Contents:
Above all, in the seventeenth century ambition had meaning only within the realm of public life, and thus preoccupation with ambition led to thought about the nature of that public life itself. Nobles typically defined retreat from public life—retreat to a country home—as a mark of incapacity, as morally shameful. Yet moral doubts pervaded the language they used to define public life. To view political society as a collection of competing ambitions, of course, implied the frequency of enmities and deceptions within it.
But, as important, nobles explained their political attachments in terms of emotion rather than reason, and they felt acutely the dependencies and loss of control that these attachments often produced. They commonly described the larger polity as a form of theater, a system of illusions meant to manipulate subjects' emotions. Seventeenth-century aristocratic culture, this chapter argues, offered problematic visions both of the self and of the public world within which it moved.
The self and its roles had in some measure to be artificial creations, the unstable products of effort and achievement; but the polity itself was likewise an artifact. Ambition emerged early as a central theme in the memoirs that the French aristocracy produced. The Catholic military hero Blaise de Monluc, whose Commentaries are among the earliest examples of this autobiographical literature, placed ambition and social advancement among the guiding themes of his life: Even though I am a gentleman, I too have nonetheless succeeded [ parvenu ] step by step, like the poorest soldier in the kingdom.
Successful soldiers who have served the king honorably, he wrote, "when they return to their homeland [ leur patrie ]. Monluc believed his life story to be of general interest because it illustrated what impoverished provincials could achieve through loyal military service. Later memorialists imitated and broadened these themes. The sieur de Pontis, a Jansenist soldier born in , described his frustration in the provincial home of his older brother, who had inherited the family's property.
At the age of sixteen, de Pontis wrote, "I resolved to leave for Paris, and to work by myself to advance as I could in the world. De Pontis thus suggested a broader understanding than Monluc's of what ambition might entail; he linked his hopes of external success to an inner transformation. Conversely, Henri de Campion another soldier, writing in the s stressed the emotional intensity of ambition and the pain brought by eventual failure: Antoine Adam, 2 vols.
Marc Fumaroli Paris, , 43, 47, Arthur Gold-hammer Cambridge, Mass. But rich nobles as well shared this rhetoric of ambition; it was part of a larger pattern of expectations that had little to do with economic standing. Bussy-Rabutin, who was born to a prosperous and well-connected family, began his memoirs with the lines: Despite his wealth, though, Bussy also shared Campion's bitterness at failure; his distress at the eventual thwarting of his ambitions, he explained, produced severe physical illness.
Having been asked for educational advice by the tutor of two wealthy young nobles, he urged, "Above all, take care never to try to strangle their passions by your sole authority, or by excessive correction. He described it as a natural passion, and one that needed only proper guidance, not outright repression; ambition formed part of an ethical system. Even princes subscribed to these values, using language that emphasized the ambitions they shared with ordinary gentlemen like Monluc and de Pontis.
Ludovic Lalanne, 2 vols. Westmead, , 1: That ambition and achievement dominated the concerns even of those who already occupied the highest positions in French society was suggested also by the wave of mid-seventeenth-century publications describing The Art of Pleasing at Court and The Road to Fortune and the Favors of the Court. In these books, reported the literary commentator Charles Sorel, "one can see the means of advancing in all conditions, and especially in that of courtier.
Apparently enough outsiders, poor provincials like Monluc and de Pontis, hoped to make their way at court that printed guides could find a market. Oral communications and personal relations no longer sufficed to instruct such hopefuls, however slight might be their real chances of success when armed only with such printed aids. But the symbolic significance of such books is still greater.
Success at court, among the high nobility, had become a model, as Sorel indicated, for "advancing in all conditions. Ambition, then, was a pervasive theme in seventeenth-century aristocratic discussions—a theme that deserves emphasis, in view of some historians' assumption that "the drive to succeed [was] foreign to a nobility sufficiently distinguished by its old titles. Paris, , 3: Gonzague Truc, 8 vols. Geneva, , The quotation apparently refers specifically to the nineteenth century, but its assumptions about the origins of ambition are what need attention here.
They described ambition as a passion, an urge that was normal and almost beyond the individual's control. Like other passions, ambition could be dangerous, and it required proper direction, but its complete eradication posed still greater dangers. Ambition was part of what made a good man.
They were not thinking only about the achievement of glory and preeminence. Rather, they sought to define how the interplay of inner drive and external events had produced the life story that was now before the reader. French nobles not only placed ambition at the center of their lives; they offered an extended critique of a plausible alternative social model, that of the country gentleman and the country house as a center of virtue, a counterweight to the corruptions of city and court.
Nobles described lives that centered on the private country home as the result of political failure, physical decay, or indifference to honor. For his younger contemporary Jean de Mergey, retreat to the country represented, rather, old age and incapacity. He described a relative and benefactor "having become paralytic and impotent in all his members, and for this reason no longer able to reside at court, and having retired to his home," where he found pleasure in extensive rebuilding. The next century brought further development of these images. La Rochefoucauld explained attachment to country houses in terms of.
I owe this point to Professor Joyce Appleby. Just after the Fronde, he wrote of "those gentlemen hiding out in their houses, who hold themselves up as the arbiters of their province. Such associations of the rural household with vice, ignorance, conceit, failure, and personal decrepitude are especially striking because French nobles had available to them an alternative set of symbols.
Since the late sixteenth century and Ben Jonson's "To Penshurst," English writers had viewed the country house as a site of virtue and a physical manifestation of the continuity between public and private life. The country house displayed the family's continuity over the generations and its ongoing political role, a role that was only strengthened by its associations with country life.
This was how Marvell used the Fairfaxes' Appleton House. He traced the association between house and family from before the Reformation, showed the house as the appropriate background to its owners' public role, and stressed throughout the theme of order: But no country ideology seems to have ensued. In effect, aristocratic culture had closed off this alternative to the rhetoric of ambition. Nobles had to make their way within a public sphere. The language of ambition had specific social contours; it characterized the military nobility, the nobility of the sword. French nobles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries displayed an acute.
Jacques Truchet Paris, , "De la retraite". This consciousness of innovation might lead to disdainful condemnations of the new nobility as "bourgeois" and to glorifications of ancient lineages. But relations between military and judicial nobilities, between robe and sword, were more complex than such dismissals might suggest. For contemporaries also knew that familial relations between robe and sword were often close, and they spoke readily of a young man's choice between robe and sword as a choice between professions and cultural milieux.
Magistrates and soldiers came from similar backgrounds. But they did not for that reason share a common outlook, and divergent views of ambition constituted a fundamental difference between them. The poet Malherbe, a courtier and notoriously sensitive about his noble status, in advised his son to begin a career as a royal magistrate. The choice itself testified to fluidity of movement between magistracy and military nobility, though Malherbe acknowledged the prejudices that continued to surround such choices.
But Malherbe added to his advice reflections about the differences between the two kinds of careers: But the climb is so arduous that to succeed in it fortune, against her habit, must give extraordinary assistance to ability. It is not thus for offices in the Parlement.
There all the difficulty is in beginning. Once one has started on the path, one can say that he has accomplished the main part of the journey. These are not positions that will carry a man to the clouds; but they place him high enough to see many others beneath him. Ludovic de Contenson, 3 vols. Paris, —09 , 3: Jahrhundert Bonn, , Despite some nobles' claim that the nobility of the robe consisted of bourgeois parvenus, Malherbe argued that social fluidity in fact characterized the military career.
The military nobleman had chances of rising higher, but he had fewer rules and procedures to guide his advancement, and he faced a greater likelihood of failure. The seventeenth century's greatest exemplars of military success seemed to suggest that it resulted from forms of genius that could change little with age or experience. Few military nobles could hope to follow their example. Within the magistracy, in contrast, advancement followed clearly marked paths.
The new arrival might encounter difficulty in buying an office and having himself accepted by the court he sought to join. Once he had entered on his career, however, both his work and his advancement fell under clear rules. Collective traditions and procedures determined nearly all activity within the courts, and rules of seniority governed most advancement. Once one had entered such a career, the question of ambition had essentially been solved. The essayist Saint-Evremond spelled out the social and psychological consequences of this divergence.
Passing then to the embassies, they instruct themselves in foreign affairs, and. They grow old in the antechambers, exposed to the mockery of the young. Paris, —66 , 2: Ideas about ambition and career thus fitted with powerful images about youth and age, and about the patterns of an individual's life. These images were widely shared in seventeenth-century society, partly because they incorporated elements of Aristotelian thought. Aristotle had viewed the passage from arms to counsel as the natural accompaniment to old age. The old were natural governors, their impetuosity calmed by the coldness of age.
