Fontainebleau, Barbizon, Milly-la-Forêt Bike Tour

[French Mystique Tours]

A bike tour in Paris is great but a bike tour day trip from Paris to go biking in the French countryside is a good choice too. I like doing bike tours in Paris as much as I like doing bike tours as day trips from Paris to go biking in the French countryside. Fontainebleau is one of the well known towns near Paris where I had yet to get myself lost biking in the French countryside. Biking in Paris is nothing like biking in the countryside, as we'll discover. Fontainebleau was a royal town for centuries and is best known for the château from which it derives its name. The town itself is surrounded by a large forest which was once part of the royal domain. The forest now is well known for hiking, biking and also rock climbing, due to its geological oddities in the form of gorges, unusual boulder formations and bedrock outcroppings.

The town of Fontainebleau sits like an island surrounded by a sea of forest stretching anywhere from 5-15+ kilometers from the town depending on which direction you go. I'm from New England where we are just inundated by trees which prevent any sort of distant scenic view. While I'm sure the locals are bored to tears by wide open agricultural vistas I find the lack of trees in the area refreshing. Where I come from you could never see more than a few hundred yards without some stupid tree getting in the way. It made me want to just cut them all down sometimes (sorry tree huggers). Who cares if they help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They make oxygen masks if you really feel that strongly about being able to breathe. Although I do like this particular forest, in general I'm bored with bike rides/drives through most forests.

Fontainebleau reminds me of other royal towns near Paris such as Compiègne and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, with an impressive château in the center of town and numerous buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries in close proximity and comprising what is the core of the downtown. Obviously the wealthy suck-ups who came seeking favor with the royals weren't lodging in shacks and the architecture reflects the size of the wallets of the original inhabitants. Judging by the look of the town some of the present inhabitants of these buildings appear to have wallets as big as the original owners.

It's a very pretty town and there are several nice streets to stroll boasting cafés, shops, restaurants, pastry/cheese/charcuterie vendors and of course all the places selling delicious goodies you can grab to eat on the go. The grounds around the château are immense and beautiful and they are open to the public at no cost. Even if you don't go into the château (which I didn't today) there is enough sensory stimulation to keep you strolling around for a few hours of leisure time.

Let's start the pictures with a photo of what most people come to Fontainebleau to visit.




The château is so big it doesn't all fit in one photo.




The château has been a place of royal residence for 8 centuries with it's first written mention being in 1137. At that time the château was essentially a walled fortress with a large central coutyard. As time passed the various royals who took up residence here each made their own additions and modifications as they saw fit so that the château continued to grow outward from its original structure. The first major changes to the château came under Francis I, who brought the Renaissance back with him from his war campaigns in Italy. He also brought lots of Italian artists with him who elaborately decorated this and other châteaux. A place he referred to as home, he visited often and liked wintering here to hunt boar and other game in the nearby wood.


The next major changes came under Henri IV, who in addition to expanding the château had a new canal dug and gardens laid out. The château as we see it today is largely a product of the works undertaken by Henri IV but successive monarchs still added their own touches through to Louis XV. Napoléon had it restored, as it suffered neglect during the revolution and most of its collections were broken up and sold off. During the restoration of the monarchy and through the Second Empire the ruling class continued to take up residence here.

For visitors today in addition to the gardens, there are 4 museums, chapels, galleries, theaters and apartments to visit and various masterpieces of art, architecture and furniture exhibibited, such as Marie Antoinette's bed and Napoléon's throne. Lots of historic or quasi-historic events occurred here including births, marriages, deaths, royal and papal visits, performances, parties etc., etc. I won't bore you with the esoteric details of figures and/or events of which you may or may not have heard.

History lesson is now over. Class dismissed. Time for a look around town, the gardens and the rest of the château..

