The Two Bs

Our route from Cremieu takes us north east towards Alsace, but we break up the journey with an overnight stop in Besançon, a city that lies near the Jura mountains in the far east of the country.

To the south of the city's old centre stands the impressive Citadelle de Besançon, a fort dating back to the 1600s. It's a huge complex, and provides great views over the city below, as well as museums portraying what life was like for occupants here. However in an attempt to lure more families to visit, and given the space available, they have also thrown in a zoo, aquarium, natural history museum and most oddly, some baboons wandering around the moat!

Below in the old town, we take a pleasant stroll around the remarkably clean streets, before trying out some local craft beers in some unusual pubs.

While sitting over our beers, and contemplating the next day's journey to Alsace, Claire suggests that a brief detour to Switzerland could be an option, with the city of Basel sitting just over the border.

So on Saturday we head briefly and bravely out of the Eurozone and spend a couple of hours in Basel. It's (correctly) not reputed to be one of the country's prettiest places, but the peculiar Tinguely fountain and impressive city gate Sparentor make the trip worthwhile.

Despite being the hometown of retired tennis star Roger Federer, there is no statue of him yet (apparently you have to be dead first), but I'm told there is the Roger Federer Tram. Given there's so many trams whizzing about this place, I accept the chances of glimpsing it are slim, and we head back to the car, and back into France.