And coming back to my old stumping road warrior area ,and catching up on my many photos to bring you new areas and ideas to visit my belle France, here is a new one. Well , I have written on the farm very famous there but now let me tell you a bit about the town itself, this is Saint Cyr l’école !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
Saint-Cyr-l’École is located in the department 78 of Yvelines, in the Île-de-France region. The town is just about 21.5 km from Paris Notre Dame Cathedral. It is bordered by the towns of Versailles to the east, Guyancourt to the south, Montigny-le-Bretonneux to the south-southwest, Bois -d’Arcy to the southwest, Fontenay-le-Fleury to the west and Bailly to the north. Areas truly visited as lived nearby…and plenty of activities with the boys on them.
Plentiful road access that is tops. The main road is the D10 connecting Versailles (by the Orangerie side) to Rambouillet and regional road D11 connecting Saint-Cyr-l’École to Plaisir (and great shopping area). In the immediate vicinity is the Bois-d’Arcy interchange between the A12 highway, on a north-south axis which connects the triangle from Rocquencourt to Trappes on the N 10,and north with the A13 autoroute de Normandie, the N 12, connects Dreux at the A86 highway.
The Saint-Cyr train station,of the Transilien network is on the N line connecting Paris to Rambouillet / Plaisir – Grignon / Mantes-la-Jolie, the station is not served by trains from Dreux. The station or Gare de Saint Cyr is located on the line connecting Paris-Montparnasse to Chartres and is at the point of the junction giving access to the Granville line via Plaisir – Grignon and Dreux. Direct commuter train services are provided to Paris-Montparnasse via Versailles-Chantiers. RER C connecting Saint Martin d’Étampes to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, serving Paris-Austerlitz via Invalides. And the train U line connecting La Défense to La Verrière.
Keolis Yvelines is serving the lines, 52, 53 and 54 of the Phebus bus network in Versailles . You can find all these buses and trains at the somewhat new ïle de France Mobilités (old STIF) site here: All transports ile de France region Mobilités
A historic city at the gates of Versailles, Saint-Cyr-l’École shines in the Yvelines department 78. The Maison de Saint-Louis founded by Madame de Maintenon, then transformed by Napoleon into a Military School has notably ensured its reputation.
The history of the city begins at the end of the 11C, when the monks of the Sainte-Geneviève Abbey in Paris decided to set up, on the edge of the ru de Gally, a chapel and a priory with its farm, to evangelize and clear the valley.
In 1686 the royal house of Saint-Louis was founded, an education house for 250 young girls, by Madame de Maintenon and whose construction was entrusted to Jules Hardouin-Mansart. In 1808, in the same buildings, the Special Military School was established. This school, founded in 1802 in Fontainebleau by Napoleon I and then transferred to Saint-Cyr, remained there until 1940, when it was withdrawn to Aix-en-Provence. The buildings of Saint-Cyr are then seriously affected by the Allied bombings of 1944 and the school is recreated in 1945, but in Coëtquidan ( my Morbihan 56 see post) under the name of Special military school of Saint-Cyr. I found me an old picture that should be on this post, so here is the back of the school founded by Madame de Maintenon!
The city of St Cyr l’école on its history and heritage in French: City of St Cyr on history and heritage
The city was 92% damaged by the bombings of WWII. In 1995, Saint-Cyr officially received the 1939-1945 War Cross with palm, which had been awarded to it forty-five years earlier for acts of resistance and for its exemplary attitude under the bombing but which the town of the day had refused.
Saint-Cyr-l’École aerodrome (nice) occupies an area of 75 hectares, or 15% of Saint-Cyrien territory. On the eastern side, it adjoins the park of the Palace of Versailles! and stretches north to the rue de Gally. He is a historic player in the plain of Versailles. It was indeed in 1907 that the Count de La Vaulx had a hangar built at the gates of the town to house an aeronate, more simply called an airship. The same year, Santos-Dumont managed to link Saint-Cyr-l’École to Buc at a speed of 90 kph on board his Demoiselle monoplane. It is on this aircraft that Roland Garros will learned to fly. Three years later, this is where the tests of the La Liberté airship were carried out. Today, the aerodrome is home to nine air clubs gathered within GUAS, the Saint-Cyr-l’École aerodrome users’ group, and is attended by a thousand enthusiasts; including me on old light planes air shows!
The aerodrome today is managed by Aéroports de Paris, the site in English here: Paris airports on aerodrome St Cyr
And just a friendly reminder,(see post) for what we came here the most and love it and still waiting to go back, the Ferme de Gally!
My family’s favorite place in St Cyr l’école, the Ferme de Gally.(see post). Yes a farm, but not an ordinary farm. It was acquired in 1684 by Louis XIV to supply the court of milk products. It is at the end of the Grand Canal, yes the one you think ends by the boat lakes, but its actually goes way back, keep walking …. all along the allée de la Ceinture. The farm is still today in activity, handle by the same family since 1741!!! It is one of the oldest building in the area ,originally founded in the 11C by the priests of the abbey of Sainte-Geneviéve-du-mont at Paris to plow and put into use the lands around the plains of Versailles. It was call after the val de galie, a stream,that since then was change to Gally. We can continue today follow the stream, from the allée du Plat Fond just to the small village of Rennemoulin off the D307 and very picturesque horse country today. At the beginning by 1038, this stream gave the name to Versailles because the lord of these lands was named Hugo de Versaillis. Yes indeed part of my history too you know….
Official webpage in French for the Ferme de Gally, see the picture this gate (see prev post for a closer look than the one above) goes or used to go into the domaine de Versailles to provide the kings with food! Les Fermes de Gally
This is my area of first official home in France and always remember fondly, my nostalgic Yvelines the cradle of the kingdom of France and lovely towns all over with great architecture and history, This is St Cyr l’école one of them. Again, hope you enjoy the post as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 