Home > New Visits
The patron of the guingette at Villeneuve
I have explored 60-odd more places in the Ile de France since the book came out in October 2002.
I am still exploring, but it’s likely that the revised edition will include the following little-known places, all within an hour or less of Paris by train:
Villeneuve : 3 km walk along the Seine from Choisy-le-Roi to charming old-fashioned guinguette with terrace by the river, opposite a station.
Maintenon: Madame de Maintenon’s Renaissance château and 17th-century park containing Louis XIV’s spectacular unfinished aqueduct to Versailles.
Héricy-Vulaines-Samoreau: 3-5 km river walk along the Seine facing the forest of Fontainebleau via three old villages. Options of river swimming, ferry across the Seine and back, visit to the poet Mallarmé’s riverside cottage, and open-air riverside café en route.
Issy-les-Moulineaux: 2 km walk to little family restaurant with terrace overlooking the Seine and the Ile St Germain. Return via the park on the island which contains a Dubuffet sculpture.
Maisons-Lafitte : 2 km walk to Portuguese family restaurant in old quarter, visit of nearby 17th-century château and 1 km walk along the Seine to the next station.
Musée de Sèvres : containing representative pottery and porcelain from every age and every period, on the Seine beside the Parc St Cloud. Métro and walk across the Pont de Sèvres to the museum, then 2 km walk through the Parc St Cloud past the waterfalls to St Cloud old town and church on hill overlooking the river. 72 bus along the Seine back to Paris.
Print