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Everything You need to Know about Offbeat France (and the Person Behind It)

Are you fascinated by France?

Do you enjoy finding out not just where to go, but why places look the way they do? Why villages grew where they did, why churches dominate skylines, why there are war memorials in every town, or why the French still cling to traditions that disappeared elsewhere?

Then you've come to the right place.

Offbeat France is for curious Francophiles. Whether you're planning a trip or simply fascinated by my country, my aim is to help you understand why France is the way it is.

You'll certainly find practical travel advice here. You'll also find the history and the context that make a visit even more rewarding.

If you finish reading one of my articles thinking, "I never knew that... now I want to know more," then I've done my job.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE DEEPER?

I also publish Gallia Incognita, a Substack where I explore the people, events and ideas that shaped France. These are longer, more reflective essays for readers who enjoy understanding a country beyond its destinations.

If that sounds like you, I'd love to welcome you there.

Why I created Offbeat France

I was born in Paris but spent much of my life abroad.

When I eventually settled back in France, I began traveling around my own country with fresh eyes. The more I explored, the more questions I found myself asking.

Why is this village here?

Why does this castle matter?

Why did this region become famous for silk, porcelain or wine?

Soon I realized that almost every answer led back to history.

Not the dates-and-battles history many of us learned at school, but the kind that explains why France looks, feels and behaves the way it does today.

That's how Offbeat France began.

I wanted to create the kind of website I was looking for myself: one that went beyond lists of places to visit and explained what I was actually seeing.

Why trust me?

I'm French. I was born in Paris, although I didn't grow up there.

Today I live in eastern France, between Lyon and Annecy, and spend much of my time traveling around the country, always asking questions.

I've been writing professionally for more than four decades: as a journalist, foreign correspondent, broadcaster, communications director and advocate. Curiosity has always been part of my job, and I seem incapable of visiting a place without wondering how it came to be.

That usually means reading far more than most travelers would ever want to, and following one question until it leads to another.

The result is Offbeat France.

Not just a collection of places to visit, but a place to understand them.

The kinds of stories you'll find here

Some stories explain famous places.

You might read A Day in the Life of Louis XIV at Versailles, discover Napoleon Bonaparte: The Man The French Love To Hate, wander through Pérouges, The Medieval Village They Almost Razed, or find out Why Is The Aperitif In France Such A Big Deal?

Other stories begin somewhere smaller: in a village café, a church bell, a local market or a regional specialty.

Because in France, the smallest details often have the most interesting explanations.

A few things about me

I live in a quiet corner of eastern France, not far from the Swiss border, with two dogs, several cats (the exact number seems to change without warning), and four chickens.

I'm happiest when I'm wandering around France without much of a plan. I'll happily drive for hours to visit an obscure church, a forgotten château or a tiny museum if there's a good story waiting for me.

I love cities just as much as I love the countryside. One day I'll be exploring Lyon's back streets or a Paris museum; the next I'll be on a country road where the only traffic jam is behind a tractor.

I've visited 100 countries, but France is the one I keep coming back to. The more I explore it, the more I realize there's always another story waiting around the corner.

A few random facts

  • That's me in the photo, at the United Nations, in the last job I had before dedicating myself to writing about France.
  • In 2007, while I was still working at the United Nations, I launched Women on the Road, a website for solo women travelers over 50. Offbeat France came later, several years after I retired, when I turned my attention to exploring my own country.
  • Art Nouveau and Art Deco are my two great architectural weaknesses.
  • I read painfully slowly, which makes research far slower than I'd like.
  • I speak five languages reasonably well, and several others well enough to order a meal.
  • I love French pastries far more than my waistline thinks is sensible.
  • I was born when bobby socks and saddle shoes were all the rage in America, while in Paris Juliette Gréco was haunting the bars of the Quartier Latin – or so my mother told me.
  • I love travel with no destination: I'll get in my car and take off without knowing where I'm going, or hop on a city bus to see where it takes me!
  • I get motion sick on most forms of transport, but that doesn't stop me from traveling.
  • I also have vertigo, which keeps me off most mountains.
  • I love the sea – but admired from a distance. I won't go on ships or boats, partly for the motion sickness but mostly because I'm a terrible swimmer, and being surrounded by a body of water is, how shall I say, terrifying!

Ready to start exploring?

Whether you're looking for ideas for your next trip or simply enjoy learning about France from afar, I hope you'll find something here that surprises you.

After all, that's the whole point of Offbeat France.

Not just to show you where to go.

But to help you understand why France is the way it is.

If you’d like to keep exploring, have a look at my Start Here page, browse the latest stories on the blog, or join me every Tuesday for Beyond the Baguette, the newsletter that explains France.

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