Shopping in France Grenoble: Mountains of appeal
As the Alpine weather improves, now's the time to visit peaceful Grenoble, says Cathy Packe
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WHERE?
WHERE? Grenoble is an attractive Alpine city ringed by mountain peaks and sitting beside the Isÿre river. Its centre - the part that visitors normally concentrate on - is small and has a pleasantly relaxed feel to it. Travel direct to the city by high-speed TGV via Lille or Paris. Alternatively, regular shuttle buses, costing ?3.80 (£2.70) each way, connect Saint-Geoirs airport with the bus station, on the edge of the city centre, which itself is easy to navigate, either on foot or by tram. At the moment there are two tram lines, whose stops and routes are clearly labelled. Tickets cost ?1.20 (85p) for a single journey, ?3.50 (£2.50) for a day ticket, and these must be bought and validated in advance from the machines at each stop. Much of the old town centre is pedestrianised, forming a compact area of streets and squares that spread south from the river towards the Town Hall, on the edge of Parc Mistral. This is the location for the Park Hotel at 10 place Paul Mistral (00 33 4 76 85 81 23; www.park-hotel-grenoble.fr), the best hotel in town, and Grenoble's only four-star establishment. It offers single rooms at ?131 (£94) and doubles from ?167 (£119); breakfast is an extra ?14 (£10). Other hotels worth considering include the three-star Hotel d'Angleterre, in an attractive central location at 5 place Victor Hugo (00 33 4 76 87 37 21; www.hotel-angleterre.fr). Rooms here start at ?96 (£69), with an extra ?12 (£9) for breakfast. The Hotel de l'Europe is in the heart of the old town at 22 place Grenette (00 33 4 76 46 16 94; www.hoteleurope.fr) and is the oldest hotel in Grenoble. Rooms with en-suite facilities start at ?32 (£23) for a single, ?56 (£40) for a double. Breakfast is an extra ?6 (£4). The whole of the old town is packed with shops, bars and restaurants. Among the newest is Le Zinc, at 5 rue Auguste Gaché (00 33 4 76 03 07 44) which does an excellent morning coffee and lunch trade with shoppers at the morning market of Les Halles de Sainte-Claire, opposite. Le Zinc opens 7.30am-8.30pm Tuesday-Saturday and 7.30am-2.30pm Sunday, and is an excellent place for a glass of wine. Other good food options include the Restaurant La Fondue at 5 rue Brocherie (00 33 4 76 15 20 72), which has 16 different types of fondue, as well as raclettes and gratinées, or L'Epicurien at 1 place aux Herbes (00 33 4 76 51 96 06). This serves good-value set menus with ingredients from the market. The north bank of the river rises steeply above the town, and is dominated by the Bastille, a rocky outcrop which is reached by a cable car (00 33 4 76 44 33 65), which glides up and down from the ground station at Quai Stéphane Jay, on the south bank, between 9.15am-11.45pm Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30am-7.25pm on Sundays, and 11am-7.25pm on Mondays. Return tickets costs ?5.70 (£4), but if you are happy to follow one of the walking trails back down the mountain, the one-way fare is ?3.90 (£2.80). Grenoble's tourist office is at 14 rue de la République (00 33 4 76 42 41 41; www.grenoble-isere.info). It opens 9am-6.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm on Sundays. From here you can purchase the Grenoble City Pass, which allows you to use the cable car to the Bastille (see above) as well as offering a guided city tour and various other benefits for ?10.50 (£7.50). The nearby Maison de la Montagne at 3 rue Raoul Blanchard (00 33 4 38 37 01 71; www.guide-grenoble.com) can give information about walking trails, and also organises regular guided walks. Its opening hours are 9am-6pm Monday to Friday, 10am-1pm and 2-5pm on Saturdays. WHY? Grenoble is one of the most attractive cities in south-eastern France. Now that summer is approaching, the unpredictable mountain weather is becoming warmer, so this is an excellent time to visit the city, and perhaps also to enjoy some of the mountain walks on the well-marked trails around the area. WHAT? Among Grenoble's many museums, one of the most interesting is the Musée de la Résistance at 14 rue Hebert (00 33 4 76 42 38 53; www.resistance-en-isere.com). The city was a centre of the French resistance during the Second World War, and the history of that struggle is charted here with a moving selection of photos, documents, voices and reconstructions. The museum opens 9am-6pm daily, Tuesday from 1.30pm, weekends from 10am, and admission is free. For a glimpse of life in the Dauphiné region in more normal times, visit the Musée Dauphinois at 30 rue Maurice Gignoux (00 33 4 76 85 19 01; www.musee-dauphinois.fr), where there is a display of the crafts and artefacts of mountain life. Admission is free, and it opens 10am-7pm daily except Tuesday. For modern art, go to Magasin at 155 Cours Berriat (00 33 4 76 21 95 84; www.magasin-cnac.org). Despite its name this is not a shop, but the National Centre for Contemporary Art, with constantly-changing temporary exhibitions. The headquarters are being restored, so the exhibitions are on display across the road at le Magasin d'En Face. Admission is free, and it opens 2-6pm Monday to Friday. For more information contact the Grenoble tourist office on 00 33 4 76 42 41 41; www.grenoble-isere.info WOW! The views from the top of the Bastille, overlooking Grenoble in the basin below, with its red roofs and straight Roman roads, and with the peaks of the Alps all around, are breathtaking. TOP FIVE: SHOPPING Avec Naturel, at 5 Rue