Postcards from Istanbul – Dolmabahce Palace

This modern palace built in the 19th century was the home of six sultans and their harems until the republic was proclaimed in 1923. It showcases the best craftsmen of Europe at the time and occupies a prime site on the Bosphorus. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take photographs inside. It then became the …

Postcard from Paris – Pol Bury

This is one of two horizontal fountains comprised of slowly rotating metal balls by Pol Bury in the Palais Royal gardens ni Paris. They were installed in 1985 in the Orléans Court, between the Constitutional Council and Ministry of Culture about the same time as Daniel Buren’s columns which you can see in the background. It’s …

Château de Saint-Denis-sur-Loire

Saint-Denis Castle goes back to the middle ages. The original stronghold was bought by the Hurault family in 1341 and converted into an elegant manor house. The base of the old fort has been preserved and forms a terrace. The bill of sale mentions the presence of a thermal spring. After Catherine de Médicis was crowned …

Foix Fountain – Fontaine du Foix

Blois once had a very complex system of fountains. In front of Saint-Nicolas church can be seen a fountain built into the wall of the cloisters of the old Saint-Laumer Abbey. Foix or Saint-Laumer Fountain was the only one not supplied by the Gouffre, a reservoir gouged out of rock to which a 529-metre long aqueduct …

Fontaine Caroline Chambord

A neighbour told us about the Caroline Fountain in the grounds of Château de Chambord, dated 1825 and bearing the inscription: “like your kind deeds, my beneficial waters will never dry up” – or at least that’s what we think it means! A cryptic inscription indeed. I tried to find out more, to no avail. All …

A Fountain Resurrected – Une fontaine remise en service

This 16th century fountain in Blois used to be at the town hall in Rue Foulerie which was destroyed in June 1940 during the Second World War. It was reinstalled in 2005 with the financial backing of the city of Blois the Rotary Club and the Amis du vieux Blois association. Cette fontaine du XVIè …

Courtyard lunch – Déjeuner dans la cour

Who wouldn’t want to have lunch here on a beautiful June day? Lion d’Or in Romorantin in Sologne. We appropriately had an excellent cour cheverny made with romorantin grapes imported here by François I from Burgundy in 1519. Qui ne voudrait pas déjeuner ici une belle journée de juin? Le Lion d’or à Romorantin en …

The Mystery Animal – La bête mystérieuse

  It’s difficult to know whether these two animals are one and the same. The top one is a fountain at the foot of the steps leading up to the castle, on Place Louis XII, just opposite the Pierced Swan, while the bottom one is in the castle grounds. The top one has a crown …