Exploring Outside Paris

Paris is a splendid city. There’s an infinite amount of things to see and do there. But since we found ourselves outside of the city, we embraced our location and took to exploring outside Paris. We stumbled on some particularly charming villages and towns we otherwise wouldn’t have seen.

Exploring Outside Paris

Gagny

Our first accommodation in France was in a little town east of Paris called Gagny. We stayed with an awesome CouchSurfing host there and after our full day of walking around Paris, Mac and I were intent on exploring this charming town in which we were staying. One of the highlights of our few walkabouts of Gagny was to Parc Forestier du Bois de l’Etoile. This park was up on a hill which provided a great overlook of many small towns below.

One interesting feature of this park was the presence of dinosaurs!! Mac and I did not expect this at all, especially since we were in a quaint little town but these four huge metal structures were a fun addition to this park!

Le Raincy

Le Raincy is a quick 15 minute walk from Gagny. We spent a few hours walking around this small area enjoying many more quaint buildings and homes.

We stopped by the Eglise Notre Dame de la Consolation du Raincy. Honestly, this cathedral is kind of hard on the eyes from the outside. The hard lines of the concrete facade don’t really reflect the stately designs and intricate carvings in churches we’re used to seeing.

On the inside however, we were totally floored. The church was covered in wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows. The effect was mesmerising and we spent quite a while wandering around this ugly duckling/black swan of a church.

South of Versailles

Our second stay in France took us to Voisins, a little village 25 minutes southwest of the city of Versailles. The incredible host we had here (we’re seriously 2/2 on incredible hosts!) generously took us around on a whirlwind tour of the countryside. Our first stop was the city of Chevreuse – specifically Le Chateaux de la Madeleine. This structure was completed at the end of the 11th century* and save for a few restorations throughout the centuries, remains standing and open to the public.

*it still totally boggles my mind that there are buildings this old over here.

Our next stop was a small village called Montfort-l’Amaury. We only made a brief stop here as we had to get back to Versailles for a dinner date (more on that below), but what we did see was quite unique. First, we stopped by the cathedral. Because, is it really even a town in France without a cathedral??

Our host took us to an old cemetery where the covered hallways were lined with tombstones dating back to the 1600’s. Outside, the tombs there adorned with flowers and intricately carved stones.

After our drive around the countryside, we headed back into Versailles and grabbed a drink with my cousin Kara and her fiancé! Kara is living in the Netherlands for work and they were in Paris for a weekend trip. I hadn’t seen her since October, so it was really great to catch up, especially in France!

I really did love walking around Paris in a day, but exploring outside Paris and becoming familiar with the small villages that surround it really enriched our time there. If you find yourself in Paris, I’d recommend committing a day to do some exploring outside Paris – you never know what you might stumble upon!

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