France: An Overview

Introduction

France is, for many people, simply the most civilised place on earth. Its appreciation of and respect for the good things in life – food, wine and a love of family, friends and love itself – make it a package that draws hundreds of thousands of Francophiles to its shores every year.

Tempted by fashionable pieds a terre, rural hideaways and beachfront villas, approximately 200,000 Britons (and, unofficially, more) are said to own a property in its stunningly beautiful regions – the Côte d’Azur, the Dordogne, Languedoc Rousillon – and vibrant cities – Paris, Nice, Montpelier and Lyon.

France’s property market is less volatile than those of some other countries, owing to its enduring appeal. Prices have traditionally been cheap compared to the UK, but over the past decade they have risen by 80 per cent on average. Capital appreciation is expected to reach 10 per cent in 2006, and to exceed that in highly desirable areas.

Geography

Approximately twice the size of Britain, France is our nearest continental neighbour, lying just 34km across the English Channel at its narrowest point. Bordering Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, it lies in a strategically important position in Western Europe.

In the north and west, the country is mostly flat plains and rolling hills. The remainder, except for coastal regions, is semi-mountainous or mountainous, particularly the Massif Central, the Pyrenees in the south and the Alps in the east, where Mont Blanc, at 4,807m the country’s highest point, is located.

Climate and weather

Generally, France experiences cool winters and mild summers, but in this large and geographically diverse country four climatic types prevail: maritime, mid-latitude continental, mountain and Mediterranean.

A true temperate maritime climate is found in the west, near the coasts, where winters are mild (seven degrees Celsius in January), summers are cool (16 degrees Celsius), and rainfall is frequent for 180 days of the year. Annual precipitation averages 800mm.

A mid-latitude continental climate prevails in the interior of the country, with hot summers (average July temperature of 18 degrees Celsius in Paris) and more severe winters (average January temperature of two degrees Celsius), and rain falls on fewer days of the year.

A mountain climate exists at high elevations, where precipitation increases with height and snow occurs. Many villages in the high valleys receive more than 50 days of snow each year. In the Alps, a mean temperature of minus two degrees Celsius is recorded in January, and 17 degrees Celsius in July. Annual precipitation averages 587mm.

A Mediterranean-type climate is found in a zone about 19 to 56km wide along the Mediterranean coast, where hot, dry summers, mild and humid winters and a small number of rainy days occur during the year. The average temperature is seven degrees Celsius in January and 23 degrees Celsius in July.

History

During the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715), France was the dominant power in Europe. However, popular resentment against privileges granted to the nobility and clerics brought about the French Revolution (1789–94). Although the revolutionaries advocated republican and egalitarian principles of government, France has reverted to forms of absolute rule or constitutional monarchy four times, including the Empire of Napoleon. Following the Franco-Prussian War (1870), the Third Republic was established and lasted until the military defeat of 1940 in the Second World War.

Liberated by allied forces in 1944, France set up the Fourth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, with a new constitution. The Fourth Republic was established as a parliamentary form of government controlled by a series of coalitions, but a subsequent lack of agreement on measures for dealing with Indochina and Algeria caused the government structure to collapse. A threatened military coup led parliament to call on General de Gaulle to head the government and prevent civil war.

De Gaulle became prime minister in June 1958 (at the beginning of the Fifth Republic), and was later elected president. Seven years later, he won re-election with a 55 per cent share of the vote, defeating François Mitterrand. Succeeding him as president of France have been Gaullist Georges Pompidou (1969–74), Independent Republican Valéry Giscard d\'Estaing (1974–81), Socialist François Mitterrand (1981–95), and neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac (first elected in spring 1995 and re-elected in 2002).

Culture

France is synonymous with culture, and has been influential in art and literature since the Renaissance. It has produced some of Europe’s most significant writers and thinkers, from Descartes in the 17th century, through Rousseau and Voltaire in the 18th and Baudelaire and Flaubert in the 19th, to Sartre and Camus in the 20th. In the last two centuries, it has given the art world the works of Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse and Braque.

On a less rarefied level, France has led the world in gastronomy and oenophilia (an appreciation of wine) for more than a century. It has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other nation, and is passionate about good food and wine. France produces over 250 cheeses and some of the world\'s best-loved wines and finest truffles.

Politics and government

France has been a republic since the bloody revolution of 1789–94. A democracy, it is organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It was one of the founding members of the EU and the United Nations, and is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council wielding veto power. It is also one of only eight acknowledged nuclear powers, known as the G8.

In recent times, France has seemed out of step politically with the rest of Europe, and certainly with Britain, whose ‘free market’ policy is at odds with the French centralist ethos, driven by large nationalised industries and corporations. The position was underlined in May 2005, when the French people voted ‘no’ in a referendum on whether to accept the EU Constitutional Treaty.

Healthcare

The French healthcare system is amongst the world’s best. The equivalent of the NHS is the Sécurité Sociale. Contributions are directly taken from the salaries of those working in France. On registration, one receives a carte vitale, which entitles those who have received and paid for treatment to be reimbursed.

Visitors to France should use the new European Health Insurance Card (the replacement for the old E111), which entitles holders to treatment in EU countries. In France, it is expected that a patient pay for his treatment and is reimbursed as appropriate via an insurance policy on returning to the UK.

Sightseeing

Paris is the French city par excellence. Considerably smaller than London, for example, making it all the easier to negotiate, it is home to such sights as the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Coeur, Montmartre, and a wealth of world-famous museums, among them the Louvre, the Pompidou Museum and Musée d’Orsay. The River Seine runs through the city centre, linking the trendy Left Bank with the bourgeois Right Bank via the splendid gothic cathedral of Notre Dame.

