Articles
History stories & guides
Practical guides and ideas for discovering the past on foot — no dates, just places and stories worth knowing.
Antibes from Antipolis to Picasso: A Coastal History Tour
Antibes began as a Greek trading post called Antipolis - literally "the city across from Nice". Romans, medieval lords, and Renaissance fortifiers shaped its…
Dinan Ramparts Walk: A Day in Brittany's Fortress Town
Dinan crowns a hill above the River Rance in eastern Brittany, a fortified town that controlled trade between the coast and the interior. Duke John IV built…
French Riviera History: Roman Ruins, Fortresses, and Hill Villages
The French Riviera is famous for beaches and glamour, but the Côte d'Azur has been a crossroads for two thousand years. Greeks, Romans, medieval lords, and…
Historical Cannes: Le Suquet, Lérins Islands, and the Old Port
Cannes is synonymous with cinema and the Croisette, but long before red carpets it was a modest fishing village on a hill. Medieval lords built a castle above…
Honfleur Old Harbour: Explorers, Shipwrights, and Impressionists
Honfleur sits at the mouth of the Seine estuary in Normandy, where medieval merchants traded with England and the New World. Its tall harbour houses inspired…
Ludlow Castle and Market Town: A Shropshire History Guide
Ludlow sits on a cliff above the River Teme in south Shropshire, close to the Welsh border. Norman lords built a great castle here; the town grew rich on wool…
Medieval Sarlat: Walking the Dordogne's Best-Preserved Town
Sarlat-la-Canéda is a market town in the Dordogne where medieval and Renaissance buildings survive in unusual completeness. Wars of religion, economic…
Menton on Foot: Baroque Steps, Cocteau, and Border History
Menton sits at the eastern edge of France, where the Alps meet the Mediterranean and Italian influence is never far away. Lemons, baroque architecture, and a…
Nice Through the Ages: Roman Cimiez to Belle Époque Riviera
Nice is the capital of the Côte d'Azur, but its history runs far deeper than the Promenade des Anglais. Greeks and Romans built here, medieval counts…
Rye Smuggling and Cinque Port History: What to See
Rye is a hilltop town in East Sussex where marsh, river, and sea once met. As a Cinque Port it supplied ships to the Crown; as a smuggling centre it hid…
Saint-Tropez Before the Yachts: Citadel, Port, and Coastal Defences
Saint-Tropez was a quiet fishing village until artists and writers discovered it in the late 19th century. Before that, pirates and navies contested its…
Whitby History Walk: Abbey, Whalers, and Captain Cook
Whitby is a fishing port on the Yorkshire coast where the North Sea meets the River Esk. Vikings raided here, medieval monks built one of England's greatest…