Paul Bert, (0033 4 76 43 43 43; www.avecnaturel.com) is a complex of departments scattered among several building in the same street, selling everything that is classy in home furnishing: furniture, china, glass, paint, fabrics, and garden necessities. Grenoble was once the centre of the glove-making industry. Now all that is left is Notturno at rue Humbert II (0033 4 76 46 56 60), where Monsieur Notturno cuts the kid-skin himself and stitches all the silk or fur linings by hand. He can follow your design, but a pair of standard, hand-made gloves from stock costs ?35 (£25). Les Alpages at 2 rue de Strasbourg (0033 4 76 46 32 62) must be one of the most mouth-watering cheese shops in France. Cheese lovers will appreciate the pungent smell that drifts from the shop. They also sell a good selection of wines. One of the scruffier areas of the old town is now known as the Quartier des Antiquaires or antiques district. Look out for A l'Estampe Ancienne, selling prints on rue Bayard; and other shops simply marked with the word "Antiquités". While fresh food is available at the market, Jean-Pierre Bresson, at 2 rue Auguste Gaché (0033 4 76 44 42 08), carries an excellent selection of other essentials. This old-fashioned grocery has an appetising smell: a mixture of spices, chocolate and freshly-baked bread. There are shelves full of oils and vinegars, tables groaning with coloured sugars, a vast array of teas and jams. CITY SHOPPER: ST-ETIENNE, DIJON AND LYON ST-ETIENNE Renaissance: the appropriate term for what is happening to St-Etienne. As with many industrialised parts of France, the second half of the 20th century was not kind to the city. Mines closed and the local economy slumped, with all the attendant problems. Yet imagination and investment has transformed the place into a centre of art, culture - and hope. The quintessential event this summer is St-Etienne's biennial, Les Transurbaines. From 10 to 21 June, it celebrates the urban, the suburban and the urbane - with some spectacular art installations, drama and dance. Perennial installations include the Musée de la Mine, the Musée d'Art et d'Industrie and the Musée d'Art Moderne. There is also a feast of retail opportunities: for menswear, Pic et Pan (18 rue Léon Nautin) is about as far away from the usual High Street offering as it is possible to be; while women can search out the top labels at Chéri-Chéri at 32 rue Martyrs de Vingré and La Louna at 13 rue Michelet - the latter is a vast and extravagant emporium. And for accessories, head for the Lazuli at 7 rue Georges Dupré for distinctive jewellery. Simon Calder St-Etienne tourism (0033 892 700 542; www.tourisme-st-etienne.com) DIJON After the Dukes of Burgundy abandoned Dijon in the late 15th century it could have faded into obscurity and turned into a provincial town like any other. But Dijon retained its grandeur: a city of elegant architecture which is still dominated by the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. On a more manageable scale, there are private homes along streets like the Rue des Forges which were built during medieval and Renaissance times and have been carefully preserved. All this makes for an elegant backdrop in which to enjoy the local food and some of the finest wines France can produce. The nearest of Burgundy's vineyards is in Marsannay, only about five miles south of the town, but there are some fine restaurants, like Le Pré aux Clercs, that will open a locally-produced bottle to accompany whatever you choose to eat. Dijon is renowned for its food, and there are lots of places to stock up on local delicacies: Maille, an ancient shop on Rue de la Liberté, for mustard; almost anywhere for gingerbread; Nicot, on Rue Rousseau, for wines. Don't forget a bottle of cassis: kir was invented here by a local mayor. Cathy Packe Dijon tourist office (0033 892 70 05 58; www.dijon-tourism.com) LYON The second French city is a master of disguise. With Roman origins, an imposing cathedral and a fully-fledged Metro system, is Lyon a surrogate French capital? Too intimate. A Flemish enclave, perhaps, boasting a long, elaborate history of weaving, printing and commerce? No, too vertical, with the city draping itself awkwardly across the steep banks of the Rhÿne and Saone rivers. But it is the European capital of the trompe-l'oeil. As you clamber around the sweeps of stairs that connect the cobbled streets, your eye is constantly being tricked by elaborate murals. It is quite possible to spend a long weekend without visiting a single museum; the streets themselves are galleries. Bare buildings are decorated with the same mix of artifice and humanity that characterises the real streets. At river level, for example, a man in blue is walking into the Bibliothÿque de la Cité, a bookish den as lively as the librarian looks dowdy. The next three storeys are painted pale Provencal gold, and their windows are filled with bulging book spines. For some real life, head to the east of the city and Les Halles on Rue Lafayette - open daily except Sunday afternoons, and Mondays - for superb seafood, vegetables and meat. Or, should you want to offload some serious cash, visit the immaculate boutiques of the Carre d'Or ("golden quarter") between Place Bellecour and Place des Jacobins. For a genuinely Lyonnais gift, buy a silk scarf or tie: the boutique des Soyeux Lyonnais (20 rue Romarin, 0033 4 78 39 96 67) has a more than adequate selection of ties, scarves and shawls. Simon Calder Lyon tourist office (0033 4 72 77 69 69; www.lyon-france.com)
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