[French Mystique Tours]

The Forest of Fontainbleau covers an area of 108 square miles and is criss crossed by 300 kilometers of trails the width of cart paths. It is part of the national park system and is a reserve for birds, mammals and butterflies. Due to its geologic oddities (gorges, cliffs, boulder fields) it is very popular with rock climbers and is the biggest developed area in the world for this type of sport. Hikers, bikers, people on horseback and casual strollers and picnickers also fill the forest. So let's get on the trail from Fontainebleau to Barbizon.






My approach to a scenic viewpoint over the Gorges d'Aprémont.

[French Mystique Tours]

After a pleasant ride through the forest I entered Barbizon. The sign/painting at the entrance to the village hints at its prior notoriety as a gathering place for painters, specifically landscape artists.




With the creation of the art prize the Prix du Rome in 1815 and being inspired by English painters such as Constable, Bonington and Turner art students in Paris began leaving their indoor urban workshops to work in the open air of the country, rejecting academic tradition and abandoning theory in an attempt to achieve a truer representation of life in the countryside.

With the town of Fontainebleau nearby, good proximity to Paris and a location on the edge of forest and plains providing the subject matter all that Barbizon needed to attract artists was cheap food and accommodation. A local couple opened an auberge in 1834 and with cheap food and lodging secured the stage was set for the village to play its crucial role in the Realist art movement of the time. The Barbizon School of artists was established in the 1830's and continued until the 1870's. The artists were primarily landscape painters but gradually extended their subject matter to include peasant figures and scenes of peasant life. Several members of the school were central to the French Realist movement and many of their works can be seen in The Louvre and The Musée d'Orsay. Notable among them were Theodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet. Millet's house is a prominent attraction within the town. The Impressionist painters who arrived on the art scene later in the century drew their inspiration from the Realist movement and Monet, Sisley and other artists did come to Barbizon briefly to work. However, the effects of tourism were intruding on the sense of tranquility in the area as the nearby Forest of Fontainebleau had many newly created pedestrian trails drawing the crowds so the artists went elsewhere to seek inspiration.

Much like in the 19th century, there is one primary road in Barbizon running from the main arterial road in the west into the nearby forest to the east and all the action in town takes place along this road, with a few residential streets branching off of it. It is a popular place and is usually pretty active on warm and sunny days from the spring through the fall. Art galleries abound throughout the village and there are numerous restaurants and cafés catering to all tastes.

Let's have a look around town.






Table for two anyone?












After leaving Barbizon is where one enters the wide open countryside.




The first anonymous village I rode through was Saint-Martin-en-Bière. If there were some notable event that had occurred in this town I would share it with you. But like most villages with a population of eight or nine hundred there's not a whole lot of history with which to engross the reader. Let's see if I can find something worth telling you about.




Bingo, history discovered! I'm pretty sure there's going to be a menhir (ancient standing stone) on this street. If you are unfamiliar with menhirs and megaliths in general you can read my report about them here: tinyurl.com/3597brp


Here's the menhir.




And here's the menhir and the church it sits next to.




It's not that unusual to find a menhir or some other pagan site in or near church property since early Christians generally took over sacred pagan space when building monuments to their god, thereby merely resanctifying the space.

[French Mystique Tours]

And on to the adjacent villages of Forges, which has no discernible history.




Forges whizzes past you in about a minute before you enter Fleury-en-Bière.






Hey, I think there's some history here. Check out that château up ahead on the left.




The origin of the Château de Fleury-en-Bière dates to the 12th century but what exists today is from the 16th and 18th centuries. It is classified as a historic monument but is privately owned. Its appearance dates mostly from 1550+- when one Côme Clausse, Contrôleur des Guerres for King Henri II, took up residence here and employed most of the workers from nearby Fontainebleau to undertake its renovation. The architect of the château was Pierre de Lescot, architect of The Louvre.The park of the château is open to the public in September during the Days of Patrimony, should you be in the area that time of year. I had to settle for the view from outside the fence.





As you can see, it's very huge.


Now for a look around town to see if we can find any of its 619 inhabitants (2006 census), or perhaps some history.












