Explore The Alps and Franche-Comté
Set serenely at the confluence of the Drac and Isère rivers, Grenoble, the self-styled “capital of the Alps”, is, at just 213m above sea level, France’s lowest city, watched over by the snowcapped peaks of the Belledonne, Vercors and Chartreuse massifs. It’s a vibrant and cosmopolitan place, home to more than 60,000 students and a lively cultural scene, while at its centre is a quirky maze of streets, where modern and medieval buildings are packed close together. Its restaurants and cafes, meanwhile, provide relaxing spots in which to sit and admire the grandeur of this fantastic mountain setting.
Settled by the Celtic Allobroges tribe, who called their settlement Cularo, it was renamed Gratianopolis by the Romans in the fourth century and became the seat of a bishop. The city was annexed by France in the fourteenth century, and it was here, far from Paris, that a local uprising in 1788 (known as the Journée des Tuiles) initiated the French Revolution. Grenoble is the final stop on the Route Napoléon; the French emperor arrived here on March 7, 1815, declaring “Before Grenoble, I was an adventurer. In Grenoble, I was a prince.” The prosperity of the city was originally founded on glove-making, but in the nineteenth century its economy diversified to include industries as varied as mining and hydroelectric power, while more recently it has forged a reputation as a centre for scientific research in the electronic and nuclear industries.
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Fort de la Bastille
Fort de la Bastille
The Bastille’s main draw is its spectacular views. At your feet, the Isère flows under old bridges which join the St-Laurent quarter (a home for Italian immigrants in the later 1800s) on the northern bank of the river to the nucleus of the medieval town. Even this far south, if you look northeast on a clear day you can see the distant white peaks of Mont Blanc further up the deep valley of the Isère. To the east, snowfields gleam in the high gullies of the Belledonne massif (2978m). To the southeast is the peak of Le Taillefer (2807m), while further to the south you can make out the mountain pass which the famous Route Napoléon crosses on its way northwards from the Mediterranean. This was the road towards Paris that Napoleon took after his escape from Elba in March 1815. Finally, to the west you can admire Moucherotte (1901m), the highest peak of the Vercors massif, and the mountain which most seems to dominate the city beneath.
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Musée de Grenoble
Musée de Grenoble
A vast modern complex down by the riverbank, the Musée de Grenoble is home to one of the country’s most prestigious art collections. The classical wing has a fine spread of masterpieces spanning the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries. Pieces by Rubens,Veronese, and Canaletto take centre stage in the first few rooms, followed by nineteenth-century luminaries Gauguin, Renoir, and local hero, Henri Fantin-Latour. Once you’ve absorbed those, there is still a further two dozen or so rooms of twentieth century and modern art to negotiate, including works by Chagall, Matisse, Picasso and Warhol, to name but a few. If you can summon the energy, take a peek at the basement collection of Egyptian antiquities.
