Guide to Franche-Comte

Franche-Comté

Eastern region bordering Switzerland and Germany and comprising:
Doubs (25)
Jura (39)
Haute-Saône (70)
Territoire de Belfort (90).

Population: 1 million
Principal city: Besançon.
Tourist board

If you had not heard of Franche-Comté before seeing the map you are not alone. It ranks bottom of the list of regions whose whereabouts British people can accurately identify. This is a paradox you can exploit to your holiday advantage: because Franche-Comté has some of the most grandiose scenery in France: it is often referred to as 'little Canada' because of its unspoilt pine forests (43% of the territory), its panoramic viewpoints, its mountains and its whitewater rivers. Its landscapes, in particular the River Loue, inspired the artist Gustave Courbet, who was born and lived in Ornans, between Besançon and Pontarlier.

The Jura is a chain of mountains whose folded formation gave rise to the adjective Jurassic and which are the most densely wooded in France, with a highest point of 1,723 m. Nature's presence here is overwhelming: the wild, open spaces are a magnet to walkers and other lovers of the outdoors. The mountains make this a world-class ski de fond (cross-country skiing) destination, and especially notable is the long-distance route, the Grande Traversée du Jura. Horse-riders and mountain-bikers are also drawn here, and walkers can tackle the challenging Grande Randonnée 5 path. The only downside is that the region has more rain than any other.

Almost certainly the most famous man-made landmarks in Franche-Comté are Le Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp, built in memory of the men who fought and died in World War II, and the Belfort Lion, built by Auguste Bartholdi (the man behind the Statue of Liberty) in 1880 as a monument to the resistance of the townsfolk during the Franco-Prussian war.

A major part of the economy is the dairy industry. You can follow a cheese as well as a wine route; local cheeses include Comté, made only from the milk of Montbéliard cows, and Morbier, striped with a black layer of wood ash. Add to this a dizzying array of fish, game, smoked meats and sausages, snails, mushrooms and many other delicacies, and you'll quickly put back all the weight your walks took off. The wine of the Jura is very unusual wine. Château-Chalon was one of the first villages to be granted an appellation contrôlée, and it only produces le vin jaune; 'yellow wine'. It is filtered through straw, has to mature for at least 6 years before being bottled, and is a particularly highly sought-after commodity.

Salt has played a crucial rôle in the area's economy since Gallo-Roman times. The curious Saline Royale (Royal Saltworks) at Arc-et-Senans makes for an interesting visit: a perfectly symmetrical new town for salt-workers, which unfortunately was not used for its original purpose for very long. Today it is a centre for creative activities.

Franche-Comté ('Free County') was part of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire before most of it became part of the kingdom of France in 1678, the Territoire de Belfort joining later still. The old name was replaced by département names until the law which created modern French regions in 1972 reinstated it because of its symbolism. Yet here freedom was hard won, as a turbulent history and the vestiges of a defensive past testify. Geology and geography show a land impregnable in parts, vulnerable in others: the trouée de Belfort (Belfort Gap) was the weak point between the natural barriers of the Jura and Vosges mountains of Alsace.

Doubs (25)

Population: 485,000
Principal city: Besançon
Tourist board

The trump card the Doubs tourist board holds is undoubtedly its countryside. Caving, climbing and skiing are amongst the many outdoor activities practised in the mountains and valleys; hiking is also very popular, as there are many spectacular views including forests, cirques and waterfalls. With more than 5,000 kilometres of rivers and countless lakes and ponds, this is France's prime fishing area: the national fishing museum is at Ornans, which was also the birthplace of the 19th-century Realist artist Gustave Courbet. His paintings depict modest peasant life, the dramatic landscapes he so loved, and the green, green forests of home.

The capital Besançon is an attractive town with a fascinating range of architecture, from medieval to Spanish, and unusual blue-grey stone buildings. This once-great clock-and watch-making centre is reputed to be the greenest town in France. Vauban's 17th-century citadel (first envisaged by Julius Caesar in 58 BC) dominates: its ramparts provide stunning views of the town, sheltered in a loop on the River Doubs, and of the surrounding hills.