The young were suited to fight; and their expectation of acquiring more civil power as they aged would curb their impatience at the army's control by civil authorities. Sixteenth-and seventeenth-century French men and women transformed these associations between social roles and age groups, by associating gravity and self-restraint with a specific social class, the magistracy.
Dressed in long robes, subjected to rigid principles of seniority, and held to standards of decorum outside as well as inside the courtroom, young magistrates seemed to have voluntarily adopted the appearance and behavior of old men. Retz, who sneered at the leaders of the Parlement of Paris as "oldsters drowned. They played a large role in the Fronde, and the fashions of court life had. Sinclair London, , —74 7: See also the discussion of age below, Chapter 4. The Magistrates of the Parlement of Rouen, — Princeton, , 21— Yet other norms and expectations governed the group. Ambition and uncertainty were central to the life of the military nobleman; the magistrate was expected, in La Roche Flavin's words, to "control himself and.
And because of this he lives in peace, moves gently along in all matters, and never has cause to repent, to withdraw what he has said, or to change. Military nobles thus saw ambition as one of the norms that defined their social group, setting it apart from such others as the nobility of the robe.
Some nobles extended the contrast further, using ideas about ambition and youth to define the differences between their own monarchical society and the more republican societies they encountered in Holland and England. They saw their own society as dominated by the court and its values, hence as a society of intense competition and equally intense uncertainties—hence also as a society especially suited to the young. Saint-Evremond congratulated himself in the s on living his last years "in the freedom of a republic, where, if there is nothing to hope for, at least there is nothing to fear.
When one is young, it would be shameful not to enter the world with the design of making one's fortune; when one is in decline, nature recalls us to ourselves; and having relinquished ambition in favor of repose, it is sweet to live in a country where the laws protect us from the will of men, where to be sure in everything we need only be sure of ourselves.
On the one side he saw uncertainties, passion, ambitions, youth; on the other, the control, sobriety, and limits suited to age. Montesquieu seems to have inherited this intellectual legacy, and early in the eighteenth century he offered these observations as broad political principles. In properly functioning republics, he argued, the young must subordinate themselves to the old, and all must subordinate themselves to ancient custom; frugality and self-control must dominate economic life.
Monarchies, in contrast, require no such. Ambition as a social model gave a particular edge to a second component of this cultural system: Such sensitivity reflected in part the fact that change inhered in court life itself. Just as important as changing political constellations were the changing fashions of court life, which quickly excluded from society. David Wallace Carrithers Berkeley, , — Those who have been away, wrote Saint-Evremond in the s, "come back to the court like people from the other world; their dress, their manner, their language are no longer in style; they pass for foreigners in their own country, and for ridiculous among the young courtiers.
There is no one whose patience they do not exhaust with their tales of times past, their stories about the old wars. But preoccupation with time also reflected the nobles' understanding of both youth and old age. Old age aroused aesthetic disgust because of the infirmities it brought. Madame de Soubise, for instance, was struck by scrofula "as old age began" and had to "stay home during the last two years of her life, rotting over the most precious furnishings deep in the vast and superb hotel de Guise.
Aristotle's similar belief that the old lack capacity for friendship, discussed below, Chapter 4. The contrast between youth and age thus overlapped those between sword and robe and between courts and republics. Each set of contrasts touched on the nature of the individual's attachment to a social order. The young founded attachments on passionate, often-changing, and disorderly connections to others; the old attached themselves to inanimate objects and thus could regulate their personal involvements.
A parlementaire writer such as La Roche Flavin could present this contrast in simple ethical terms, setting the disorder of youth against the sagacity of age, but writers from the military aristocracy inverted or blurred such ethical judgments. Ideas about ambition and time, I have suggested, had real social uses for French nobles. They helped individuals to understand the unfolding of their lives, and they helped to define social and even national differences. But ambition as a social model also posed difficult problems, some of them resulting from inherent contradictions, others from tensions between these and other important aristocratic values.
Some of these evoked only mild anxieties. That ambition contradicted important demands of Christian ethics seems to have disturbed very few—perhaps because ambition's association with youth allowed for repentance during the calm of old age; the later seventeenth century saw a long series of well-publicized conversions, with well-known political figures withdrawing to pious retirement.
That the individual's ambitions might contradict his family's demands could pose more serious difficulties some of which we will consider in Chapter 3. But nobles could cope with these also, by attaching their ambitions to dynastic tradition. Nobles could reconcile personal ambition with respect for dynastic traditions, though we will see significant latent tensions remained. But other difficulties could not be so easily concealed. Linking civic engagement with images of passion, ambition, and change posed an immediate problem, by placing the individual's civic attachments in. Insofar as aristocratic civic life rested on youthful emotions, it acquired the instability, illusions, and moral uncertainties of love.
And in fact aristocratic political actors spoke of their choices in highly emotional, even erotic terms. I knew in those times substantial citizens who were persuaded to the point of martyrdom. Others stressed the more concrete role of passionate feelings in political life. There were so many interests and so many different cabals, and the women had such a large part in them, that love was always mixed up with business and business with love.
Political choices and love had inherent similarities; at the royal court, so Madame de Lafayette and others suggested, they overlapped and reinforced each other. A second problem strengthened this association of politics with the irrational: For poor country gentlemen like. Emile Magne Paris, , The issue of ambition lies at the center of A.
Monluc or de Pontis, ambition and self-interest had clear directions. These men sought to acquire positions, property, and the honor that went with them. The problem worried contemporaries and led them to speculate on the nature of ambition itself and on the illusions that surrounded it.
Ambition might appear a straightforward pursuit of self-interest, but to seventeenth-century observers both the drive and its objects lacked clarity. Thus for La Rochefoucauld, the cardinal de Retz "seems ambitious without being so; vanity and those around him led him to undertake great things. Seventeenth-century aristocratic writers offered more troubling questions in purely secular terms. Illusion might cloud even the most worldly self-interest; ambition itself might be fraudulent, a deceptive counterfeit of the drive for achievement.
Most important, their preoccupation with ambition forced nobles to think about the problems of success and failure and to seek explanation of failure in the nature of the polity itself. The result was a deeply pessimistic vision of the political community.
A strikingly large number of the noble memoir writers described failed ambitions—an especially striking number given that most memorialists used their remarkable achievements to justify writing about themselves. Of course, the collapse of so many aristocratic political calculations during the Fronde gave particular impetus to thoughts about failure.
Retz, La Rochefoucauld, and their fellow conspirators had to reflect on the uncertainty of events and the downfall of their plans. In this as in much else, Monluc offered a pioneering example. Though proud of his successful career and eager that others follow his example, he could not avoid expressing bitterness at the neglect he had suffered since the death of Charles IX; and he assumed that his audience, the future captains to whom he directed his reminiscences, "will say to me: When the war is over, we'll go to the poorhouse: De Pontis was not alone in attributing his failure to the ingratitude of the great.
Nobles saw such ingratitude everywhere. Service to the great, all contemporaries agreed, provided the appropriate structure for aristocratic political life, but such service involved no equality of commitment. The French princes, reflected Bussy-Rabutin, "know well that after giving a thousand vexations to a gentleman, the least of their caresses will bring him back and make him forget all the past. Further down the social scale, petty nobles voiced comparable complaints about their aristocratic patrons. Is there some means of making my need clear to Madame? I am here far from relatives and friends.
All of these complaints suggested the instability and fundamental inequality of political relations.
Nobles described, in language suggestive of seduction and sexual submissiveness, giving themselves willingly and completely to those they served. But, so they claimed, they received no comparable emotional commitment in return; the great used them coldly, then neglected and finally abandoned them. Political failure, in other words, derived from a moral failure at the heart of the social hierarchy.
Nobles suffered for the unwillingness of the great to honor their obligations to their dependents. Comparable criticisms were directed at the king himself: Henri IV's reign displayed the problem with special clarity, for he subdued his extreme Catholic opponents with bribes and gave them an important role in his reign. The pamphlet mockingly dismissed those "feeble minds that judge only by appearances and lack sufficient vision to penetrate the secret cabinet of this prince's intentions.
