France

France needs no introduction; the country is known for many reasons: the rich history, the French people, the geography, and culinary culture, to name a few. I see it as the heart of Europe. The country is located in Western Europe, and it remained the epicenter of European politics for centuries. It touches the Mediterranean Sea on one end and extends to the North Sea, and to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s further surrounded by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain. When you’re there, you get mesmerized with the amazing architecture that stands tall and beautiful since the time it was built. Apart from Paris, the cities that I particularly liked to visit include Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, and Nice. Some of its places take you back in time, where you can feel yourself living the amazing French culture.

France is also renowned as a global center of art, science, and philosophy, and it retained this status for centuries. The 5th largest numbers of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are located in France, and it is one of the leading destinations for tourist in the world. Paris, the capital of France, receives most of the tourist attention. But it’s just the icing on the cake because France is full of a beautiful and mesmerizing site like French beaches, ancient buildings, castles, rivers, and historical places. Just a walk in Paris will give you great lessons about life, beauty, and history. No wonder why every great artist chooses to visit France at least once in a lifetime. It’s a place where visitors can pick up ideas and push their creativity to the highest levels. My visit to France was also full of wonders. For the most part of my stay in the country, I stayed in the capital as I couldn’t get enough of that magnificent city. The single view of the Eiffel tower was enough to fall for the place.

The second-best thing about France was the people and admirers of art and food. Every other person I met there was well familiar with the classic art and French cuisine, and it was also great to learn all about its country and its history. French cuisine is famous for being one of the finest in the world. According to the different regions of France, there are different traditional recipes that you will. And I didn’t know this fact until it actually traveled to different places. For instance, when going to the North of the country, you’ll find that the people there actually prefer to use more butter and fat in the cooking, whereas when you travel to the South you will find out that their people use more of olive oil in their food. The location and climate have a major impact on the variety of food enjoyed them.

The amazing feature was that each region of France has its own traditional dishes which are the known specialties of particular regions. Cassoulet is associated with the Southwest of France, Choucroute is with Alsace, Quiche is the popular dish of the Lorraine region, whereas Beef bourguignon is famous in Bourgogne, Provençal is the specialty of Tapenade. Wines are another specialty of France, and while I was there, I was able to try several different types of its including Bordeaux, Champagne, Bourgogne, and Beaujolais. And the best part was to find 400 different types of cheese!