The colourful town of Montbéliard is a ville d'art et d'histoire whose architecture is informed by its heritage: the town was transformed by Lutheran town planner Heinrich Schickhardt, and Germanic and Italian influences can be seen in the steep-roofed houses and Protestant temples.

South-west of Besançon at Arc-et-Senans, the Royal Saltworks is one of the great architectural curiosities of France. Ten years before the French Revolution, Louis XV commissioned the prodigious and futuristic architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux to plan an ideal industrial town. Salt at that time was a very lucrative commodity and highly taxed. The saltworks housed a working community to process saltwater, piped from Salins-les-Bains over 20 kilometres away. A semi-circular plan focuses workers' houses around the Director's residence and provides a fascinating insight into social, industrial and political history. On the site the only museum in Europe devoted to a single architect and his works displays 60 major design projects. The saltworks were obsolete by the end of the 19th century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its groundbreaking vision of community is still impressive nowadays and, even if its authoritarian feel is not quite to modern taste, the whole reflects Ledoux's Utopian dream to encourage 'the slow climb towards virtue'.

Not many people are aware that within the Doubs lies the Republic of Saugeais, a tongue-in-cheek sort of state-within-a-state, with its own president, ministers in charge of such areas sports, tourism and culture, and even a passport control. The Republic was declared this century as a sort of joke, but the history of the Saugeais goes back to the 12th century, when it was a dependence of the abbey of Montbenoît.

The Haut-Doubs brings together the tourist areas of Pontarlier and other smaller towns; its specialities are the Comté cheese and charcuterie, which cure well in the dry mountain air. The region is well known as a downhill ski centre, but also hosts the 24 heures des Montbenoît, a cross country ski championship, and the Transjurassienne, an international sled dog race.

Jura (39)

Population: 250,000
Principal city: Lons-le-Saunier
Tourist board

The département of Jura takes its name of course from the chain of mountains lying predominantly in France, but overlapping Switzerland and Germany. The Jura displays some great examples of karstic landscape — rough limestone that drains underground, causing multiple caverns with stalactites and stalagmites. One of the typical features of the Jurassian chain is the reculée, a gaping cleft in a cliff ending with a rocky amphitheatre, created by caverns caving in. A famous and spectacular underground river open to visitors is the grotte des Planches, near Arbois.

Salins-les-Bains, 12 kilometres away, is also worth visiting for its saltworks museum. The museum explains not only the the town's saltworks, which closed in 1962, but also the historical and cultural importance of salt through the ages. The salines were the backbone of the town; salt was used in industry, as a therapy, as a preservative and even as a soil additive for sodium-loving crops such as carrots. A clue to the importance of salt in ancient and medieval times can be found in words such as salade, saucisson, and sauce.

The capital, Lons-le-Saunier, was also a salt-producing town, as its name may suggest. The salt water was observed to help in the treatment of rheumatism. Lons-le-Saunier was also the birthplace of Rouget de Lisle, the composer of the Marseillaise.

Forestry, dairy farming and tourism are important sectors of the economy, with more specialised trades including watchmaking, the manufacture of spectacles and wood working. Morbier, a mountain cheese from the Jura, is still made by hand, with a black streak of soot through the middle. Another unusual product comes from picturesque Château-Chalon: the heady vin jaune (yellow wine) which, after six years in oak casks, develops a characteristic nutty taste and aroma. Vin de paille, increasingly rare, is another speciality produced on beds of straw to a sherry-like strength, then aged for three years in casks. And straw-yellow marc du Jura is considered one of the best brandies in France.

Haute-Saône (70)

Population: 230,000
Principal city: Vesoul - otvesoul@club-internet.fr
(tourist office email)
Tourist board

The département of Haute-Saône is quiet and ruralised, but it has not always been thus: at the beginning of the 19th century it was one of the most industrialised areas of France. Many of these industries have been assigned to the history books, but some forges and furnaces can still be seen at Beaujeu and Pesmes, and Champlitte remembers the traditional crafts in its regional museum. These include linen weaving, pottery, lace-making, and glass-blowing.

