Fontainebleau and Moret-sur-Loing 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]

Having finished up in Fontainebleau my next destination was the town of Moret-sur-Loing but to get there I had to ride through the forest, which looked like this.




And then I had to ride through a rather plain looking but pleasant enough suburban town, which looked like this.




But it was all so I could get to something that looked like this.



Moret-sur-Loing is classified as one of the ''plus beaux villages de France'' and it is indeed worthy of this designation. It maintains vestiges of its medieval era, as evidencd by the entry gate and wall fortifications shown in the previous photo, as well as a bridge, mill, donjon, church and other edifices and architectural features. It was a residence of the kings of France for a few centuries but it is primarily associated with the Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley who moved to Moret in 1880 and painted numerous works here and in its environs.

An interesting anecdote related to Moret is that it is the home of the most ancient ''bonbon'' in France called Le Sucre d'Orge. A group of Benedictine monks settled in the village in 1638 and using a secret recipe concocted this tasty goody for the enjoyment of high personages. Whatever the ingredients were they were very particular and the result could not be replicated. The monastery was broken up during the Revolution but apparently the recipe was not lost. A certain Sister Félicité, who had formerly resided in the priory, took the precaution before dying of passing on the secret recipe, in writing, to a close friend. Later, when a group of religious persons re-established themselves in the village the close confident of Sister Félicité presented herself to these authorities and divulged her secret. In 1853 a government dignitary of Moret origins retired to his childhood village and undertook to restore the traditional fabrication of this goody. Production lasted until 1972 when the religious order responsible for its production encountered various difficulties and closed their doors. But the story still isn't over. Prior to closing, in 1970 Sister Marie-André confided the Secret du Sucre d'Orge to a local confection maker, Monsieur Jean Rousseau. In the village itself today there are 35 individuals known as the Confrérie du Sucre d'Orge des Religieuses who are united in their passion for the production the local specialty.

I didn't sample any of this local specialty while I was here but apparently the recipe can't be too much of a secret since I found it on the internet. I'll have to try it the next time I go back. Here's a link to a site I found (in French) showing how to make it:

www.atome77.com/articles/170/Gastronomie/Fabrication-Sucres-Orge-Religieuses.htm


It is now time for the obligatory photo tour of the village. You might want to grab a snack first and settle in though, 'cuz I took a lot of photos of this pretty little village.
















There are loads of narrow residential side streets and they have made it very bike friendly, as you can tell by the bike lanes painted on the road.






Here we see the building where Le Sucre d'Orge was crafted. I can't recall if there is a museum there now or if it was being used for present day production, or maybe it's a restaurant. There is a museum devoted to it somewhere in town. But you'll find out when you visit and then you can tell me all about it.

[French Mystique Tours]

The remains of a gallery to a 16th century dwelling.
















I'll break up the photo montage to share another interesting anecdote with you regarding Moret. Sister Louise Marie-Thérèse (1664-1732) was known as La Mauresse de Moret (The Black Nun of Moret). She was the object of a gossip story in the 18th century, where she is pointed out as the daughter of the Queen of France, wife of Louis XIV Maria Theresa of Spain. In 1664 the Queen gave birth to a child who was said to have been ''black as ink'' from head to toe. The Queen was known to be highly pious and some say that her giving illegitimate birth was unlikely due to this and the fact that hiding a pregnancy and giving birth (royal births were public events with witnesses) would have been difficult to say the least. Modern historians say the blackness was due to cyanosis.

Nonetheless, shortly after the birth a grieving king announced the death of the child. Some said the baby was exchanged for another, who was black, to avoid scandal. Adding intrigue to the story, the queen had a page named Nabo, who was her favorite companion. Nabo was a black dwarf taken from his native home of Dahomey in Africa (now the Republic of Benin) and presented to the queen as a gift. Nabo was called for by the king and shortly after disappeared. Cloistered all her life, La Mauresse took the veil in 1695 and retired to the benedictine convent in Moret. Here's where there's a further twist. Several sources attest to her having been visited throughout her life by important personages from the Royal Court including the Queen and Madame de Maintenon, who though they didn't always see her, watched over her welfare. Sister Louise was once known to have referred to the dauphin as ''my brother''. There is even a letter in existence from 1685 stating that she is to be given a pension's patent of 300 pounds by King Louis XIV starting in 1695 for the remainder of her life.

Today in Paris in the library of Sainte-Geneviève hangs a portrait of The Black Nun, dated by those who have studied it to around the year 1680. It is said to have been painted by the same hand that at this time painted portraits of the kings of France from Louis IX to Louis XIV.

When royal bodies were exhumed from the abbey of Saint-Denis in 1793 notes were taken on the state of preservation of the royal corpses. It was said the body of Louis XIII was well preserved and that the skin of Louis XIV was black like ink.

Anecdote over and now to continue with the visit.




There was another art exhibit going on in Moret today in the old Priory or Abbey so I stopped in for a visit.
















Here's the 12th century donjon.

[French Mystique Tours]

Here is Alfred Sisley's house. Or at least one of the buildings in the photo is his house. It wasn't clear from the sign on the street. It doesn't matter since as you can see, the wall they are building will soon prevent it from being seen anyway.




At least I know the street number is 19.










So I finished in Moret-sur-Loing and kept moving along. I think you'll have to agree that it's a pleasant little place. Doing not much of anything except dawdling around on my bike I'm sure I easily spent well over an hour here.

The next town on the agenda was Saint-Mammès. The canal of the Loing river opened here in 1726 and due to its location at the confluence of the Loing and Seine rivers it became an important place for barge traffic. Saint-Mammès has also caught the attention of many artists, Sisley and Poussin among them. It's a pleasant place and there are little pathways here and there leading past private gardens.

[French Mystique Tours]

The last few pictures were from Champagne-sur-Seine and below I am in Thomery. Thomery had been famous for centuries for its Chasselas de Thomery. Chasselas is a variety of wine grape and in Thomery it was grown in a particular manner (high on walls) and according to certain rules and traditions.

When harvested the grapes are put in special bottles, filled with water and a piece of charcoal. They were stored and ready for use between Christmas and Easter. The tradition and the drink were popular until the early 20th century and now only a few wall vineyards remain with only enough production for locals. Some of the wall vineyards are classified as historic monuments. Sorry I don't have any pictures though. Here's what I've got.


















The day was getting late so after Thomery I headed back to Fontainebleau to catch the train back to Paris. Took one last cruise through town before heading to the train station in the adjacent town of Avon.










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.