But their pamphlet accurately captured elements in the monarchy's own descriptions of its actions. The Crown did in fact claim to stand above legal restrictions, and it stood still more clearly above the expectations of its servants. It offered both rewards and forgiveness as it chose, according to standards of judgment that only the king himself could fully understand. This is the stance that Corneille defends in concluding both Le Cid and Horace with instances of monarchical grace, moments in which rulers dramatically place other considerations before those of legality.
Thus the conclusion of Horace: Against this need, apparently reasonable claims for reward and recognition could have no force. The Crown's secret reasoning did not lead to a larger rationality of political structure; on the contrary, it meant that the Crown would often fail its most loyal servants. Other criticisms emerged as aristocrats interpreted political failure.
That politics depended on language and opinion led to dark thoughts about the political actor's vulnerability. His standing depended on what others said, and so he was constantly vulnerable to slander. Corneille here follows the ideas that the French monarchy actually applied in its pardons: Complaints of malicious talk appear throughout seventeenth-century correspondence.
They suggested both that reputations were fragile and that an array of enemies surrounded the political actor. Virtuous actions risked misrepresentation or concealment, because enemies surrounded the political actor and could turn language against him. Such misrepresentations contributed to a larger problem, the play of irrational or entirely unpredictable forces in frustrating efforts and expectations.
Political society, so these discussions of the unexpected suggested, had ultimately no understandable structure. La Rochefoucauld made the point when he considered the career of the duc de Bouillon: He was valiant and had a perfect knowledge of warfare. He had an easy, natural, ingratiating eloquence. His mind was clear, inventive, and capable of untangling the most difficult matters. But such great advantages were often of no use to him, because of the stubbornness of his fortune, which almost always opposed his prudence. Implicit in such comments were doubts about the possibility of political knowledge, a sense of the difficulty of understanding the polity.
Fortune seemed to govern political life because real knowledge of the polity was so difficult to attain. There were, first, practical and social obstacles to knowledge, about which Retz expanded complacently: I am amazed in this regard by the insolence of those nobodies who, imagining they have penetrated the hearts of those most involved in these matters, leave no event without claiming to have explicated its origins and consequences.
But the nobles also saw a deeper problem: As most noblemen described it, reality lay in particulars and often could not be captured in more general formulations. A further problem for political knowledge lay in the evolving nature of reality itself. Retz made the uncertainties of political reality the central theme of his memoirs; and though his explanations for uncertainty varied widely, ultimately he emphasized the inadequacy of either the past or common sense as a guide.
People's expectations of the possible, Retz argued repeatedly, touched only a small part of what might actually happen: One finds there facts so opposed to one another that they are unbelievable. But experience teaches us. The seventeenth century's great examples of political success strengthened this conviction that the polity was fundamentally impervious to rational understanding.
Richelieu's successes, both within France and within Europe as a whole, seemed as inexplicable to contemporary nobles as their own failures. Richelieu's success, he wrote, came, not from "his wise choices [ sa bonne conduite ], which I have not noticed ,. In fact this genius carries an indefinable impression of such absolute power over those who let themselves be guided by it, that it is only with an effort that one opposes its will. Such leaders, Campion and his friends concluded, transcended normal analysis.
Seventeenth-century nobles employed a variety of metaphors as they sought to convey their vision of political situations as unstable and deceptive. We have seen the readiness of some to turn to the notion of fortune. Others used religious images. Do you believe that all these actions occur by chance?
No, no, avoid such thoughts; it's God who guides it all, and whose plans always command adoration, though to us they be bitter and hidden. And if we lose sight of this divine Providence? Without it, one would have to hang oneself five or six times a day. Political life displayed choices so contrary to the actors' interests and personalities that the "blindness of which Scripture speaks so often is, even in human terms, sensible and palpable in men's actions. But the most common metaphors for political life derived from the theater.
Saint-Evremond managed to combine theatrical and commercial imagery to suggest the inevitability of misperception and failure in court society: Roger Gailly, 3 vols. On the interaction of theater and money in early modern culture, see Jean-Christophe Agnew, Worlds Apart: It offered powerful images for the contrast that he perceived between the knowledgeable few and the deluded many, contrasting the inner workings of the political "machine" an image that he took from the stage with what the spectators in the audience could see and understand.
Even Retz's discussion of political possibility, his belief that reality was more varied than common sense might anticipate, derived from theatrical problems and language. This language echoed contemporary debate surrounding the vraisemblable and its relationship to both the possible and the real. Corneille arrived at an opposite emphasis from Retz's: Politics was the art of the possible, but the politician's task was to understand what was possible in larger terms than contemporary understanding of vraisemblance permitted.
However they were used, theatrical images of political life carried uncomfortable associations. Retz used the theater to stress the dishonesties that constituted political life. Pascal underlined another source of discomfort in metaphors of theater, contrasting the flimsiness of the theater-state with the straightforward realities of violence: That is why our kings have not attempted to. They have not dressed up in extraordinary clothes to show what they really are, but they have themselves surrounded by guards, scarred veterans.
They do not wear the trappings, they simply have the power. Theatrical power of the sort represented by the magistrate might function effectively, persuading some to follow its directions, for illusion and imagination have a grip on nearly everyone. The realities of power, though, lay elsewhere, in the instruments of violence. Pascal's vision of politics thus differed sharply from Retz's, but shared common emphases and language. Both pointed to the theatrical form of political and social life; both saw much of this life in terms of flux, imagination, deception. Ultimately, then, theatrical imagery suggested a troubling view of the polity's moral stature.
Contemporaries continued into the late seventeenth century to link the theater with a variety of vices: There was no assurance that a Christian theater could exist at all. Even Madame de Maintenon's efforts to create one for her maidens at Saint-Cyr produced anxieties, as courtiers came to ogle the actresses rather than to seek edification; [77] and to the end of the century the pious argued that Christians should avoid the theater altogether.
Clearly a state that functioned by means of theatrical trappings and trickery could not easily be understood as a Christian enterprise. Even for the secular-minded, to view the state as a form of theater, in which all political actors adopted some form of disguise and a handful of insiders sought systematically to deceive the rest, undercut a moral vision of the community.
If political life preserved a moral center, so aristocratic writers were led to suggest, it lay in the individual rather than the political community. And the individual had a continuity that the political drama lacked. Retz made this contrast between individual reality and shifting political drama one of the main purposes of his memoirs. He sought to show that he had remained constant, despite the political changes taking place around him. The political experiences and expectations that have thus far been considered centered on the royal court, where political ambition was fiercest and failure most painful.
Yet provincial politics too had deceptions, disappointments, uncertainties, and calculations. Much of the rhetoric that has been examined thus far, though it applied most readily to the court, could as easily describe provincial relationships. This rhetoric, in other words, represented more than a response to the specific experiences of the royal court; it represented a deeper pattern in aristocratic culture.
To be sure, a lively rhetoric of provincial probity subsisted in the seventeenth century; and the powers that substantial landowners continued to exercise gave real content to their dependents' claims of loyal service. Generations of local notables had offered the family service and had recognized its leadership. The contrast between solid loyalties of this kind and the instability of the royal court gave rise to consoling reflections during times of political trouble.
In the marquise de la Moussaye wrote to her sister after visiting the prince de Tarente, exiled to his estates for his role during the Fronde: He is perfectly honored at Laval and could do there so they tell me anything he wishes, winning hearts as he has and everyone praising his behavior. At court virtue might suffer slanders and the most capa-. For investigation of these loyalties in another provincial setting, see Jonathan Dewald, Pont-St-Pierre, — Yet the marquise herself could describe provincial politics in quite different terms, as a play of contending interests in which success demanded careful calculation and secrecy, and in which enmity and slander constantly threatened.
Alert to all of these dangers in provincial politics, she sent her sister a coded report in describing the political factions within the Estates of Brittany, using numbers to represent the assembly's leading figures and some of the issues with which it dealt. Had they written you, my dear sister, that he has been deserted by everyone but Monsieur de la Moussaye they would have told you the truth. He ought to have been believed in his counsels, which would have avoided all these difficulties, but some gens de robe were the instruments used to lead him into the traps that were set for him.
There was in fact no more transparency in provincial than in court politics. Calculation, enmity, and disguise provided organizing themes that other nobles employed in thinking about provincial politics. He was eager, he explained in a letter to his son, "to know whether will attend the Estates, since from this we can infer whether 24 supports the interests of 59, for we haven't been able to learn it otherwise than by rumor, which goes against us.
In , after an unfavorable ruling from the Parlement of Rennes concerning one of his properties, the duc wrote of his opponent: From now on, he wrote, he planned to have his cases moved to another court, "since I am so badly treated by the one from which I anticipated the most protection, and whose interests I can claim to have best served and most suffered for.