Since prehistoric times, the River Saône has been a major link in the chain between the Mediterranean world and the Rhineland. Herring and stockfish from the Hanseatic towns were transported down the waterway, along with 'river trains' of floating logs, and barges filled with glass from Lorraine. Then in the 18th and 19th centuries, boats carried iron downstream to Lyon and the mediterranean, and merchandise and wine on the way back up.

Despite the fact that the landscape is so unspoiled, tourism is not particularly developed in this corner of France. Ronchamp is perhaps the biggest stop on the tourist trail - and that only to see Le Corbusier's famous chapel, built in memory of the men who fought and died in World War II. . . and it doesn't even appeal to everybody!

The primary resort is stylish Luxueil, which has been a spa town since Gallo-Roman times. The remains of the Luxovium baths can still be seen, and the town's museum contains other artefacts from the period. Another building of interest in Luxueil is the Spanish House, whose name has nothing to do with its looks: it refers to the fact that the Franche-Comté had just become a part of the Spanish Empire when it was built.

Holidaymakers who come to this area are generally on the lookout for peace and quiet: a boating or a walking holiday. The museums and visitor centres in the area reflect the simpler things in life, including the life of the forester; the wildlife of the forests; the history of distilling, coopering, textiles, beekeeping or glass-blowing. There are vineyards in the département, although they are not so well known as those of the Jura to the east. There are many lakes and waterways in the département, and many of the regional culinary specialities are fish-based; principally pike or carp. Pôchouse, for example, is a local freshwater fish stew.

Vesoul, a somewhat industrial town standing on a tributary of the Saône, is dominated by the piton de la Motte, topped by a statue of the Virgin on the site of a former medieval castle, and offering a serene vista out towards Langres in the north-west. Several other old buildings in Vesoul survive from the 15th–18th centuries, including the 18th-century museum (a former convent) and, most notably, the Hôtel Thomassin and the Maison Baressols.

Also in the north-east, between Lure and Belfort in the Vosges foothills, the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut makes its striking white presence felt on a hilltop near the old miners' town of Ronchamp. Dating from 1955 and eerily modern in its forest context, it solicits a variety of responses, rarely lukewarm, and frequently favourable. It stands as proof that its Swiss-born architect, Le Corbusier — the 'father of modern architecture' — could do far more with concrete than inspire others to develop 1960s tower blocks — his bold application of Cubism to architecture has not always met with approval. Despite stark materials, the curves of the chapel roof and other design details reflect forms from the natural world and, for all its modernity, arrow-slit windows forming shafts of natural light inside, and the pure simplicity of the interior have all the resonance of an ancient place.

The castle at Champlitte, north of Gray, houses three museums: the folk art museum, the wine press museum, and an early-20th-century artisanal museum. Pesmes, on the southernmost edge of the département, is classed as being amongst the most beautiful in France, and the nearby River Ognon also offers a relaxing setting for walking or bathing. Also in the south of the département is the château de Gy, a former feudal fortress that can be visited during summer.

Territoire de Belfort (90)

Population: 134,000
Principal city: Belfort
Tourist board

The Territoire de Belfort and the Ballons des Vosges regional nature park lie at the meeting-point of Franche-Comté, Alsace and Lorraine. The département's uplands, rounded summits called ballons, stand above rivers and meadows, and ponds created by glaciers.

The city of Belfort stands to the south of the regional nature park. Its museums of military history and art are sited in former garrisons — Vauban's 17th-century fortifications withstood three sieges in 1811, 1815 and 1870. Belfort's famous sandstone lion, carved into the hillside below, stands as a symbol of local bravery and endurance under siege during the Franco-Prussian War. Paris's Denfert-Rochereau métro station was named after Belfort's commander, and the lion was the work of Auguste Bartholdi, who went on to create Liberté éclairant le monde (New York's Statue of Liberty).

After reading of the city's past traumas, the quaint charms and pastel façades of Belfort, designated a 'town of art and history', come as a pleasant surprise.