Hi everyone. Today I’m taking you into the town center of Besançon, to the quartier Battant, the Battant district. It’s only a small part of the center, but it’s a very important part, one of the oldest and most distinctive streets of the city. And you will see that Besançon is a town of great variety. We start at the train station, near the ramparts that I showed you last week. By the way, you can read about Besançon here. And here.
This is the central train station, the Gare Viotte…
…from which we can take the city’s new tramway to go downtown…
…this tram car is named after Louis Pasteur, a local boy:
(Of couse, a few other towns in the region have claims on Pasteur too).
But I’m not going to take the tram, I’m going on foot. Here, I’m walking through the ramparts:
(You may remember seeing this scene in the previous entry, but from the other direction.)
I soon turn onto the Rue Battant and head towards the town center…
…and we soon come to the Place Battant with its fountain:
Battant is a district of ethnic diversity, as we see in this North African pastry shop, La Rose de Tunis:
In the back of the shop you can see the owner.
He kindly let me take pictures inside his shop…
…but he didn’t want to pose.
On we go down the street…
…past numerous shops, such as this small grocery store. Battant is an everyday district, where everyday people live, work and shop…
…this kebab shop, not quite open yet…
…a hardware shop…
…a variety store…
…a music store…
…and Italian specialties, where you can eat outside…
…or inside…
…from this appetizing menu…
…or maybe take it home with you…
…along with something to drink:
Here is shop where I’ve bought many gifts over the years…
…table cloths, napkins, dish towels, small utensiles. This store is famous in town.
This shop, Kausia, Par tous les Temps (For all types of weather) , is aptly named. Besançon has a cool-to-cold and rainy climate (though summer heat waves can be torrid) and this shop is designed for it:
And the Horlogerie de Battant, a watch and clock shop. Besançon has always been the watch capital of France, ever since the first watches were invented. One of the city’s most renowned museums is the Musée du Temps (the Time Museum). You can read about it in French here.
And here is a chocolate lover’s paradise named Hors les sentiers battus... (Off the beaten paths)…
It’s a cacao bar…
… with chocolate in all its states.
The shop window has a very Christmasy look at the moment…
…there’s a welcoming chocolate-floral arrangement just inside…
…and as I’ve said, this shop is a chocloate lover’s paradise:
We finally arrive at the river, The Doubs, where we meet up with the tramway once again…
…a look back up the rue Battant…
…with the Church of La Madeleine behind us:
…the Pont Battant (the Battant Bridge) is ahead of us now…
Onto the bridge we go, and look to the right…
…and to the left…
Once across the bridge we look straight ahead up the Grande Rue, the town’s main street…
…on a Saturday afternoon…
…and on a Sunday morning:
I’ll take you up there one day soon, but we’ve seen enough for today. And I have something else to show you first.