

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Fontenay Abbey in Burgundy was founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a leading French saint, and is the oldest preserved Cistercian abbey in the world.

The abbey is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981.

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Château d'Azay-le-Rideau | France

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Château d'Azay-le-Rideau is located on an island in the Indre River, built between 1518 and 1527. The château is considered a masterpiece of architecture and sculpture of the earliest French Renaissance.

The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes is a Unesco World Heritage site. The chateau is located in this area and part of the Unesco Whs site.

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Old port of La Rochelle | France

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The old port area of the French city of La Rochelle is dominated by three 14th and 15th century towers that stand tall at the entrance.

 

On the left you see St-Nicolas Tower, once a formidable military building. Forty-two metres high, the inside is a labyrinth of stairs and corridors. On the right, Tour de la Chaine, the oldest one, built between 1382-1390. Not shown is Tower of the Lantern. 

The city was a member of the famous Hanseatic League, an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. 

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Europa stamp 2016, Think Green!

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Bordeaux, Place de la Bourse | France

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Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in southwestern France. Located in the historic city centre, Place de la Bourse is one of the most recognizable squares of Bordeaux. It was built from 1730 to 1775.

Did you know that Bordeaux has more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris? Some 1,810 hectares of Bordeaux are listed a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Euromed is a regional postal union of countries in the Mediterranean area, established in 2011. Also known as the Postal Union for the Mediterranean (Euromed Postal). This year the joint issue theme is dedicated to the “Fish of the Mediterranean”. 

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Fort Boyard | France

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Fort Boyard is a fort located between the islands of Aix and Oléron on the west coast of France. The fort was built to protect the harbors. Plans to build a fort date back to the 17th century but construction started in 1801 and lasted for 10 years.

In 1871 the fort was temporarily in use a prison. The fort was abandoned early 20th century. Today Fort Boyard is the location for a TV show.  

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Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg | France

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The Grande Île, meaning the Large Island, is located at the historic centre of the city of Strasbourg in France. The details on the card are from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg).

Strasbourg – Grande île is a Unesco World Heritage site. 

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Château d'If | France

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Château d'If is a fortress located on the French island of If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea, near Marseille. The Chateau d'If was used to imprison political dissidents from 1580 until 1871. 

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Les Îles de Lérins | The Lérins Islands

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The Lérins Islands is a small archipelago just off the coast of Cannes in the south of France. The two largest islands in this group are the Île Sainte-Marguerite and the Île Saint-Honorat. 

Saint-Honorat Island has been home to a community of monks since the fifth century. And Sainte-Marguerite Island is known for its fortress-prison.  

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Two pretty old stamps and three stamps with smallest denomination I ever saw: € 0,01 per stamp.

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Scandola Nature Reserve, Corsica | France

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Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to France. The island has a population of about 325,000 inhabitants. It is located north of the Italian island of Sardinia.

The Scandola Nature Reserve, located on the north western coast of the island, is accessible only on foot or by boat. The reserve is a Unesco World Heritage site.

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Île d'Oléron | France

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Île d'Oléron is France's largest island after Corsica. 

The island is located off the Atlantic coast of France, connected to the mainland by a 3km long bridge. 

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The Benedictine Abbey of Vézelay | France

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Shortly after its foundation in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. The church and hill at Vézelay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. 

 

La colline éternelle means something like ‘the eternal hill’.

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Part of a miniature sheet with 6 stamps about theatre masks. 

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French island hideaway: The Fort de Bregancon

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The Fort de Brégançon served as the official retreat of the President of France from 1968 to 2013. It is an old fortress on a tiny island off the French Mediterranean coast, connected to the mainland by a short causeway.

The 17th-century Fort de Brégancon hosted holidaying French leaders for almost 50 years. The current French president Francois Hollande has decided to break with tradition and open it up for the public.

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Three amazing stamps from the 60’s!

(left) 1968 The 200th Anniversary of the Union of Corsica and France

(middle) 1966 National Congress of Philatelic Societies, Niort Cathedrale

(right) 1965 The 300th Anniversary of the Colonisation of Réunion

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The Gulf of Morbihan

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The Gulf of Morbihan is a natural harbour in the south of Brittany, France. The Gulf is an inland sea about 10 miles long by 6 miles wide and dotted with picturesque islands, about 40 in total. Many of these small islands are private property.

 

The two largest, Île aux Moines and Île d'Arz are public, each with a tiny car-free village, once of fishermen but now over-run with tourists.

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Part of a mini sheet with 4 stamps about the four ‘Chemins de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle’. In medieval times Via Turonensis (Way of Tours) was the most westerly of the four traditional pilgrim routes.

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Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens | France

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Amiens is a city in northern France, about 120 km north of Paris. It is home to the largest Gothic cathedral in France, which is twice the size of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The cathedral dates back to the 13th century. The Amiens cathedral is on the World Heritage List.

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In 2014 French Post issued a set of 12 stamps about the signs of the Zodiac. Scorpio is the eighth sign of the zodiac.

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The Eiffel Tower, Paris

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Paris, the capital and largest city of France. There is not much change you haven’t heard of the French capital's most beloved landmark: the Eiffel Tower. More than 7 million people visit this iconic tower every year. More than 250 million people since its opening in 1889.

The tower rises 300 meters tall and when it was completed at the end of the 19th century it was the tallest structure in the world. The Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition in 1889, held in celebration of the French Revolution in 1789. The man behind the Eiffel Tower was Gustave Eiffel.

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Mont Blanc Massif, France

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Mont Blanc meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in Western Europe (over 15,000 feet / 4800 m). It is part of the Mont Blanc Massif, one of the most deadly mountain ranges in the world with up to 100 fatalities every year.

 

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A label.

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A postcard from Thonon-Les-Bains, France

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Thonon-les-Bains is a town in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.

Thonon-les-Bains is perfectly located to offer a complete range of activities on the banks of Lake Geneva and at the foot of the Alps: Swimming, outdoor activities, shopping, visits, hydrotherapy, mountains, culture, landscapes etc. This multi-facetted destination is surrounded by beautiful nature, a lake, mountain, city and countryside.

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Marianne is a symbol of Republican France. A Marianne is a bust of a proud and determined woman wearing a Phrygian cap. She symbolises the attachment of the common citizens of the revolution to the Republic - Marianne is liberty, egality and fraternity.

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Rhônexpress rail service between Lyon and Saint Exupéry Airport, France

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Aug 10, 2010

A NEW rail service between Lyon city centre and l'Aéroport Lyon - Saint Exupéry has been opened, with a journey time of around 25 minutes.

The Rhônexpress will provide a fifteen minute service between the airport and the railway station at Lyon Part-Dieu.

Trains will operate from 5am until midnight with one-way adult tickets costing €13, a return costs €23, prices for young people aged between 12 and 25 are €11 single and €19 return and children under 12 travel free with an adult.

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La Basilique d'Ars

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You show me the way to Ars. I’ll show you the way to heaven.

Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney (8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859), Cure d'Ars

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Le Moulin de Daudet is located in the town of Fontvieille. Alphonse Daudet went from time to time to the mill to find inspiration.

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