He asked that the cleric be treated "as the enemy of my person and my maison , who employs the property he has received from us to injure me. As a result, local politics demanded the same continuous assessment of interests and intentions as the royal court. Such assumptions extended to the lower levels of the seigneurial structure, affecting relations even within the apparently stable world of local loyalties: Either the enemies who surround us strangle us or we advance at their expense; they are strong only because of our weakness and cowardice.
To lack resentment is to be thought either cowardly or stupid, as lacking the wit to perceive an offense or the heart to avenge it; thus one remains exposed to violence as long as one does not oppose it, [inspiring] fear being the most suitable means of protecting oneself against it. French nobles readily viewed their society as a collection of intensely competing individuals rather than an organic whole, organized around a stable hierarchy or effective traditions.
Seventeenth-century nobles, this chapter has argued, interpreted their lives in terms of individual ambition. Ideas about hierarchy and tradition stood in the backgrounds of these lives and might be employed during moments of ideological debate; nobles often professed to believe that both social and natural worlds had orderly structures and that these structures provided the basis for their privileges. In the foreground of their lives, however, was constant emphasis on change, conflict, and personal ambition. With ambition went a sharp sensitivity to time and a belief in the importance of engaging in public life.
Society constantly changed, so that neither traditional attachments nor established practices necessarily retained their validity. Withdrawal to a private role drew almost entirely negative moral judgments, as a sign of impotence and failure. Nobles defined their lives in public terms; at least until age left them unsuited to be political animals, they viewed themselves as participants in a public world.
Yet seventeenth-century aristocratic culture, so I have argued here, also rendered the political world morally problematic. To Christian belief, of course, ambition itself was a vice, but anxiety in this regard rarely surfaced. Of more concern to contemporaries, ambition almost inevitably failed, as the soldier and courtier aged and ceased to be either useful or pleasing, or as superiors merely turned their affections elsewhere.
Even those who praised ambition treated it as a passion, which reason could not entirely govern and which might easily attach to illusory objects. Failures of this kind led French nobles to troubling questions about the political community in which they acted. As stress on ambition contrasted with belief in dynastic continuities, so contemporary visions of politics stood in tension with confidence in the monarchical order. The public world, as the nobles presented it, was dominated by the play of the irrational and the illusory.
Theatrical metaphors were a favorite mode of describing these qualities and suggested the moral doubts that accompanied political life; the political actor readily saw himself as manipulated by invisible stage managers. Much else in public life suggested its lack of rational order. Civic attachments rested on passionate emotional attractions, analogous to sexual attractions and sometimes deriving immediately from them; participation in public life brought the dangers of enmity and slander. Nobles interpreted even the long-standing relations of local politics in terms of repeated betrayals and disguises.
Ultimately, so Machiavellian a view of civic life made the individual seem more real than the community. Seventeenth-century nobles continued to write of an organic, unified society of orders, but their most vigorous cultural contribution lay elsewhere, in an autobiographical literature that sought to display the continuity of the self within an often irrational, fluctuating political environment.
In public discussion, their sacrifices in war justified privilege and gave nobles the right to address the king in special terms. More privately, war offered a cultural reference point, a source of stories and a model of behavior. Even the pacific Gilles de Gouberville read chivalric tales in his quiet Norman manor. The language of the nobles' disputes with other social groups more often centered on the incomprehension of soldier for civilian than on questions of genealogy. Maurice Magendie Paris, ; repr. It is worth noting that although the passage imitates Castiglione, Faret's emphasis is very different; what Castiglione makes a preference between two acceptable courses, Faret makes virtually obligatory.
The work's popularity is suggested by its reprintings in , , , , and twice in ibid. For other discussions of nobles' military involvement and attitudes, see Jonathan Dewald, Pont-St-Pierre, — This chapter attempts to define some of the meanings that war had for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nobles. Such meanings may seem obvious, in view of the role arms had played in aristocratic self-perceptions through the Middle Ages; and historians of the early modern nobility have not hesitated to contrast the calculating, self-controlled mentality of the educated magistrate with the backward outlook of the warrior.
For seventeenth-century nobles, the experience of war was only partly an inheritance from the Middle Ages. The changing technology, expanding scale, and increasingly bureaucratic organization of seventeenth-century warfare required specific forms of calculation and political reflection. Just as important, military careers unfolded in ways that detached nobles from inherited settings and forced them to confront intellectual and moral novelties.
Warfare, as Nicolas Faret made clear, was a professional choice, a focus for the ambition which the previous chapter argued offered seventeenth-century nobles a guiding theme for understanding their lives. That ambition had an important place in military careers seemed obvious to contemporaries. We have heard the poet Malherbe contrast the moderate ambitions appropriate to a robe career with the lofty but uncertain ambitions appropriate to warfare.
Worried that young men might satisfy their ambitions elsewhere, he proposed that government "encourage men of honor and ambition to enroll, both by [giving them] hope of advanc-. Basic realities of military practice underlay La Rochefoucauld's assumption that bourgeois families would use military service as a means of social mobility. Already by the late sixteenth century, the French army needed a substantial number of commoners as officers. Froissart had described the straightforward economic motives of fourteenth-and early fifteenth-century captains.
He had as many pack horses with him as any great baron, and he and his people took their meals off silver plate. Triumphs and reverses succeeded each other without apparent order, not as part of a coherent strategy of advancement. For most late medieval nobles, actual experience of war was more haphazard still; it involved only very occasional service in the enormous, unruly hosts the French kings led into battle.
Jacques Truchet Paris, , 79 no. Geoffrey Brereton London, , , Macfarlane, The Nobility of Later Medieval England Oxford, , for discussions of the economics of medieval warfare. Although the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries brought alternative models of what it meant to be noble, they also brought a greater demand for soldiers, as armies grew in size and war became more ferocious. The army also became increasingly professional, providing long-term careers rather than occasional marauding.
Experience of battle was probably more common among the seventeenth-century nobility than among their sixteenth-century ancestors, for after the French army began a breathtaking expansion. The army had numbered 50, in the mid-sixteenth century. By the end of the religious wars it had reached 80,, and it nearly doubled after , when France entered the Thirty Years' War; after a small decline in the later seventeenth century, it swelled to , by For nobles and bourgeois alike, service began very young, at the age of sixteen or seventeen.
After a few years in Jesuit colleges, his parents sent Bussy-Rabutin to war at age sixteen, then brought him back to Paris for some training at an academy: Nobles' enthusiasm for military activity suffered only from the relative peace that France enjoyed during the first third of the seventeenth century.
Between the peace with Spain in and the formal French entry into the Thirty Years' War, only a few occasions offered the experiences and profits of warfare. During these years, nobles who. Paris, —66 , 1: War was yet another characteristic seventeenth-century impetus to mobility, reinforcing the effects of duels and political miscalculation in creating exiles. Arnauld went to seek it in Livonia," under Gustavus Adolphus. At that time, having served in a half-dozen armies across Europe, he was twenty-nine years old.
At the age of seventeen, wrote Monluc, "desire to go to Italy overtook me, from the rumors circulating about the fine fighting [ beaux faicts d'armes ] there"; he discussed his plans with a neighbor of his father's, "who told me so many things and recounted so many fine exploits, happening there every day," that the young man immediately set out to cross the mountains. Especially in the uncertain international politics of the early seventeenth century, such careers posed problems of moral choice.
The comte de Souvigny recalled his uncle's experience: Paris, —86 , 9: Paris, , 4: Paris, —09 , 2: He was seeking experience and skills, not responding to demands from the state or expectations generated by feudal tradition. Of course military careers might lead to immorality for simpler reasons, because of the brutality that camp life and fighting involved. This was one reason that notable families sometimes sought to discourage their sons from entering "the profession of arms. On the contrary, they often sought to direct their sons elsewhere. The son had made his choice despite his father's wishes; a military career was here an assertion of individuality.
I have placed ex-. Sutcliffe London, , For Descartes's self-conscious use of the genre of aristocratic autobiography, see Georg Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographie , 4 vols. Frankfurt am Main, , 4: Rather, a military career violated paternal ambitions and expectations. Nicolay's cousin believed that letters offered surer hopes of advancement than arms a point discussed above, Chapter 1. The squalor and uncertainties of camp life likewise encouraged hesitation.
