The Cardinal and his city: Richelieu

Who doesn't know him, the "bad" Cardinal Richelieu against him the brave three musketeers were fighting in Duma's novel or in one of the many films? He was the famous prime minister of the king Louis XIII. But he was not only a politician, he had built a city as well: an ideal city (cité ideale) , the city of Richelieu . It is arisen quasi on the drawing board. In a symmetric network of streets with the Grand Rue in the middle he erected magnificent houses, a church, a market hall and a park with a castle.

Aerial photo of Richelieu

Richelieu is only about 20 km away from us. We park at the Place des Religieuses, one of the two big squares on both ends of the Grand Rue and walk alongside the stately main axis of the city. Magnifique buildings with big round-arch portales are right and left of the impressive street.

The Espace Richelieu, a museum, is in one of the houses. but we pass on visiting it. We reach the market place, the Place du Marché. Eye catcher here is the neo-classical church Notre Dame. Around the square we see small shops, the town hall, the post office and restaurants. The wooden market hall is just renovated. We can see it only from the outside and scaffolded.

We walk through one of the 4 considerable gates and come to the Place du Cardinal with a big marble statue of the famous cardinal. Behind it the palace garden begins. A long wide way lined with big, old trees along a small canal leads us to the place where the castle had been in former times. Unfortunately, the French revolutionary had destroyed the castle absolutely in 1789. Only 3 pavillons are left from the former chateau. But the park is well worth seeing with its old trees and the nice rose garden.

The Musketeers
of Intermarché

The musketeers we visited too. They are in the logo of the supermarket Intermarché. We have Saturday afternoon and they offered crevettes to a nice price. This will be a tasty evening meal. They are easily to prepare: in boiling water for some minutes and to eat with mayonnaise and fresh baguette.