In summertime, each and every city in France hosts a Festival: historical, shipping festival, with animals...there are a lot to choose from .

Last Sunday we were in Richelieu city - the city built from scratch by the famous Cardinal of Richelieu. This famous personnage of the French history used to be the "Prime Minister" under Louis the 13th reign (17th century)....just before another famous Cardinal: Mazarin.



We can't say that he reminds in the French's heart because he was uncompromising and fought for the absolut power...not really in line with the French democracy principles set up 150 years after his death during the Revolution.

Anyway, Cardinal de Richelieu has built a city off plans: which is totally unusual in France. He made it impressive, and built the house (all the same) a way that neighbors could spy on each other...just to make sure that the religious principles were respected by all - even in the intimacy of the house.

Alexandre Dumas has written a lot about the machiavellian sides of Richelieu...and introduced us to the Musketeers: his "bodygards".

Which brings us to the "cape & swords" festival which have us come back to the 17th century...crossing Richelieu cardinal in the streets, surrounded by d'Artagnan, Athos, Portos and Aramis...the musketeers!! and also a lot of local people who enjoyed very much getting disguised for the occasion. A very nice event!!!

Even the King was there!!

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

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David
It was the best tour ever! Laura did an amazing job to deliver painless and excellent planning and arrangements. Everything promised was delivered and included much more than would normally be seen without ‘INSIDR’ tips. It is obvious that Emilie and Laura have put a lot of thought and effort into the tours they offer. We definitely recommend …
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France Just For You is a service I highly recommend regardless of how much experience you have traveling through France. Emilie does an amazing job of putting together an exciting and interesting itinerary, taking you to places and meeting people you would never find on your own. Not only are her ideas great, but she is also very thorough. Her trip …
Steve
Emilie, set up an outstanding itinerary that met all our desired needs, created a wonderful schedule with built in flexibility to handle planned and unplanned changes. Her suggestion for special sites to see and foods to sample were right on and an enhancement from the normal tourist recommendations. The attention to detail was greatly appreciated …
Elizabeth from the US
An amazing trip through Southern France! This is the second trip we have booked with Émilie and her talented team at France Just for You and we couldn’t be happier. Based on our inputs, they designed an excellent trip for my husband, myself, my sister and sister-in-law using the Southern France from West to East as a template. We added several days …
William
Laura did such an amazing job tailoring our dream trip through the south of France. Everything was professionally done and the service and communication were perfect. Thanks to their hard work organising all of the minute details we were able to enjoy and relax all of the fun activities that they planned for us. And the guidebook is an absolute …
Eileen
Thank you, Emilie! This was just the trip that we had envisioned. The B&B's that you booked for us were perfect. The excursions were fabulous. The amazingly detailed books that you prepared for us were our guides and will forever remind us of our trip. You listened to what we wanted and arranged a trip just for us. I cannot imagine how this trip …