When his father sent money, he immediately spent it all. Such caution makes me think that he is not at all debauched, and that he wants to make something of himself. He commanded him to "continue in the army in that land if he cannot find some merchant with whom to apprentice himself. The exchange illustrates again the complex cultural lines that met in a military career. There was little visible glory here. The young man was on his own, far from home and subject to the "license of war. The young man was expected to use his time in Holland as an apprenticeship, to acquire the mathematical skills he would need whether merchant or soldier.
The young man's social. See also Huppert, Les Bourgeois Gentils-hommes , for stress on the self-confidence of the robe and its dislike of military values; and John Hale, War and Society in Renaissance Europe, — Baltimore, , for the demilitarization of aristocratic values in sixteenth-century Europe. Even without the dangers of battle, military life posed worrisome threats to the young man's well-being: To these doubts about the value of a military career the evolution of tactics during the seventeenth century added further anxieties.
Even without life in the trenches, there were horrors. Henri de Campion described the siege of Saverne, in Alsace, which its defenders had fortified brilliantly. After a disastrous full-scale assault, the army settled down "to attack the besieged foot by foot. Monluc's awareness of captains' fear of poverty in old age, quoted above, Chapter 1.
Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, — Cambridge, , 16, for the circulation of this remark in England. The next year, half of Campion's army died of plague "because of the multitude of women and children who were there and the pillage and, I believe, as punishment for all the evils that we did"; he himself contracted dysentery and, after five months of dragging illness, recovered only after leaving the army.
Military life thus embodied a paradox obvious to thoughtful contemporaries. On the one hand, this was the pursuit for which the nobility existed, and which writers commonly presented as society's most glorious activity. On the other hand, warfare involved moral discomfort and physical squalor. War itself became steadily less glorious, as firearms and siege tactics increasingly dominated its practice. France's Chamonix Valley is one of the most scenic places on the European continent. It's a narrow river valley which houses everything from rock-climbing centers to pulsing bars and pubs, and on both sides of the river the peaks of the French Last August I joined Matt Hunter and a group of other riders for an incredible mountain bike ride around Mt.
Snaking, cracking, shimmering a brilliant blue in places and covered by mystical frost in others, the Mer de Glace displays nature in all its powerful glory. While it would probably take well over a lifetime to visit all of France's picturesque and welcoming villages, there is, in my opinion, a simple solution to this "problem", if there ever was one. Lac Leman has the most spectacular view of the French Alps as a backdrop, and you could bike around it for days and even weeks visiting and staying at charming little villages and towns along the way If you ever have a chance to visit the sleepy town of St.
Pierre d'Albigny, do it. This is the quintessential French town. Stay at Chateau des Allues. Think about it for a minute. The irresistible texture of fresh bread croutons. And there you have it, the perfect ingredients for a successful This small Alpine French town really reminds you of Venice.
Could there be a more glorious setting for a cheese's origin? In , Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate here in this tiny Lake Geneva hamlet. Today, there's a museum dedicated to the history of food—the Alimentarium, and a giant fork sticking conspicuously out of the lake commemorating its presence. And what is French gastronomy without a healthy dose of cheese, right?
We spent two weeks in Provence this July with our kids and grand kids. It was great family time — visiting little villages, lounging around a pool, visiting the Festival in Avignon. But as a grandparent, the highlight of almost every day and the That was our first day at the valley,and,t looks better from all the books we read or saw. We spent a whole week there abd trust me ts not enough. This place is really a piece of heaven. Located right in the heart of the chateaux area, easy access from Paris by train or car.
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Le Moulin de Monts. Our only regret was that we were only there for 3 nights - we Besides the chateau which often houses an art exhibit on its top floor, there are multiple gardens on the grounds that are gorgeous. There is a garden festival Along a most beautiful path way you first come across an emerald laden canopied moat, where you can imagine the gallantry of renaissance horse riding. To your left, as you draw nearer to the chateau, you pass the Italian maze created by Catherine You can spend hours and hours walking through and photographing the phenomenal gardens in the Chateau de Villandry without even thinking about going inside the chateau itself.
Changed four times a year to match the seasons the intricate designs on We were in the Loire Valley for the wedding of friends, and the one day when there were no real festivities, we planned to bike from Blois where we were staying to Chateau de Cheverny. It had been some time since I'd biked a long distance, let This chateau built in the 15th and 16th centuries was said to have inspired Charles Perrault to write his fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. It has beautiful gardens with views of the Indre river and it beautifully decorated - including a room with a Forteresse Royale de Chinon.
The medieval fortress and royal castle are big draws in this quaint town along the Vienne river but the real charm comes from being perched above and taking in the sweeping views of medieval Chinon. This shot was taken over Easter weekend - a time Leonardo da Vinci may have played a role in designing part of it. Today, it's the largest The chateau is in its own park, and even has a pool and is an excellent spot Located in the Loire Valley, Rochemenier is a village with a lot of caves. Nothing unique about that except that there are a lot of people still living in them!
There are restaurants and shops, a great museum, many homes and at least one church No trip to France's Normandy coast is complete without a visit to the charming port of Honfleur. Here you will find Impressionist art, tasty cuisine, and warm hospitality. A stay at the Hotel Royal Barriere is a treat in itself. Staying there during racing season is a real highlight! Early each morning, horses are brought to the beach for workouts in the surf of the English Channel. The beautiful Gaulish town: Visit the famous Bayeux Tapestry, displayed in the first town in France, liberated by the Allies on June 7, Paroisse Notre-Dame du Bessin.
The Norman town of Bayeux has their own famed basilica and cathedral the second largest of its kind in France, behind the one on the Paris and it's well worth the trip while you're in town seeing the Bayeux Tapestry or waiting for your pick-up I attended a photography workshop in Normandy, France, May Needless to say, we all came home with great photos of this In reality, there aren't a ton of fine dining restaurants in this part of France, so it is a nice change if you are visiting for a week Normandy is an extremely picturesque area of France with its lush fields, gardens, and pretty little towns and villages.
And then there are the half-timbered houses of northern France. The old wooden and stucco houses in Normandy are an example of And its beaches, whose beauty has been immortilized by so many painters, is the embodiment of magic, with its two formidable tears in the cliff face known as the doors. In Normandy, driving back to Paris from a day at the coast, we passed through St.
This village of about inhabitants has the distinction of having the smallest 'mairie' town hall in France--definitely 'petite,' at only In , the cellars were built stretching across a single level and An incredible French restaurant called Les Bateliers lies over the water just near the Rue Turenne Bridge in Colmar, France, providing a one of a kind view of the colorful historical architecture. If you had to choose one place to eat in Colmar, Photo by Philippe de Rexel.
Peaceful atmosphere, quaint colourful houses, beautiful lanes Not as touristy as La Petite France in Strasbourg, it gives you a chance to enjoy the tranquility and romance.
And don't miss the photo I am a die-hard cheese fanatic, so when I heard Strasbourg, France had an entire restaurant dedicated to my favourite dairy product, I had to visit. La Cloche a Fromage, refers to the glass dome the French place over their cheese boards, and this Is Strasbourg really in France?
A decade ago I lived here for a semester abroad, and although it's only 2 hours east of Paris , Strasbourg seems so different, so special. It must be the proximity of Germany that separates, or rather mixes with the Stopped in the Excelsior after trekking around nancy because we needed a coffee.
The place was getting crowded with people coming in for their lunch but the manager was happy to put a little round table next to the bar for us to enjoy a hot java Mulhouse is located in the Alsace region of France, which means that the place looks somewhat German and there is very good win from the area. In the limestone gorge country of SW France, this bridge is a medieval monument to a legendary pact: While living in Paris, a friend of mine asked if I would like to visit his childhood home I drove from my home in Brussels and when I got off the highway in the Dordogne, I had to stop every few All the guide books may rave about le Mont Saint Michel, but Rocamadour is truly a spectacular pilgrimage site worth visiting.
I may be from San Francisco but my heart was left in the Dordogne long ago, back when I started writing my book about one of my favorite regions of France. And there is one church, where my friend Roland was married. One reads about meals fit for kings, but during a stay at Kitchen-at-Camont I had a hand in preparing one. We shared the results of our labor among students, teacher, visitor and friend.
We got out the good silver and set the table in the glow of If the ironwork throughout the Les Halles covered market in Dijon, France, reminds you of the Eiffel Tower in Paris , there is good reason. Gustave Eiffel, a native son of Dijon, designed the market in the 19th century. On the last leg of a trip in May , we took the TGV from Dijon to Paris , on the way passing beautiful fields of mustard in bloom. We'd seen fields like this from the air on the way to Prague, in Poland and into Lyon, but didn't know what they A beautiful medieval Chateau with a moat, restored in the 16th century.
