City Breaks

Paris Episode 08 The Belle Epoque and the Eiffel Tower

Impressionist painters, the Folies Bergères, the city’s art-deco style metro stations and its grandest cafes all date from the Belle Époque, the 40 year period so well captured in Toulouse Lautrec’s quintessentially Parisian posters. It is the era when the Opéra Garnier, the Eiffel Tower and the Galéries Lafayette were built, a time when Paris seemed to be the centre of the civilised world. The episode looks at a little history and takes you on a tour of the places where you can still glimpse Belle Époque Paris today.

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Paris Episode 07 Montmartre

We look first at Montmartre as one of the centres of the Paris Commune. After a visit to the Basilique de Sacré Coeur, built in commemoration of the city's suffering, we consider the other important aspect of the area, its artistic heritage and a visit to the Musée de Montmartre will illuminate the lives of the artists who lived and worked here, as well as the goings-on in such well-known venues as the Moulin de la Galette and the Chat Noir.

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Paris Episode 06 Napoleon's Paris

This look at Napoleon's Paris focuses on the Emperor himself and the buildings most closely connected with him: the Arc de Triomphe, begun under his own instructions in 1805 to mark his victory at Austerlitz; the Invalides, where not just his hat and his field equipment, but also his imposing tomb are on display; and the lovely Château de Malmaison, the country retreat he bought for Josephine a few miles out of the city. We examine his legacy too, the changes he made to Paris, and, most illuminatingly, his own remarks in praise of his glories and success!

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Paris Episode 05 Revolutionary Paris

1789, the defining moment in the history of Paris, is the focus of today's episode. Of course, the Bastille prison no longer exists, but we can visit the Conciergerie, where Marie-Antoinette and so many of her subjects were imprisoned, the Place de la Concorde, one of the sites where revolutionaries executed several thousand people in their quest to overthrow the authorities and the Musée Carnavalet, the city's main history museum. There'll be time too to learn a little more about the ill-fated Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette.

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Paris Episode 04 Versailles and Louis the Fourteenth

A visit to the splendid palace just outside Paris which made Louis the Fourteenth the envy of monarchs all over Europe, yet whose very grandeur helped sow the seeds for revolution among his own people just a few generations later. A little history, some insights into the personality of a man who thought himself so deserving of pomp and extravagance and some pointers on what to look out for on a visit to the château and its glorious grounds.

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Paris Episode 03 Notre Dame and the Basilique St Denis

The fire which almost engulfed Notre Dame reminded Parisians and the world in general how precious the city's cathedral is and this episode will explain why, touching both on significant historical events which have taken place there and what to see when you visit. But before that, an introduction to Paris' other, slightly older, cathedral, the Basilique St Denis. It's less visited, being a little outside the very centre of the city, but it is a building of amazing peace and beauty in which almost every one of France's kings and queens is buried.

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Paris Episode 02 The heart of the city

Surely every tour of Paris should start in the heart of the city, on the two islands which were where the very first settlers made their home, the Île St Louis and the Île de la Cité. We visit the city's oldest buildings, the Conciergerie and the beautiful Sainte Chapelle Church, linger a little on the Pont Neuf (actually the city's oldest bridge) and, finally, hear the poignant tale of Paris' best-known lovers, the 12th century philosophy teacher Abelard and the girl who stole his heart, Héloise.

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Paris Episode 01 Introduction

So often top of the polls when people are asked what city they would most like to visit, Paris barely needs an introduction! But here is an overview of the city, geographically, historically and culturally, to whet your appetite for the remaining 21 episodes when we will tour all the main sites, telling you the stories behind them and introducing a wealth of colourful personalities who have influenced the city over the centuries. Bon voyage!

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Seville Episode 13 Stories of Seville

Hear stories about some of Seville's best known fictional characters. We start with Cervantes' low-life tricksters Rinconete and Cortadillo, operating in 16th century Seville. Then there’s Carmen, the fictional character originally created by Prosper Merimee, whose dramatic story so captured the imagination of 19th century readers that they thought she was real and came to Seville to meet her. And finally, Don Juan, whom no-one could 'outsmart in gambling, duelling or making love' and who was brought to life in stories, plays and operas by a number of writers. Discover too where to find traces of all three in today's Seville.

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Seville Episode 12 Travel Writers on Seville

First, some short quotations including one from Lord Byron, who famously praised the city for its ‘oranges and women’ and another from Jan Morris who wrote more poetically of the air which was ‘heavy with jasmine and orange blossom’. Then, time is devoted to writers of longer accounts. Enjoy hearing, for example, about Richard Ford’s ‘Handbook for Travellers in Spain’, written in the 1830s, Laurie Lee’s account of walking through Andalucia in the 1930’s and the writings of Jason Webster and Edward Lewine whose more recent travelogues focus respectively on a search for the country’s Arabic roots and its bullfighting tradition.

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