The south of France might not have Paris’s monuments, but it does have the weather, the beaches and the Mediterranean. Its main cities, Nice and Cannes, are rightly famous for their splendid promenades bedecked with fabulous hotels. Legendary St Tropez is nearby. A pretty fishing town out of season, come the high summer it’s wall-to-wall ‘bling bling’, as multi-millionaires’ yachts sail into port to see and be seen.

Natural beauty

France boasts six national parks, 137 natural reserves and 32 regional natural parks, in addition to thousands of square kilometers of rural land. Situated in the High Alps along the eastern border with Italy, the Vanoise National Park was established as France\'s first National Park in 1963. It is home to over 300 miles of footpaths criss-crossing the park, numerous towering peaks, and a spectacular array of flora and fauna, including chamois, ibex, marmots and grouse.

At sea level, off the Côte d’Azur, the National Park of Port-Cros is first call for the spectacular spring and autumn arrival of migrating birds from North Africa. To the thrill of bird-watchers, the island becomes a resting and nesting place for cuckoos, orioles, swallows, nightingales and many more species. France\'s only island park, Port-Cros is also home to a magnificent variety of plant life.

Shopping

France and Paris, specifically, are synonymous with chic sophistication – and that’s just the men – with the women being in a class of their own when it comes to stylish dressing. Naturally, therefore, what you can’t find in haute couture in Paris, you simply can’t find at all. Individuality is the French mantra – even the department store Galeries Lafayette, for example, seems to offer bespoke, designer fashions at reasonable prices. Sure, you will find Zara and other global brands in the big cities, but not to the exclusion of independent shops.

Every town, for example, has its boulangerie, selling breads and sumptuous, calorific cakes and pastries, and its traiteur, purveying finest-quality local meats. The market is the hub of daily life, especially in regional towns. Local produce of every shape and colour is laid out for customers to poke, prod and usually buy. The ritual of market day, it seems, is almost as important as the selling of the wares.

France is changing, however. Le supermarché is making inroads into the traditional way of life; Starbucks are appearing. One can’t prevent change, but you can bet your life that if anywhere will resist globalisation, France will.

Eating out and nightlife

Eating out

France’s restaurants have traditionally been a byword for fine dining. The country has more Michelin-starred establishments than any other, and prides itself on the high standard of its cooking. Even its motorway service stations serve good, regional food. In recent years, its reputation has suffered a little, as its chefs’ adherence to time-honoured techniques and practices has been perceived as somewhat outdated in certain quarters, particularly when compared to the renaissance of cookery and fine dining in the UK.

Nevertheless, France remains the spiritual home of cooking. Its success rests on strong regional cookery with the use of local, seasonal produce, well cooked and presented. In the southwest, hearty soups and casseroles will appear on the menu even in upmarket establishments; in the Lot region, known for its game and fowl production, duck, foie gras and even wild boar appear on menus. In metropolises, such as Paris and Lyon, ‘international’ cuisine, for example Thai and Chinese, has made inroads, but the bistro remains reassuringly ubiquitous.

Nightlife

All France’s major cities offer every kind of nightlife ever considered, and probably a few that haven’t been! This is the nation that invented risqué burlesque shows, such as those still performed at the Folies Bergère in Paris.

Cinema, perhaps more than theatre, has a strong heritage in France, conveying a uniquely French view of the world that often seems diametrically opposed to that which Hollywood produces.

Music, particularly jazz, is much appreciated in certain quarters, especially when accompanied by a glass of red wine and a Gauloise cigarette in a smoky Paris bar. Increasingly, hip hop is the voice of the urban streets of France, particularly in those cities with a large black population, including Marseille and Toulouse.

Gambling is popular nationwide, with the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco a legend.

Sport and leisure

The French love their football, and with good reason. They have won both the World Cup and European Championship in the last decade, so their supporters have become used to success. Club football is partisan. Marseille is the big club in the south, Paris St Germain in the north, while Lyon, under the guidance of Gerard Houllier (ex-Liverpool manager), is the team of the moment.

Rugby has traditionally been a game that’s been the stronghold of clubs in the country’s southwest region – Toulouse, Béziers and Perpignan – but Stade de France, from Paris, has now challenged the southern hegemony. The national side, known as les Bleus, were recently crowned Six Nations 2006 champions.

Participation sports popular in France include those enjoyed in all Western countries, including fishing, sailing and swimming. Skiing is enjoyed in the Alps and Pyrenees. Mountain biking, hiking and riding have their fans too, as does golf, which is gaining in popularity. Boules (known locally as petanque), despite being a cliché, is a feature of every town and village square the length and breadth of the nation.

National holidays

In addition to New Year’s Day, Easter Monday and Christmas Day, France’s national holidays in 2006 are:

• Easter Monday (17 April)
• Labour Day (1 May)
• VE Day (8 May)
• Ascension Day (25 May)
• Bastille Day (14 July)
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August)
• All Saints\' Day (1 November)
• Armistice Day (11 November)

Getting there

France is easily reached by plane, train and ferry from Britain. Paris is little more than 45 minutes’ flying time from London. Traditionally, BA and Air France have flown to France’s major cities, but since the advent of no-frills airlines in the mid-1990s, regional French towns have been increasingly easily accessed from the UK.

By rail, Eurostar travels between London and Paris in two hours 35 minutes, while several ferries cross the channel daily to French ports on the north and west coasts.

© Copyright Buy Associates Limited 2006

All circumstances vary. BuyAssociation provides general advice for guidance purposes only. It is strongly recommended that you seek professional advice before making any purchase.