Near to the famous canal. They had me at "there's a moat! Tucked away on a side street in Beaune, you will find the enchanting Caves Madeleine. It is a wonderful little gem that locals frequent because of its incredible food and wine selection. Seating is communal, which instantly gives an air of My gluten free eating experience in and around the Vougeot area was filled with gorgeous plates of naturally gluten free food.
Want to feel like a local? Go to the the Saturday Market in Beaune. This is THE social event of the week, and literally the entire town is in attendance. Farmers, vendors, artisans and the like all congregate in the city center, culminating in Saturday market in France. While his girlfriend seems uncertain about her tasting, the young gentleman is ready to give it a try. We've stayed three times at a charming chambre d'hote in Puligny-Montrachet, Burgundy, a few kilometers from Beaune. Luckily, each visit has In three previous trips to Burgundy we had not taken the time to visit the Hospices de Beaune, despite being in town each time.
In May we corrected the error and were very pleased to learn the history and take in the beauty of this unique hospital One peaceful morning strolling down the deserted streets of Beaune. Whether one is Catholic or not, or even religious or not, it's easy to appreciate the commitment and faith of the people who built the ancient churches found throughout Europe. This one, in the little village of Pernand-Vergelesses in Burgundy, Our May trip brought us back to the charming wine village of Puligny-Montrachet in the Cote d'Or as the wisteria were in full bloom.
There was a lot of rain this spring, and perhaps that made a difference, as I don't recall this beautiful LOVE this shop in Lucca's Piazza Anfiteatro, created and run by four sisters who handcraft vibrant tableware, beauty products, a line of charming hand-printed cloth bags, and colorful paper products. The friendly staff and pretty displays make it I was captivated by the contrast of the ancient 14th century Carrera marble church with the castle tower behind it along with the colorful yellow and orange building in front of it.
This was taken from a side street in the old town area of A tiny sleepy town right smack dab in the middle of Cinque Terre Packed during the day with tourists hiking their way along the trails or by tour groups arriving via buses or ferries, the town takes on a whole new feel as the While traveling through Provence, we stopped in a local village to buy some wine, baguettes, fromage and variety of tapenades and fresh fruit to enjoy while taking in the view of the French countryside.
Northern Spain isn't nearly as popular as the south among foreign visitors if you discount the El Camino de Santiago , but for my money the north provides a more pleasurable experience. The mountainous terrain is spectacular, the food in every Fort st jean and Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. This contemporary landscape and park rests atop an ancient castle known as Fort St Jean- forming a dynamic entry plaza for the new Museum of Civilizations.
The Museum and building architecture are fantastic, but the park setting and views are Nothing is a more powerful symbol of the City of Light than the Eiffel Tower. Designed by Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exposition, it's one of the world's most-visited monuments, with nearly 7 million people ascending the 1,foot The Bosphorus, separating Europe and Asia, was and still is one of the most important maritime routes in the world. Straddled by the city of Constantinople—or Istanbul, as it is known today—the Bosphorus Straits lies between the Sea of Marmara and My friend suggested Prague as a potential for a three city visit in Europe this summer.
It turned out to be an excellent suggestion and the highlight of the trip.
It's a city that offers a photobug like my husband and I, numerous beautiful sights A cross between baklava and a croissant, katmer is a sweet, airy, pistachio-drenched Turkish breakfast pastry guaranteed to give you a sugar high that will last the whole day. Made from sheets of thin phyllo dough, kaymak clotted cream , sugar, Although there are plenty of non-fishy options, fresh seafood is everywhere, along with what always appear to be many happy diners.
Of particular note is the small town of Mali Ston near Dubrovnik that is famous, very famous it turns out, for its Croatia and Italy are separated only by the Adriatic Sea, and that proximity has led to plenty of interactions over the centuries. In fact the Republic of Venice actually controlled huge portions of modern day Croatia.
It's this history that has Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival.
Sun, smiles, beer, craft vendors, carnival rides, top-notch Zydeco bands, swamp boogie, a parade, dancing, a queen, king and princesses, local celebs, food of all kinds including crawfish boil and Etouffee- all converge at Park Hardy to celebrate If you're in Barcelona, one of the best place to try this I love dining in Spain. In my opinion, Spanish cuisine is characterized by the less is more approach unless you're talking about paella, I guess. Case in point; roasted peppers, licked with olive oil and dashed with salt. Tangier's Ancienne Medina is still a close resemblance of the trading quarter established in this location during the Moorish settlement of North Africa.
Spices, olives, leather, vegetables, olive oil are brought everyday from the regions small My husband and I eloped in Valletta, Malta. We were in the middle of a day cruise, and had to find our way to our ceremony building from the waterfront where our ship docked. This was the fist step on the way to our wedding! I was a little hesitant of seeing Juliet's supposed balcony in Verona, but not going would be silly. And once I went, it was actually quite quaint and sweet.
However, you enter through a short tunnel that is covered in gum. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and shared this tiramisu for dessert. The waiters hardly spoke English, and one of the lights inside flickered. But we sat on the edge near the flung open window-doors and enjoyed the feel of the breeze and sunshine as we Nothing fancy about these markets, just townspeople buying food at non-fancy stalls, to cook for dinner.
They are everywhere, in every The southernmost island of Scotland's Inner Hebrides, Islay is known for its whisky, specifically smoky, peaty whisky. It also has lovely beaches worth checking out if the weather cooperates and a mostly flat landscape ideal for cycling. Olive oil is the life blood of Italy as if it flows through the rivers and roads throughout the entire country. If you get the chance, stop by an olive oil factory and see how it's done. During pressing season each fall, barrels filled with Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens.
I had heard that Glasgow was a bit rough and tumble, but the West End, lined with gorgeous Edwardian and Victorian homes, is definitely the posh part of town. This West End spot is known for its haggis, but on my first night in Scotland, I wasn't quite up to that traditional savory pudding of sheep's pluck, oatmeal, onions, and spices encased in stomach lining and then stewed into submission.
Is there anything more British than touring London in a vintage mini? Zip through the city, in and out of traffic and past iconic London landmarks in a restored classic. British racing green, vroom-vroom red or a subtle white? In , Bouillon Castle was inherited by Godfrey of Photo courtesy of Tourism Ireland. The bleak, windswept landscape of Connemara in the West of Ireland is characterized by bogs, lakes, mountains, and miles of stone walls. Connemara National Park is one of the best places to appreciate this unique landscape, with more than 7, For us, however, the highlight was an evening spent at the Absinthe Bar Staying at the historic Grand Hotel actually not at all "grand", just charming and comfortable with a balcony overlooking the canal.
Centrally built in the middle of the Ciutat Vella, Mercado Central, or Mercat Central if you want to stick to the local version of Catalan is Valencia's go to market for Paella produce. Set in a magnificent Art Deco Building, it is home to about If you find yourself in Segovia, Spain , the restaurant Jose Maria is an incredible place to feast. It's motto is "The Altar of Wine". Photo by age fotostock. Walking around Granada isn't like walking around most major cities. In most cities you can't catch glimpses of massive snow-covered mountains or an ancient Moorish and Spanish fort the Alhambra , part legendary summer palace, part stronghold.
Anyone with an iota of interest in art will certainly visit the Prado while in Madrid. But be sure to save some time to visit another nearby museum, where there's something wonderful to see before you even get inside. Just a 5-minute walk down The museum of arts and traditions houses rooms showing the lace and ceramic arts of Sevilla along with other fine crafts. The building itself is one of my favorites of Sevilla. It is covered in beautiful tiles and arches. In front of the museum is The Triana market may be my favorite market anywhere.
There has been a market in this spot for years, and that history can be felt. I loved the tile signs above each stand, the friendly and engaging vendors, the fishmongers that move like Experiencing the cape in a relentless storm was something San Sebastian is one of the loveliest coastal towns in the Basque region, full of beautiful historical buildings and churches as well as spectacular beaches When you decide to head out to a new place, with just a few clicks of your mouse, you can find "best kept secrets" galore. That's what we were looking for when we decided to spend a few days in Girona, Spain.
Our goal was to get to Barcelona. Semana Santa is the holy week of Easter celebrated with a passion here in Spain. It is worth noting that if you travel to Spain the week leading up to Easter many things will be closed or booked out. If you arrive this week there is also a good Victuals of all kinds are to be found at the indoor market just over the bridge from old town.
