The Franche-Comte briefly...

 

Climate

Nature

Economy

Gastronomy

Thematics routes

Interesting sites

Some maps

The climate

We have a continental climate : quite hot summer and rigourous winter. Moreover, the coldest French village, Mouthe, is in our region.

The nature

You can see :

• in the North, the Vosges mountains (called "ballons" (balloons) in French because of their round shape and their medium altitude). The summit, "le ballon de Guebwiller", reaches 1424m.
You would enjoy skiing in winter and rambling and riding in summer.
In 1989, was created the Vosges' Natural Regional Park to protect and to promote the mountains and its forests, to preserve the quality of the landscape, to back up the economic development and the patrimony, to contribute to the cultural development. It spreads on four departments (French administrative units) Vosges, Haute-Saône, Territoire de Belfort and Haut-Rhin. Every summer, from May to October, various events are organised :

- nature and patrimony lessons, to discover with a guide the fauna, the flora, the damp or the historic sites.

- the fetes in the park : the village fete, the bilberry or the woodman one.

- the farm's meeting : tasting some snacks, with homemade products : milks, cordials, jams,...

 

All these activities, with the museums, the exhibitions are summed up in the booklet "Summer in the park", with the magazine, Lignes Bleues ("Blue Lines"). Another booklet (from October to April), "From one season to another" also exists, it includes the autumn and Christmas fetes. For further information, visit the Website : www.parc-ballons-vosges.fr (in French).

 

• the coniferous and leafy forests. Indeed, our region is quite wooded. It would enable you to ride, walk,... in all these forests.

• the water under different forms : torrents, waterfalls, gorges, lakes, sources,... to fish, to swim, to go canoeing, to sail, to take a small cruise,...

• in the South, the Jura mountains, which spreads on two countries : the departments of Jura, Doubs and Ain in France and the cantons of Jura, Vaud and Neuchatel in Switzerland. The summit, the Cret de la Neige (Snow Crest), reaches 1723 m. There is also a Natural Regional Park, created in 1986.

 

The economy

The primary sector

The agriculture is mainly dedicated to the bovine breeding. Two races are very important : "pie-rouge de l'est", which provides meat and milk and "montbéliarde" only milk, to make typical cheese.

Sure, forestry is quite important, in accordance with the quantity of wood.

The secondary sector

The industry is spread on three areas :

Besançon, which knew to keep alive some traditional activities : clock and watchmaking, textile and mechanical construction, diversifies into high technology : precision engineering and microelectronics.

For more than one century, Sochaux-Montbéliard has been the fief of the car manufacturer, Peugeot.

In Belfort, since 1879, therehas been the Alstom factory of mechanical (engine, TGV = very fast train) and electrical construction (turbine)

Apart from these centres, there are also different traditional activities :

- spectacles making in Morez

- pipes making in Saint-Claude

- wood toys making in Jura

- glass making (artistic glass-making in Passavent-La-Rochère)

- buttons making near the Lison river

- forge (like the museum in Etueffont and the forge of edge-tools in Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne)

 

The gastronomy

Numerous specialities are symbols of our region, like the Comté (type of gruyère cheese). It has been made since the Middle Age : it was a way to preserve the milk and to have food stocks. In 1958, a guarantee of quality (AOC) is created : the Comté can only be produced in a precise area (Jura, Ain, Doubs) and from montbéliarde-race milk.

To imagine, we need 450 L (98.97 gallons GB) to make a whole cheese of 40 kg (88.19 lb.) For further information, visit the Website : www.lesroutesducomte.com

There are also the Jura wines, with six AOC (guarantee of quality), it means that these wines can only be made in a precise area : Etoile, Côtes du Jura, Château-Chalon, Arbois, Crémant du Jura (sparkling wine) and Macvin.

