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

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Ricki & Craig
There are not enough superlatives, or kind words, to describe the level of service Emilie, with France Just for You, provided us from the moment we contacted her, throughout our trip, and even her thoughtful emails upon our return. We contacted Emilie with a list of all the places we wished to go, the things we hoped to do, and our budget. We …
Carol & Bruce from the US
A perfect 2 weeks in Provence in the spring! My husband and I were delighted with the itinerary ‘FJFY’ put together for our 2-week self-drive road trip in Provence. During the planning stages Emilie and Laura asked insightful questions about our lifestyle and desires relating to travel. Communications were outstanding throughout the planning stage …
Kim
So helpful and thoughtful! We had an amazing trip thanks to their planning and insights. Highly recommend, especially if you don’t have time to research places on your own. All the b&bs were beautiful, restaurant recommendations fantastic, great suggestions of routes and stops on our longer drives and having the cell phone with our guide book …
Sandra
We are a group of Wine Aficionados and we recently traveled to Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and Paris and were very impressed with this service. It took us quite some time to formalize (and agree) what we wanted in terms of places and wineries we wanted to visit, but in the end "France Just for You" came through with excellent organization and …
Pam
Dear Emilie, Thank you so much for all you did to make our vacation fantastic. From the initial planning, the guide book, and all the accommodations and plans, everything was fabulous! Our trip was made better because of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Tony
The organisation and friendliness of the places we stayed was outstanding. We travel a lot and this was a delightful experience that we can't wait to do again. I could not recommend more highly the professionalism in the booklets which are a long term reminder of a most memorable time. We travelled from NZ a long way for just two weeks but it was …