This area also boasts some wonderful tapas bars. Andalucia has recently stolen my heart, while working in Spain for Backroads and this town in the province of Malaga is a gem. Our staff hub is based in the town of Ronda and the old, historical parts of town and the breathtaking views you'll find This is probably the windiest place in Spain , on the very tip of Iberia, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean over the Gibraltar Strait, over looking the coast of Morocco. October 27th, We tend to take trips in October and as this was coming together, the date kept slipping later and later.
Originally planned as a trip to France, we ended up heading to Andalucia instead. This is a great candy shop right in the A visit to Granada, Spain isn't complete without a stop at the Alhambra. The Moorish architecture, robust gardens, and stunning views of Granada combine to make a truly memorable experience. Start your day with a tour of the Generalife Gardens Served with romesco to dip, they are definitely my favorite vegetable. The photo above doesn't feature extreme filtering; that's just the way it was.
Colour, music and dancing are an integral part of life in Andalusia, Spain. A variety of dancers, in colourful traditional costumes, will whirl and stomp across Modern decor, modern packaging, modern chocolate in an ancient seaside town. This was at one of my favorite cafes while in Sevilla. While walking endlessly down winding street after winding street I found this gem of a place! Un Patio En Santa Cruz. Patio un Santa Cruz is on a street leading down to the Cathedral and is lined with many tapas bars.
There's so much to see at Montserrat, the picturesque mountain located a few hours outside of Barcelona. Nature lovers will enjoy the wide range of hikes while, non-sporty types can bask in the breathtaking views available from almost any vantage Wandering around a typical neighborhood off the usual tourist path is a great way to get a sense of place. Calle Feria in the Macarena district has no fancy shops or restaurants. Just typical small shops that make up a neighborhood where people The Plaza de Toros is an absolute must-see on any trip to Sevilla.
It is the heart of the spanish tradition of bullfighting and a beautiful structure. There is also a museum where you can get more information on the sport and see some artifacts It was raining when we arrived in Donostia-San Sebastian, but the skies cleared on our second day, and we rode the funicular railway up Mount Igueldo to take in the view back on the city, La Concha Bay, and the empty beach. The "low" travel season While on a road-trip through Andalusia, we spent a day exploring the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park.
The twisting mountain roads took our breath away at regular intervals. The region is famous for its Peublos Blancos or white villages. This is a great place for some down time in Barcelona. Located close to the University of Barcelona's Campus on Diagonal, and children's hospital Sant Joan de Deu, this park is a beautiful place for a stroll, or to sit outside and play with your An early morning walk before the day begins for other visitors is usually the best time for me.
Usually thronged areas are empty but for residents going about their morning routines. You might be amazed by the bell tower, the stone path, and the orange trees. However, the moment you stepped into the prayer hall, it will take your breath away. The immense Gothic Cathedral of Seville was built on the site of an ancient Muslim mosque.
It was completed in the early 16th century and was designated a Roman Catholic cathedral. Cap de Creus Lighthouse. Sweeping views of the ocean from atop the cliffs are even Baelo Claudia is the seaside site of an ancient Roman town that was settled was about 2, years ago. You can take a self-tour of the ruins, which include skeletons of the city's temple, forum and basilica. The modern Visitors Centre includes a No trip to Granada is complete without wandering the narrow streets of the Albaicin neighborhood.
The courtyards, baths, parks, churches and views of the Alhambra are a collective and colorful open air museum of patterns. This part of town feels While vacationing in the Algarve I wanted to visit a beach described as unusual and exotic. We left Lagos and traveled west past Vila do Bispo and followed the signs for about 15 minutes. We had heard that there was a beautiful beach in the area Timpanas - Fado Restaurant.
Fado, which is Portuguese for fate, is an urban folk music genre that traces its roots in Portugal in the s. Unrequited love, the longing for home, death and melancholia Beach Houses at Costa Nova. In the riverfront and beach town of Costa Nova near the city of Aveiro you will find the candy striped beach houses facing the river. The sight of these houses painted in vertical stripes of green, blue, yellow, or red with bright red geraniums in I could have stayed in this building for hours rather than scuttling through rapidly on a tour.
Every corner, every room was an amazement. Portugal's history - and especially that of Porto, where it all started - is intertwined with trade, Not as famous as St. Peter's at the Vatican City, but just as holy. They have masses held either in the old church, the new church and the outdoor courtyard. Just outside the Cathedral in Porto are the waymarks for the route to Fatima and the route to Santiago de Compostela. Worthy of a visit. Outside of the city center, but accessible by bus, and walking distance from the ocean.
More interesting that your common art museum because you're also stimulated by outside structures and exhibits, as well as posh gardens in The vines from Quinta Serradinha are produced by the Marques-da-Cruz family, 5 generations of winemakers. The quality of the wines from the region of Leiria had its first The markets take place usually in the center of the town, and you'll find all People always ask about seeing quaint towns in Germany , but don't want touristy places.
I always respond by saying the best and most lovely towns are always frequented by lots of tourists and you will surely miss some grand opportunities for With its half-ruined castled dominating the heights above the university-town on the banks of the Neckar river, Heidelberg is a pedestrian's dream. Few sights encapsulate the magical feel of the Bavarian Alps like Neuschwanstein Castle.
Black Forest, near Freiburg. While walking through the Black Forest, we took a path that lead up to a clearing, offering this view of houses nestled into the hillside. As soon as we reached the top of the hill we saw that there were also huge rainclouds headed our way. On a sunny spring afternoon, the slope below the ruins of the castle in Heidelberg, where 'sheep may safely graze' One of my most vivid childhood memories is of visiting this castle with an 'uncle and auntie'--close English Garden Englischer Garten.
English Garden, located on the Isar River in Munich , opened in This large public area was named "Englischer Garten" because it was designed and landscaped in the style of a classic English park. It is one of the world's largest urban parks, I loved it here because set against a backdrop of rich history student life makes this a busting modern town.
I really enjoyed strolling along the Neckar river watching boats punt along and I stumbled upon a photo of this castle on Pinterest from a fellow expat and was stunned at how, well, stunning it was - and that it was only a few hours away from where we live! So on our latest road trip, we made it a stop and were not Never-athletic fortyish women should not believe they can scramble up the side of a mountain after three able-bodied teenagers.
Yet there I was, in the Bavarian Alps, on a top secret mission, clinging to an old wire fence and On a stroll here you'll venture into quaint shops and restaurants. There are plenty of options for great German beer in this area. Plus, it's close to the Main River where after you enjoy your food and beer.
August 6th, As a non-religious person, I am still a big fan of church architecture. Its hard to get more iconic than the Cologne Cathedral. If you visit and arrive from the train station, you are dumped out directly beside it. When I first visited Berlin I was wary of all the fast food restaurants. I don't mean American chains of course, those I knew I would be avoiding, but rather the many streets lined by small storefront-like-restaurants selling all kinds of wurst, Cinnamon, vanilla and anis lead the way.
Bells and laughter invite. Two golden angels greet you as you walk through the gate. It's such a special time and no place really seems to bring the joyful feeling of Christmas closer to my heart than the Just a few minutes drive from Munich 's BMW Welt, I knew this restaurant was an authentic gem when I meandered in and was greeted by a large table of smiling Germans. Dressed in Lederhosens and Dirndls, they were toasting with German beers and Santa Maria Mexican Diner. Coming from California, we often miss the plethora of amazing Mexican food that can be had just about anywhere at home.
After a friend's recommendation, we found this authentic gem while visiting Berlin: Santa Maria on Oranienstrasse. At just miles West of Berlin , it is like the imaginary town of Brigadoon has come to life. Unesco heritage site Quedlinburg is a breathtaking town that seems to have escaped modern days and still lingers in the late middle ages. If I have to define this hotel in a few words I would say that is a sexy, masculine, kind of british, elegant, sober and warm place to stay.
If this hotel was a person it would definitely be a clever British gentleman with a mysterious dark side The view from our hotel room when we awoke last week. Perhaps Mad King Ludwig wasn't so mad after all for choosing this area to build his fairy tale castle. Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We spent a wonderful afternoon in the walled medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, about one and a half hours from Stuttgart.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber brings the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to life, before your eyes. Pilgrimage Church of Wies. Just a photo that I snapped a couple of years ago while down there for some work. Not a bad place to be sent! The snow was everywhere and the sun was going down. I thought this church looked quite interesting, since it looked traditionally Driving through the curvy, emerald-green fields and This 16th century church is in downtown Munich , and, other than its amazing architecture and ceiling paintings, it is also where King Ludwig II of Bavaria rests.
