This week’s travel dream: Following Joan of Arc through northern France

A trip from Lorraine, where Joan of Arc was born, to Rouen, where she was burned at the stake, offers a charming journey through the “countryside and cathedral towns” of the Loire Valley and northern France.

Recently I took a trip following in the steps of France’s “sainted savior,” Joan of Arc, said Steve Hendrix in The Washington Post. The illiterate 17-year-old peasant inspired France during the Hundred Years’ War, and, centuries later, would become a feminist icon. My “Tour de Joan” followed the historic course of “that audacious French teenager” who led an army against the English, helped crown a king, and was ultimately burned at the stake. Today the fields of the Loire Valley make for a charming journey through the “countryside and cathedral towns” of northern France, from Joan’s birthplace in Lorraine to the embattled city of Orléans.

Joan’s story began in the “small and unassuming” town of Domrémy. The heroine’s farmhouse still sits along the banks of the Meuse River, next to the 14th-century church where she was baptized. The “remarkably intact” garden is where Joan first received divine guidance to seek out Charles VII and rescue her homeland from English rule. Today Domrémy seems an idyllic example of the “miraculously unchanging world of the French provinces.” As I walked around, the only sound was the “eternal hiss of the river and our footsteps along the aged pavement.” Soon it was on to the Château de Blois, a “fantastically preserved” mansion in the Loire Valley that overlooks a “cobblestone labyrinth” of streets. A few miles from there, in Chinon, Joan pleaded with Charles VII to authorize an attack in Orléans.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us