You could also taste other specialities :

the Mont d'Or cheese
the Morbier cheese
the blue cheese of the Haut-Jura
the vacherin cheese
the cancoillote cheese
the Morteau sausage (pork dried and smoked sausage)
the Montbéliard sausage (pork smoked sausage)
the yellow wine (it matures during six years in oak casks. It is selled in a 62-cL bottle -21.82 fl oz-, called "clavelin, because it is what remains of 1 L -35.2 fl oz- after six years. It can be kept for 50 years)

The Percée du Vin Jaune ("Opening of the Yellow Wine") takes place every year, at the beginning of February, after having maturated about six years in casks. It is the opportunity to taste the new vintage, to have a wild time and to discover the regional cuisine and wines and their producers. In 2004, the 1997 vintage was revealed.

the straw wine (it is a liquor-like wine, made from grapes dried on straw beds during two or three months, then they are squeezed. To make 18 L -31.67 pts- of straw wine, we need 100 kg -220.46 lb- of grapes. It can be kept for 50 years)
the macvin (it is a liqueur wine, made with grape juice and old marcs of Jura wines. It matures for 18 months in oak casks)
the kirsch (type of cherry brandy)
the smoked cooked meats (delicatessen)

 

The thematic routes

• the historic route of the "Wonders", which will show you different castles and historic sites in all the region, from the north to the south :
* the Filain castle
* the Gy castle
* the Saint-Loup-les-Gray castle
* the Corneux abbey
* the Joux castle
* the Belvoir castle
* the Rigney castle
* the Vaire-le-Grand castle
* the royal salt production in Arc-et-Senans
* the Arlay castle
* the Syam castle, villa of Palladio style
 

• the route of the techniques and cultures of our region, which goes through eleven museums from the north to the south
* the artistic glassmaking in Passavent-La-Rochère
* the cherry museum in Fougerolles
* the mine museum in Ronchamp
* the forge museum in Etueffont
* the Japy museum in Beaucourt
* the forge of edge-tools museum in Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne
* the salt production in Salins-les-Bains
* the Syam forge
* the spectaclemaking museum in Morez
* the making of small wood items museum in Bois d'Amont
* the wood toys museum in Moirans-en-Montagne
For further information about these museums and others, visit the Museums of techniques and cultures Website.

• the route of Vauban (1633-1707, French soldier, specialized in fortifications and siege techniques). He made fortifications for four cities in our region : Belfort, Besançon, Salins-les-Bains and Pontarlier.

• the route of the flowered village, Haut-du-Them, Lachapelle-sous-Rougemont, Rougegoutte (it obtained a national prize in 1996) and Anjoutey (it obtained an European prize)

• the route of Pasteur (1822-1895, French biologist and chemist, he invented the rabies vaccine and the pasteurization). He was born in our region.

• the clock and watchmaking route (in France and Switzerland), from Besançon to Neuchâtel.

• the Comté routes (www.lesroutesducomte.com)

• the route of the lacks , in the south of the region, in Jura

• the route of the firs, from the south of Doubs to the north of Jura, in one of the most beautiful French coniferous forests. Some firs reach 45 m high (50 yards) and 1.2 or 1.3 m across (4 ft or 4.26 ft).

• the Jura wine route, an eighty-kilometer itinerary (50 miles) in the Jura vineyard, you would discover the yellow wine, the straw wine, the white and red wines, the Crémant du Jura (sparkling wine) and the Macvin and visit the Wine and Vine Museum in Arbois.
• the altarpiece route :

 

The Thousand-Pond route, a sixty-kilometer itinerary (37 miles) :

 

- The Schickhardt rute, (German architect of the Renaissance, compared to Leonardo da Vinci) in Montbéliard. He realized the Saint Martin Protestant Church (the oldest in France).

 

The interesting sites

Among the interesting sites and events, we can notice the Eurockéennes de Belfort : there are concerts for three days on the first weekend of july in a natural site : the Lack of Malsaucy. In the programme, they mainly plan rock and pop French and international bands - Noir Désir, Rita Mitsouko, Renaud, The Cure, Nina Hagen, Björk, Eurythmics-, but they adapted to the new types of music, like techno- Laurent Garnier, the Chemical Brothers-, raï (North African popular music)-Khaled, Cheb Mami, Faudel, the National Orchestra of Barbès-, rap-NTM, IAM , Massilia Sound System, Public Enemy- and other alternative styles, they have introduced an electronic moment to close the last two nights. The three scenes have also welcomed international stars like, James Brown and his saxophonist Maceo Parker, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, ZZ Top, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin guitar player and singer).
For more information, visit the Website : www.eurockeennes.fr. To discover all the artists that have already performed, consult the Regional Council Website, they have made a special file for the 15th anniversary in 2003.

