Vassil, domaine public, via Wikimedia Commons
Meaux
Meaux grew up on the banks of the Marne around a religious centre founded in the early Middle Ages. The cathedral of Saint-Étienne, with its tall Flamboyant Gothic tower, dominates the town centre and recalls that Bossuet was bishop here at the end of the seventeenth century. Right next to it, the former bishop's palace now houses the Bossuet museum, surrounded by formal gardens attributed to Le Nôtre. The town, historic capital of the Brie, remains inseparable from the cheese that bears its name and from the market that still enlivens its old halls. The Gallo-Roman ramparts, partly preserved along the Marne, bear witness to the age of the town, while old Meaux, with its lanes and half-timbered houses, invites a stroll between religious heritage and the easy-going Brie way of life.
