This week we're spending a couple of days in the Champagne region of France. We're staying on a campsite at lake D'Oriënt which is a great base for trips in the region. One of the trips we made this week was to the city of Troyes.

Troyes

Troyes is a city in the north-east part of France, about 150 kilometers southeast of Paris. It is the capital of the department of Aube.
The city is not very big. It has around 60,000 inhabitants. The area surrounding it has about 170,000.

Place Alexandre Israël in the center of Troyes

History

Troyes has a history that goes way back. I have looked up some of the interesting facts with the help of ChatGPT and wikipedia.
Around 50 BC, the Romans built a town on the place where Troyes is now. The town, called Augustobona Tricassium became an important place for the Roman empire. This means that people have been living here for over 2000 years! Can you imagine that!

A view in one of the narrow cobblestone alleys

During the middle ages Troyes became one of the important trading centers in Europe, known especially because of the grape cultivation which became very popular in the are to make the famous Champagne.

When walking through the old city center you can feel the rich history of Troyes. The old center exists of some narrow streets and even narrower alleys connected to them.

Typical buidlings style in Troyes

Building style

Troyes has a quite unique building style which I haven't seen in any other French city before. The houses are made out of a timber-framed architecture. The spaces in between the beams are filled with plaster like materials.
This style of house building is more common in countries like Germany, Austria and Switserland for instance. This was a very common style of building in the past, but because of the wooden frames it was also susceptible for fires. Many cities switches to stone buildings after they had a big fire since, but in Troyes they decided to restore and preserve the wooden houses. That is why they still have them nowadays.

One of the houses in the city center

Our visit

We parked our car near the old city center of Troyes, close to place Alexandre Israël (which you can see on the first photo). It was around noon, so we decided to go for lunch first before we were going to discover the city. After a nice lunch on one of the terraces we went to the Tourist Office to ask if there is a route through the city, which there was and we received a map of a nice tour.
The tour was very well indicated by metal direction signs that were mounted on the streets.
These walks are always nice since they take you through alleys you wouln't visit normally and makes you see more than you would have when you just went for a walk yourself.

One of the very narrow alleyways

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul

Along the way we came across the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul. A cathedral that was built between 1200 and 1700. It is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. The facade is richly decorated as you can see in the photo below.

The front of the cathedral

The building has survived fires, wars, and even an earthquake in the 18th century. Although we did enter the cathedral I didn't make any pictures inside of it. The interior was a bit dark and not that impressive to capture on film (I must say I'm rather spoiled since I've visited a lot of cathedrals that were more interesting from the inside). But the outside of the cathedral was impressive.
The route took us all around the cathedral and then back to the city center.

Another view on the church

Another impressive thing we encountered was this huge and richly decorated fence. The letters in the gate say Hôtel Dieu, which means Hotel of God. I've looked up some information about the building and found out that Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, which is its actual name is one of the city's most important historical buildings. It was originally founded in the 12th century as a hospital. Nowadays, parts of it is a apothecary museum.

Beautifully decorated gate in front of the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte

l’Hôtel de Ville

The town hall of Troyes is located in the city center at the place Alexandre Israël. It was built between 1624 and 1672 during the reign of king Louis XIII.
Nowadays the town hall still functions as the administrative center of the city, but it’s also used for weddings and to host official events.
The square is called Alexandre Israël who was a French politician.
He served as a deputy for the Aube department where Troyes is part of from 1919 to 1924 and as a senator from 1927 until his death in Troyes in 1937.

The town hall

We had a lovely day in the city of Troyes. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The narrow, cobble stone streets and even narrower alleyways take you back the the history of this beautiful city. When you pay a visit I can really recommend to do the guided tour around the city. It took us to parts of the city that we normally wouldn't have visited.

Colorful houses in the city center