Webquest 4: Besançon to Arc-et-Senans

 I started out this weeks journey in Besançon. It is a smaller city in Eastern France between Nancy and Lyon. Besançon, like many french cities, has some remnants of the Roman Empire, such as the Black Gate of Besançon.

Wandering through the old city, in the center of Besançon, i came across the 16th century Palais Granvelle, it is now used as a museum of history.

  Inside the Palais Granvelle is a beautiful colonnaded courtyard.

After visiting the Palais Granvelle, I went to one of the other main attractions in Besançon, The Citadel of Besançon, designed by french fortress builder Vauban in 1668. It is on top of a hill surrounded by cliffs overlooking Besançon.

The Citadel is now being used as a Museum of World War 2 French Resistance, a Natural History Museum, and a Zoo.

After all of my wandering around the old city and the Citadel, I became very hungry and decided to go get something to eat. The region is famous for its comté, a mild, nutty cheese.

  I ordered a baguette, some comté, some pumpkin and comté soup, morille mushrooms in cream sauce, and the local sherry-like vin jaune, all local favorites.

All of that delicious food was really filling, and I wanted to go into the countryside, so I drove Southwest from Besançon, through the beautiful Franche-Comté region

until I came to a small town calles Arc-et-Senans, that would have been almost empty if not for the Royal Saltworks built there in 1775.

It was envisioned as the center of a city that would grow up around it, but that never developed. It stands directly next to the second largest forest in france: The 80 square mile Forêt de Chaux.

This area of France seems more low key and mundane, but in a good way. It seems like the residents of Besançon, are not the most eager to be put on the tourist maps.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Besan%C3%A7on
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/mar/28/besancon-france-city-breaks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Saltworks_at_Arc-et-Senans