I didn't find any of Fleury-en-Bière's 619 inhabitants, nor did I find any history other than that involving the château, but I did find this dog on a roof.




And then I found the road leading out of town.....




….....and into a vast agricultural plain for about the next 6 kilometers.

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After the vast expanse of agriculture I arrived in Courances.
















The 353 inhabitants of Courances make nearby Fleury-en-Bière a veritable metropolis. If you remember our old friend Côme Causse (the château owner in Fleury-en-Bière) then you know what a big fan he was of very huge châteaux. He liked them so much that in 1552 he acquired another one only 9+- kilometers away in Courances. This one is open to the public but I didn't have time for a visit. In the late 19th century it was restored to a Louis XIII style.






Courances has been acclaimed as "the epitome of the French formal garden style in which château and environment form a whole". I only got a chance to peek through the fence at some of the gardens but they did indeed look lovely.

[French Mystique Tours]

I saw everything there was to see in Courances and rode a few kilometers down the road to Milly-la-Fôret.






The fame of Milly-la-Fôret dates to the middle ages when knowledge of new plants and herbs for aromatic, culinary and medicinal purposes brought back from the crusades made its way to Milly. Christian Dior and Jean Cocteau made their homes in the village. Cocteau spent the last several years of his life here and his house is now a museum. You probably know the designer Christian Dior but if you are unfamiliar with Cocteau he is ubiquitous among French artists circles from the mid 20th century. He was a poet/painter/film director/all-around artist. If you see a photo of famous artists of the mid 20th century chances are you will see Cocteau sitting among them. Milly is one of the larger villages in the area and has the most commerce and services and likely is the central service village for all of the smaller surrounding villages. It appears to have always been one of the important villages in the area and records and archaeological discoveries reveal that it was situated along a Gallo-Roman road. It was later one of the first stops for kings leaving from Paris and heading to Lyon. Lots of other minor events dot its history but don't merit full recollection here. How about some pictures?


The old colombier (pigeon loft).




The old covered market hall, which dates to 1479.






The old church, which dates to sometime.








Here's the home/museum of Jean Cocteau.










The old lavoir (wash house).










Here's a little chapel from the 12th century which was decorated by Cocteau and is where his tomb lies today.

[French Mystique Tours]

The chapel attracted lepers in the 12th century, who came to pray to Saint Blaise the Healer. The garden on the chapel grounds recalls the tradition of growing medicinal plants in Milly. These plants, called ''Les Simples'', were used to relieve the suffering of lepers. The chapel was constructed by a religious order in the 12th century and was part of a large complex of buildings known as La Maladerie Sainte-Blaise. Their mission was to provide a residence to treat the lepers of the region. The complex was demolished in the 16th century and the only surviving building was the present chapel. In the 20th century private funds were collected for the renovation of the chapel, which was decorated by Jean Cocteau. The medicinal herbs, "Les Simples", were chosen as the theme for decoration.




In remembrance of Les Simples a medicinal herb garden has been created, similar to what was done in medieval times.




In the back of the garden is the old belltower which one sat atop the covered market hall and announded the opening and closing of the market from 1489 to 1926.




As lovely as the grounds are it is the inside of the chapel that is the must see attraction.




In the reliquary shown in the photo below are the relics of Sainte-Blaise, who was martyred in 316A.D. Sainte-Blaise was a bishop and a doctor who would cure the sick, as well as animals, through the use of Les Simples.






Two culinary specialties of Milly are the production of honey and the harvesting of mint plants. The plant surrounding the entry door in the photo below is the famous Menthe de Milly (Mint of Milly).










Moving on from the chapel.








I finished up in Milly and started to make my way back to the an RER train station in a nearby town. Time to call it a day. Our bike tour day trip from Pairs to go biking in the French countryside is now over so that is all there is to show you today. Hope you enjoyed the ride. We'll head back to do some biking in Paris, sort of a mini bike tour in Paris, on our way to return the bikes before we part company.