It's a very historic city and sits on the River Seine just over 90 miles from Paris in the Champagne region of a France. It has been in existence since Roman times hence the name above and became very much an international centre for commerce. It became the hosiery capital of France and a little known fact is that the measurement for gold, the troy weight, evolved from the city's name.
Its centre on a map is supposedly laid out in the form of a champagne cork but quite frankly, Linda and I both agreed that it looked more like a man's appendage but enough said about that!
The centre of the city is filled with amazing and beautiful half timbered houses and gothic churches. Many of the houses are in a poor state of repair and there is a huge restoration project underway on them in order to retain the very historic look and feel of the centre.
There are ten churches and a Cathedral in Troyes and the most wonderful thing they display is their stained glass. Troyes has been called the "Sacred City of Stained Glass" and has the greatest surface area of stained glass windows in France, some dating back to the 12th Century. One of my photos attached shows the effect of the sun on one of the windows in the Cathedral. It doesn't really do the beautiful colours and the effect true justice but I thought it was worth a try.
The final piece of information that I will disseminate about the city is that it is twinned with Chesterfield and perhaps you will understand why when you see the spire of one of the churches.
We had a lovely day in Troyes yesterday and I would recommend it as a place for anyone to visit.
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