Near the castle of Belfort, in which there is the Art and History museum of Belfort, we can see a wounded Lion, backed on to the cliff, it measures 22 m long (73 ft) and 11 m high (36 ft). It is a sculpture made by Gustave Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904, French architect and sculptor, who also made the Statue of Liberty) in honour of the inhabitants of Belfort, who resisted during 103 days to the German siege during the war in 1870-71. It was inaugurated in 1880 and you can also see a copper replica in Paris. You can also see the vestiges of the fortifications made by Vauban (1633-1707, French soldier, specialized in fortifications and siege techniques) in the ancient district of the town, like the Tower 41 (now an exhibition room), Tower 27, Tower 46, Miotte Tower, Brisach Door, Justice and Perches Fort. (All these monuments were part of the fortification wall built around the town in the 17th century to protect Belfort against the enemies.)

The town organized every year in october, the Books Festival, with exhibitions, dedications and the selings of thousands of cheap books (detective, love, school,... books). For more information about the cultural events in Belfort, consult the Town Coucil Website.

 

The Lion in Belfort

In the Doubs : Sochaux is not only the fief of the Peugeot Manufacturies, but also the one of the Adventures Peugeot Museum, which recounts the whole car history. For the football supporters, Sochaux also means FCSM (Football Club of Sochaux-Montbéliard) and the Bonal Stadium, which regularly welcomes national and international teams. To see the matches programme, consult Sochaux Website.

Montbéliard has a castle, in which you will visit the museum of the Duke of Wurtemberg's castle (history, archeology museum and exhibition room). Every year, during four weeks before Christmas, there is a Christmas fete, with some wonderful lights downtown. The fete takes place in Saint Martin square (around Saint Martin Protestant Church). If you walk in the town, near the "Halles", you will see a sort of stone table, it is the Fish stone dating back to the 15th century. The merchants scaled their fish before selling them. Situated in the centre of the place market, during the Reformation, it was the place where the preachers came to present the new religion and where the debates took place.

Not far from Montbéliard, you will visit Audincourt, city where you can see the Sacred Heart Church, decorated by Jean Bazaine (French painter, 1904-2001) and Fernand Léger (French painter, 1881-1955). It also organized every year, in October, the Comic Book Fair.

In the Haute-Saone, you will see Mélisey, which is the beginning of the Thousand-Pond route. The Thousand-Pond Plateau is also called the "Small Finland", because it looks like the Scandinavian landscape. For more information, visit the Website www.les-mille-etangs.com.

30 km away from Champagney, you will find the Mountain Museum in Haut-du-Them-Château-Lambert. It will show you the traditional life of the inhabitants in this region : forests jobs, school,...

For the gamblers, 35 km away from Champagney, they will enjoy the thermal city, Luxeuil-les-Bains and its Casino.

There are some castles in this department, they are mainly included in the historic route of the "Wonders". But this list does not include the Champlitte castle, Museum of the Art and Techniques, real testimony of the techincal changes that occurred between the late 19th and the early 20th century and its consequences on the craft and the daily life.

 

Among the "children" of our region, we can notice :

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, writer
Gustave Courbet, 1819-1877, painter, lithographer and drawer
Charles Fournier, 1772-1832, philosopher and economist
Louis, 1864-1948 and Auguste, 1862-1954, Lumière, the Lumière Brothers, technicians and film makers, inventors of the cinematograph
Georges Cuvier, 1769-1832, palaeontologist and zoologist
Louis Pergaud, 1882-1915, teacher, then writer
Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895, chemist and biologist (Dole)
Claude Joseph Rouget-de-Lisle, 1760-1836, officer and author of the French anthem, La Marseillaise (Lons-le-Saunier)
Pierre Joseph Proudhon, 1809-1865, writer and political theorist (Besançon)
Charles Nodier, 1780-1844, writer (Besançon)
Tristan Bernard, 1866-1947, playwright and writer (Besançon)
Auguste Castan, 1833-1892, archivist and t archeologist (Besançon)
Adrien Cournot, 1801-1877, precursor of the mathematical economy (Gray)
Félix Gaffiot, 1870-1937, Latinist and author of the Gaffiot French-Latin dictionnary
Frédéric Japy, 1749-1802, founder of the great manufacturing firm in Beaucourt : clocks, motors, hardware business...

Most of the information presented here, are extracted from several brochures published by :

Comité Regional du Tourisme de Franche-Comté 25025 BESANCON cedex Tél : 03.81.25.08.08 www.franche-comte.org