The mad king drowned in , close to his fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein. Maybe even all of Germany. Buchhandlung zum Wetzstein is located just off of Augustinerplatz. Upon entering, you will be greeted by the friendly and helpful staff, and then you will be completely absorbed by beautifully displayed books, On a clear day, head to St. Heidelberg Castle is amazing. Besides being the setting of The Student Prince, it also boasts the world's biggest wine cask -- and one of the world's best views. There's nothing wrong with the pastry in Heidelberg, either. My spartan Cecilienhof room overlooked "the red star," a reminder of the Potsdam Conference held here in After three Christmases and countless holiday markets since our move to Germany , the Erfurter Weihnachtsmarkt has definitely become one of our favorites.
Whether it's for the impressive Dom overlooking the main part of the market, the Medieval Photo by Ignaz Wiradi for Wikimedia commons. Summer means shimmering water in shades of emerald and sage green, while winter brings a cold, misty atmosphere with otherworldly light. Take a boat ride The district comprises a series of warehouses built on oak piles rising from canals dug deep enough to allow The vibrant colour on the old style architecture in the town of Rothenburg was gorgeous even against a dreary grey sky.
Whilst only November when I visited, the feel of Christmas was already in the air. To walk the cobblestone streets and stop at One of the biggest stars of the five museums on Museum Island, the Pergamon was the last to open, in Built to resemble a Babylonian temple, it houses a trove of ancient treasures from the Middle East, with highlights that include the This is a pretty nice area of Frankfurt.
The locals will jog, walk, read, sunbath, and relax along this beautiful river. After work or school, the Main River attracts all people to relax with friends and family and listen to music as the sun sets He build the famous Neuschwanstein Castle that served as a model for the the Walt Disney Castle and the castle Something he does every day I'm sure.. With one of Europe's most famous castles in his backyard. No one would think that a business trip to Weilburg, Germany sounds romantic, but a perfect moment took me by surprise there one spring afternoon.
I found the Schlosshotel Weilburg. Perched high on a cliff carved out by a horseshoe curve in the Photo courtesy of Preysinggarten. With a menu based on fresh ingredients, a great staff, and a very family-friendly attitude and even a hip edge , Preysinggarten is a place to unwind, and bring the kids! A beautiful interior, and even an outdoor play area spielplatz for Last week I took a little trip from Berlin to Dresden to visit two of my closest friends.
Nyphemburg Palace Park is interchangeably linked with Nymphemburg Palace and has a history of more than years! The canal is especially beautiful and an ideal place for ice skating in winter, or head over to one of the two lakes found in the Try the fresh-pressed carrot-apple-orange-ginger juice and some tofu wurst. If you're the academic type, you might also be interested in walking around the university campus to see the I know I should have picked a restaurant that serves German food while in Germany but I honestly cannot pass by a Greek restaurant and not sit down to eat.
So we tried Palladion right next to the Aachen Cathedral in the main Living, or even just traveling, for awhile in Germany can result in quickly tiring of traditional German cuisine and the same schnitzel offerings at every restaurant. The beautiful Glockenbachviertel district is known for its great shopping and nightlife, and is the center of the city's gay and lesbian scene.
I sailed into Passau on the Danube river and woke up that morning to see a postcard perfect Bavarian city. Passau is a small town on a peninsula, surrounded by three rivers Danube, Inn, Ilz , and completely walkable. I had just one day to spend Photo by Arnette RTW. Dusseldorf's Media Harbor is an example of urban planning at its best. Old warehouses along the Rhine River were renovated and now house waterfront apartments, offices, and restaurants.
You can devote an entire day to strolling and exploring This bridge is as beautiful at night as it is in the day time. It is covered in locks placed there by people to commemorate their love for one another and also by others as a memorial to lost family and lovers. The bridge is so heavy with locks The accommodations are clean and centrally located, the beds Go under the water in Hamburg and take a walk to the other side of the harbor.
Created in , the tunnel was made for vehicles and pedestrians. Take one of the four giant elevator lifts that were originally made for cars down to the tunnel, or I love Germany especially at Christmastime. This photo was made outside of Galeria Kaufhof on my way to the Weihnachtsmarkt. It feels as if you are stepping back in time. Visiting here is a So, you think you know Paris? There are hundreds of memorable streets and boulevards in the City of Lights.
But, for my money, Rue Montorgueil is the best. It is compact, only three blocks long, with a metro stop at each end. In between, you have My wife and two friends were tired of "museums" so they mistakenly decided to go shopping while I went to the Rodin Museum alone. It was breathtaking, the flowers were all in full bloom, the art on display inside was rare and beautiful, but the Astier de Villatte is well known for its light weight white porcelain plates and dishes, all shown in a big wooden closet at the entrance hall of the store, alongside home perfumes, candles and other colored decorative dishes.
It serves as a Photo courtesy of The Broken Arm. But its abundant natural light, and Despite a limited menu and steep prices, the place is packed day and night. Order a chocolat chaud and sit on the The artist choice was controversial because, although a French nationalized citizen, Chagall was a Russian Jew, and a modern Context Travel offers history, architecture and culinary tours in various European cities.
I went on the " foodie" tour that began on a beautiful fall Paris morning in the toney neighborhood of St. Germain- de- Pres by meeting our friendly English Photo by Sarah Sergent. To get started, head to No. Situated a block from the Canal St. The owner, Christophe Vasseur, was named best boulanger in Paris in , and for good reason Both are the sad realities of a dying tradition in France of sourcing provisions from neighborhood Paddleboard off Palm Beach.
Stand up paddle boarding only needs There's a lot to see and absorb—history, architecture, artifacts, A maze of narrow medieval streets wind up and down this village perched along the Grande Corniche. I've been to Parc Monceau only once and loved it right away. Maybe because it has a homey, neighborhood feeling, a public park situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris maybe because of the classical colonnade in the middle of it, or maybe The area around the rue de Bretagne in the north part of the Marais continues to be a big draw with locals and visitors for a number of reasons: Tour de la Parata.
Young and poor, but frequent-flier-mile rich, my wife and I were able to go to Corsica for our first anniversary Staying with friends always helps Just down the street from the charming Carreau du Temple, an open-air market square in the Haut Marais that recently reopened after heavy renovations, sits OFR: This is such a quaint little village, I loved exploring it yesterday. Saint Paul de Vence up on the hill. Orange is a charming little town, located in the south of France. Although it may not be as sophisticated as some of the more tourist-driven towns and villages in Provence, it has one of the most well-maintained Roman theaters in Europe.
Underground tour was very informative, about 60 feet below street level, and ended with a tasting I loved this delicate church nestled among tropical palm trees - the epitome of Nice! French, man-made beauty rubbing shoulders with tropical playground surroundings. A small village in Normandy. The rocks inspired Monet and continue to inspire the visitors. Early October mornings, after a few days of rain, are perfect for collecting wild mushrooms in the mountain forests just minutes away from Grenoble.
A local friend guided me to his secret spots and taught me where to look, and we came back with See our full list of Where to Go in After a year of construction, the banks of the Seine river are reopening to the public this month, now free from the din of What an adventure it was One of the things I enjoyed the most while in Paris was finding little spots, which Paris has lots of, that ooze that quaint charm. Even better was stumbling upon moments, such as this stand off between father and son We booked a year old villa for a week in Caunnes Minervois.
Twenty minutes down the road we discovered the Castles of Lastours. Four independent structures built into the rocky formation, they were at the heart of Cathar activity, and ground The beautiful blue cheese, walnut, and endive salad arrived first, followed by a roast A nice hike to the top of this meter mountain leads you to the Croix du Nivolet which overlooks Chambery in order to keep the residents safe.
As you are hiking you will experience amazing views of the town, the Alps and the largest lake in For our first visit to Corsica, friends encouraged us to start in the south- the Michelin-starred stronghold of the island and beachy birthplace of Napoleon. But crisp turquoise water and a mountainous landscape awaited to the north. If you fail a third time, consider yourself extraordinary, for many people would have already given Port-Issol Beach, Sanary-sur-mer, France.
Nice sandy beach between rocky coves where you can discover underwater sea world. It is also where the 'Mousquemers' Thailliez, Dumas, Cousteau tested the first scuba. This market is open daily from around 8am to