Explore Champagne and the Ardennes
It is easy to find charm in the leaning medieval half-timbered houses and churches of Troyes, the ancient capital of the Champagne region. The town also offers top-quality museums and shopping outlets, and is a good place to try the regional speciality, andouillette.
The centre of Troyes is scattered with marvellous churches, four of which are open to the public. The first is the sumptuous, high-naved St-Pantaléon on rue de Vauluisant, which is filled with sixteenth-century sculpture, stored here away from the ravages of the Revolution. North is Troyes’ oldest church, twelfth-century Ste-Madeleine, on the road of the same name and remodelled in the sixteenth century, when the delicate stonework rood screen – used to keep the priest separate from the congregation – was added. A lovely garden provides a peaceful oasis in the summer. A short way to the southeast, between rues Émile-Zola and Champeaux, is St-Jean-au-Marché, the church where Henry V of England married Catherine of France after being recognized as heir to the French throne in the 1420 Treaty of Troyes. Between it and the cathedral is the elegant Gothic Basilique St-Urbain, on place Vernier, its exterior dramatizing the Day of Judgement.
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Musée d’Art Moderne
Musée d’Art Moderne
Across the Canal de la Haute Seine lies the city’s most outstanding museum, the Musée d’Art Moderne, housed in the old bishops’ palace next to the cathedral on place St-Pierre. The museum displays the private collection built up by industrialist Pierre Lévy (1907–2002) and his wife Denise. Lévy developed a strong friendship with the Fauvist André Derain, and it’s Derain’s work (including the famous paintings of Hyde Park and Big Ben) that forms the collection’s core. For the rest, there are works by Degas, Courbet, Gauguin and Max Ernst, but it’s in no sense a greatest hits of modern art and therein lies its charm: entire rooms are devoted to a particular theme or to the works of lesser-known artists. Another room is given over to a beautiful collection of African carvings.
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Clothes shopping in Troyes
Clothes shopping in Troyes
Troyes made its name in the clothing trade, and today the industry still accounts for more than half of the town’s employment. Factory outlets are one of the chief attractions here: designer-label clothes can be picked up at two-thirds or less of the normal shop price. The best array is at the giant Marques Avenue, avenue de la Maille, St-Julien-les-Villas, a couple of kilometres south of the city on the N71 to Dijon or on bus #2 (Mon–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 9.30am–7pm; wmarquesavenue.com); there’s also a special “shed” for household goods at 230 faubourg Croncels, including luxury glass and chinaware. At Pont-Ste-Marie, a short way to the northeast of Troyes between the D677 to Reims and the D960 to Nancy, are Marques City (Mon–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 9.30am–7pm; wmarquescity.fr) and McArthur Glen (same hours as Marques City; wmcarthurglen.fr). Buses for the outlets depart from the bus stops by Marché les Halles (ask at the tourist offices for details).
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Andouillette
Andouillette
Troyes is famed for its andouillette. Translated euphemistically into English as “chitterling sausage”, andouillette is an intestine crammed full of more intestines, all chopped up. It’s an acquired taste (and texture), but it’s better than it sounds – look out for the notation AAAAA, a seal of approval awarded by the Amicable Association of Amateurs of the Authentic Andouillette. Game looms large on menus in the Ardennes, with pâté d’Ardennes being the most famous dish and juniper berries used to flavour food à l’ardennaise.
