Orléans

Made famous by the siege of 1429 whose blockade Joan of Arc lifted in barely a few days, a feat that earned her the title of Maid of Orléans, the town commemorates this founding episode each year during the Joan of Arc festivities that enliven the month of May. Rue Jeanne-d'Arc, a straight artery lined with pale-stone buildings, leads the gaze straight to the openwork spires of the cathedral of Sainte-Croix, rebuilt mostly in a late Gothic style after the destruction of the Wars of Religion. On the banks of the Loire, the Hôtel Groslot, a superb Renaissance mansion in brick and stone, and the redeveloped quays bear witness to the town's rich merchant past, a historic crossroads between the Paris Basin and the Loire valley. Today served by a modern tramway that crosses the historic centre, Orléans combines Joan of Arc heritage, classical façades and university dynamism at the gates of the Sologne and the Beauce.

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