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written by ckenb -

I was in Bourges just yesterday. It's a beautiful medieval city. And it's big enough to have nightlife. It's also kind of off the beaten path. Might be worth a look.

We would like to visit this city maybe tomorrow or sometime next week from Paris. Any suggestions for a day there?

I read that the Cathedral has a UNESCO designation.

Thanks.

The cathedral is magnificent ... one of the greatest of all gothic cathedrals (although not quite on a par with Chartres), with lovely spacious architecture, a vast crypt, impressive sculptures on the west front, and very fine stained glass windows.

The Palace of Jacques Coeur is a sumptuous 14th century house of a very rich merchant.

The Musée du Berry (Berry was the name for this region of France in the middle ages) in the Hotel Cujas has, amongst its other collections, very fine sculptures ranging from Roman to medieval. Particularly memorable were the "weepers" from the tomb of one of the Dukes of Berry.

Apart from these (and various other) sights it's a lovely medieval city to wander around in.

Thanks, WestSussexBird. If the weather cooperates tomorrow, I think that we will go to Bourges. We have a first class train pass and will not be making any reservations. Will that be a problem coming home, that is Paris, on a Friday late afternoon?

I just looked up Bourges tourism website and looks like a small enough city to navigate. Of course, our first stop will be the Tourist office by the Cathedral.

The Les Marais area looks interesting as well. I hope that gardens are beautiful this time of year.

The gardens next to the cathedral are pretty, with a lot of flowers. Sorry though, this week was my first trip to Bourges since 1995. I don't know it very well. It certainly looks well worth exploring.

We were in Bourges for a day in 2005, and really enjoyed it. The Gothic cathedral is spectacular; some of the most beautiful stained glass I've seen. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend as long inside as we would have liked, since they were preparing for some sort of special program when we were there.

The Palace of Jacques Coeur is interesting, but you can only see it by guided tour in French, and if you don't speak French well, it may be a bit too long. Afterwards we thought we would have preferred to spend more time exploring the city.

We had a very nice and reasonably priced lunch at a little cafe called L'Ecrin du Lion d'Or on Place Gordaine. My pictures of Bourges, with a little commentary, start here.

- Roz

P.S. If you go, tell me if they've finished cleaning the cathedral. I have a picture of the cleaning in process; the appearance should be very different when it is finished.

Roz,
What great pictures. This makes me want to get the next plane out for France. But I just got back from England so it will have to wait. It makes me think that maybe I should skip trip #14 to England and return to France once again.
Beth

The cathedral is very special. It and Chartres were constructed at the same time and they were in "competition" to set the standard in 2nd generation gothic. Chartres, under the influence of the local School of Chartres, was designed with very mathematical precision and ratios and became the templet for most future gothic churches. Bourges had an added demension in its use of the number 5 (ie there are 5 levels to the side elevation. Though a popular number in Christian thought at the time, the Chartres school (centered on 3 and the 2-1-2 ratio of the side elevation) gained favor in France and Bourges sliped into 2nd status.

None the less, the interior of St Entienne de Bourges is one of the most striking of all gothic structures. And the stained glass, much from the 1200's is equal to Chartres in quality.

The Bishop's garden next door is worth a picnic lunch.

Jackie Heart's Place is high medevial chic and a sheer delight. Linger and explore the nuances.

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The Bishop's garden next door is worth a picnic lunch.

Where is a good place to pick up food for a picnic? (We prefer picniking over a cafe/bistro/restaurant.) Let's see, we will need pain/baguette aux cereales, fromage, charcuterie, some fruit, a bit of dessert, sparkling water and maybe a little wine.

Any great market in Bourges?

There is a covered food market, bustling on Sunday when we were there but I don't know if it's open every day. Sundays there is also a flea market in another big building, but the food market is some distance away. Near the food market are a very nice municipal garden and the marais also. The marais area wasn't what we expected; some flower and vegetable gardens, but not as much as you'd see in most villages. We walked a long shady path along a stream with lots of little houses tucked away. Pleasant, but it didn't live up to its billing. Have a good time and let us know about it.

Ouch. You caught me on that one. Best you can do I guess.

We are in Paris also for awhile, send me a PM and we can swap phones numbers or something.

Tom and Judy in Paris, the 11th

Tom & Judy, it will be nice to meet you but not tomorrow - we will be in Bourges .

Well, we didn't make it to Bourges today.

We were on the train to take us to Bourges through Vierson, got to Gare Austerlitz in plenty of time. But unfortunately, we found out about 10 minutes before the train was leaving that reservation is mandatory on this train - a Corail Teoz.

A lesson learned today. I knew that reservation is mandatory on TGV, Eurostar and Thalys but...... Oh well, another day.

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What great pictures. This makes me want to get the next plane out for France. But I just got back from England so it will have to wait.

Thanks for the compliment, Beth. It's funny that you should say that about England, because if you read my trip report on this trip, you will see that we happened to end up in the Loire area because Virgin Atlantic screwed up our planned trip to London!

Just travel, the French train system can be incredibly frustrating and confusing -- and not just on the SNCF web site. We had a similar experience to yours last winter when we were supposed to meet a friend at a train station and found out that the train she had told us to take to get there required a reservation, so we were quite a bit late in arriving. Although she had checked the schedule for us, and she lives in France, she didn't realize either that we would have to reserve ahead.

Well, I hope you get to Bourges some time!

- Roz