🇫🇷 The Charming Small Town of Besançon, France

📍 Besançon (Besancon) Located in northeastern France Part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, in the Doubs department At the edge of the Jura Mountains Borders Switzerland to the east and Italy to the south 📅 2024.6.12 | 14:28 Drove from Dijon to Besançon (~98 km) Noon in Besançon—so quiet, so few people 🏙️🤫 Even a slightly raised voice seemed to echo through the empty streets... The sky was brilliantly bright ☀️ Endless azure blue with fluffy clusters of clouds ☁️⛅ At a street corner where we parked, there stood a historic fountain ⛲ Everywhere felt like an open-air museum 🏛️ 🏛️ The Black Gate (La Porte Noire) Built in 175 AD A Gallo-Roman triumphal arch dedicated to Emperor Marcus Aurelius Intricately decorated columns with floral motifs, mythological scenes, and battle depictions 🗿🎨 🏰 The Town is a Living History Book Medieval Roman ruins in the old town Spanish Renaissance-style architecture Palais Granvelle (16th century) Besançon Cathedral ⛪ Madeleine Church Besançon Synagogue 📜 A City of Great Minds Birthplace of Victor Hugo ✍️ Setting of the novel The Red and the Black 📖 Home to world-renowned thinkers, writers, artists, and scientists: Charles Fourier (Utopian socialist) Gustave Courbet (Painter) 🎨 Stéphane Mallarmé (Poet) ✒️ Louis Pasteur (Scientist) 🔬 The Lumière Brothers (Inventors of cinema) 🎥 🏞️ The Citadel & the Doubs River From the top of the hilltop fortress, you can see: The Doubs River making a dramatic bend around the old town 🌊 The city’s unique "three sides by water, one side by mountains" layout 🏔️ This geography makes Besançon one of France’s most beautiful old towns 💙 #FrenchSmallTown #Besançon #HiddenGems #OffTheBeatenPath #StudyAbroadLife 🌍✨