This is Mantes La Jolie !!!

Posted in Europe, France, Versailles

Well back in old familiar territory, and again even if written on the town several times, I missed the dogs and the bridge! Mantes la Jolie or Mantes the beautiful just because of Henri IV well read those posts.  This post is used as an introduction and therefore, will be in my black and white series, no pictures. I like to tell you on this is Mantes La Jolie !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I

The city of Mantes-la-Jolie is in the Yvelines department 78 in the Île-de-France region. It is a medium-sized town on the left bank of the Seine river, 57 km from Paris. 47 km from Versailles, and 85 km from Rouen. It is one of the Royal towns of France, see my several posts on it in my blog.

Mantes-la-Jolie is crossed in the east-west direction by D113 It constitutes the main axis of the city with the avenue du Général-de-Gaulle, the boulevard du Maréchal-Juin, and avenue de la République. The city is bypassed to the east by the D 983 road which connects it to Magny-en-Vexin and Houdan. Mantes is also linked to Meulan by the D 190 and to Dreux by the D 928. The A13 autoroute de Normandie runs south of town with exit/sorties 11: Mantes-Est; 12: Mantes-Sud ,and 13: Mantes-Ouest . Really to see the sights the best is exit 11 coming from Paris. A very good road network which yours truly has taken on many occasions. The best places to park is at Parking Hotel de Ville ,place Saint-Jacques and Normandie ,place Henri-Dunant in city center.

The train stations of Mantes-la-Jolie and Mantes-Station are served by line J of the Transilien: Paris-Saint-Lazare – Vernon, via Poissy, by the left bank of the Seine river ; Paris-Saint-Lazare – Bréval, via Poissy, by the left bank of the Seine river; and Paris-Saint-Lazare – Mantes-la-Jolie, via Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, by the right bank of the Seine river. And yes folks taken these too especially the via Poissy lines. There is a TGV line here bypassing Paris: Le Havre – Rouen-Rive-Droite – Mantes-la-Jolie – Versailles-Chantiers – Massy-Palaiseau – Lyon-Part-Dieu – Valence TGV – Avignon TGV – Marseille-Saint-Charles, in the morning towards Marseille and in the evening towards Le Havre. I never need to use this one. However, the train service is good on all J lines and very congested too especially at rush hours.

While here we always stop at the le Coq Hardi,  25 pl Marché au Blé ,tel +33 (0) 1 71 48 27 79, its a great brasserie bar, with a nice view over the place marché au Blé just around the corner from the Tour St Maclou.

The Vieux Pont de Limay, its one of the oldest bridges in France; document have it from 1050! It connected the city of Limay to the Ile aux Dames. It had 11 arches but was partially destroyed by French resistance trying to slow down the nazi advance in the area 1940. The original bridge had 37 arches!  Famous by painter Jean-Baptiste Corot, painting of the Pont de Mantes (1868) work that is exhibit at the Louvre . Limited restoration work has been done to try to revive the old bridge, now a newer bridge crosses the river Seine at this junction. This is now the pont de Perronnet bridge.

As in many cities in France, the origin of this company of the Arquebusier is linked to the handling of weapons, it started with arrows, bows, crossbows, and finally the arquebuses around 1450. The city of Mantes had a bourgeois militia and an elite company of 20 Arquebusiers. Charles VII, in 1452, granted them privileges. Each Arquebusier company had a motto, for Mantes it was the dogs or “les Chiens“, and across the bridge , Limay was the wolves or  “les Loups” .

The city of Mantes la Jolie tourist information office is here in French: City of Mantes tourist information desk

The city of Mantes la Jolie on heritage things to see in French: City of Mantes la Jolie on heritage

So there now cover the royal city of Mantes la Jolie; it is nice to go in daytime and see these marvels after all is on the route Paris to Normandy so many miss out that they remain off the beaten path sights.  Again, hope you enjoy the post on this is Mantes La Jolie !!! as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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