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BESANCON DOWNTOWN CAR RENTAL |
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Besancon Downtown car rental - Travel Guide |
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The capital of Franche-Comté, BESANÇON is an ancient and attractive grey-stone town at the northern edge of the Jura Mountains, enclosed in a loop of the River Doubs, whose lugubrious meanders define the layout of the old town. The tongue of land it sits on has been protected since Roman times, when it lay on a major trading route; the indefatigable Vauban added the still-extant fortifications and a citadel to guard the natural breach in the river. Once a major centre of French clock-making (until the Far East became important in the manufacturing industry), Besançon was also the birthplace of artificial silk - or rayon - in 1890. It counts among its native sons both the pioneering Lumière brothers and epic novelist Victor Hugo.
The River Doubs rises on the high plateau 100km to the south of here, making a diversion far to the northwest of the town, gathering tributaries and broadening as it briefly crosses the Swiss border before entering Besançon. A lazy journey upstream to Pontarlier can make a rewarding excursion over a couple of days. From Pontarlier a direct return north to Besançon can be made by following the River Loue 's steep descent through its heavily wooded valley past the pretty mill town of Ornans .
The Town
Once you're in the old town, getting around is simple, and some of the most interesting things to see are outdoors and free - such as the beautiful bluish stone walls of most buildings, and the signs of Roman life that still remain. Rue de la République leads from the river to the central place du 8-Septembre and the sixteenth-century Hôtel de Ville. The principal street, Grande-Rue, cuts across the square along the line of an old Roman road. At its northwestern end - the livelier part of town with shops and cafés - is the place de la Révolution and the excellent Musée des Beaux-Arts (June-Oct daily 9.30am-6pm; Nov-May daily except Tues 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm; 21F/?3.20), with some good nineteenth- and twentieth-century works, two magnificent Bonnards and a wonderful clock collection. Midway down Grande-Rue, the fine sixteenth-century Palais Granvelle is due to open some time in 2001 with a new museum paying homage to the town's history of clock-making, the Musée du Temps. Continuing up the street, you pass place Victor-Hugo (he was born at no. 140) and arrive at the Porte Noire, a second-century Roman triumphal arch spanning the street and partially embedded in the adjoining houses. Beside it, in the shady little square Archéologique A.-Castan , are the remains of a nymphaeum , a small reservoir of water fed by an aqueduct. Beyond the arch is the pompous eighteenth-century Cathédrale St-Jean (closed Tues) which houses the nineteenth-century Horloge Astronomique (hourly guided visits: April-Sept daily except Tues 9.50-11.50am & 2.50-5.50pm; rest of year Mon & Thurs-Sun same hours; closed Jan; 15F/?2.29), detailing over a hundred terrestrial and celestial positions and containing some 30,000 parts.
The spectacular Citadelle (daily: July & Aug 9am-7pm; rest of year 10am-5pm; 40F/?6.10) is a steep fifteen-minute climb from the cathedral, and has a crow's-nest view of the town and the noose-like bend in the river that contains it. It houses many worthwhile museums (times as above): for animal lovers there's the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle (a noctarium, aquarium, insectarium and zoo); the Musée Comtois , with pottery, furniture and a good collection of nineteenth-century marionettes, as well as some marvelous old farming implements; the Espace Vauban , devoted to the military architect; and - best of all - the Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation , a superb aid to understanding postwar France's political consciousness (English audio commentary available). The first rooms document the rise of Nazism and French Fascism through photographs and exhibits, including a bar of soap stamped RIF - "Pure Jew Fat". In the section on the Vichy government, there's a telegram of encouragement sent by Marshal Pétain to the French troops of the "legion of volunteers against Bolshevism", who were fighting alongside the Germans on the eastern front. Finally, as counterbalance, much is made of General Leclerc's vow at Koufra in the Libyan desert, whose capture in January 1941 was the first, entirely French, victory of the war - "We will not stop until the French flag flies once more over Metz and Strasbourg" - a vow which he kept when he entered the latter city at the head of a division in November 1944. |
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Call Center |
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OPENING HOURS |
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| MIAMI(EST) |
Mon - Fri: 06:00 - 18:00 |
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Sat - Sun: 06:00 - 12:00 |
| LONDON (GMT) |
Mon - Fri 08:00 - 23:00 |
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Sat - Sun: 08:00 - 16:00 |
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| 1. UK |
0800 0789054 |
| 2. USA |
1 866 735 1715 |
| 3. AUSTRALIA |
1 800 210813 |
| 4. FRANCE |
0805 100863 |
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