We’ve just spent 3 weeks exploring the French Pays Basque (the inland patch between A64 and Spanish border, not the familiar coastal zone). And were completely charmed.
I have criss-crossed France a lot during my life, and more so when we were deciding where to settle. There are a couple of Departments I know only from having driven through, like the Oise and the Cher, but nothing about them appealed. And I haven’t been to Guyane or Mayotte. But felt I had a grasp of the rest. So delighted to explore this corner of France. Obviously more work to do! Especially as we are wondering where to move next.
None. Not even the one we live in. Our own lieu-dit is so wonderful that we rarely go and stay anywhere else.
We’ve visited several but no way would we say we “know” them.
We know/knew Brittany. And I feel that we know quite well parts of the pays basque on both sides of the frontier. Minervois is also a favorite. I shun the sat nav except when totally lost, and I love maps, so I always try to choose interesting routes off the beaten track, and I try to find routes we have not taken before and places we haven’t visited.
I am pleased you enjoyed the Pays Basque I have lived in the area twice, We started off in the Correze , later Pays Basque, Aude and now Bearn. Having a camper we often stop off all over France but its only when you live in an area for a while can you really know it
There are degrees of knowing…life’s obviously too short to know every corner of France intimately! Repeated holidays/visits can give a good sense of a place, and a knowledge of the geology, landscape and built environment.
It a good game to show photos of bits of French landscape and see if people can identify the place.
France is so big, with breathtakingly diverse geography, amazing architecture and history, I would need another lifetime to know all of it.
Just Provence, where I now reside, is incredibly different from west to east. Wonderful train system north to south and fast enough for a day out in Paris then home again for dinner!
I don’t ever imagine I will feel the need to ever leave la France.
I’ve been in the Cher for 16 years, it lacks mountains but it’s awash with châteaux, forests, gardens, canals. It doesn’t have many Brits or tourists. What’s not to like?!
I agree with OP, get off the main roads and explore France. You might like it!
“Know” would be highly subjective as far as I’m concerned. I’ve driven through pretty much every département with work, or on rare tourist excursions, except the overseas territories, but in some cases literally only “drive through” or just crossed the departmental border before moving back in to the one I was in before. Now I think about it, one area I don’t know really at all is Finistère/Côtes d’Armor - my sum total of Breton visiting knowledge being Concarneau, Quiberon, and Carnac. Similarly, I’m not really acquainted with the Pyrenees either, except for my previously rare visits to the Atlantic and Mediterranean border lands.
Hi Jane. It’s interesting that you mention geology. It is of course what gives a place its landscape, its its vegetation, its fluvial systems and its building materials. It’s clear that all those things change when you cross from, say, a volcanic region with acid soils to a limestone plateau.
Not even the one we live in. Our own lieu-dit is so wonderful that we rarely go and stay anywhere else.
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