Le Mans

City of Le Mans is first mentioned as Civitas Cenomanorum, meaning City of the Cenomani.
In 47 BC city was attacked and seized by the Romans and became part of their province Gallia Lugdunensis.
You can still see Amphitheatre from that period.

After Romans, little is known about Le Mans, before King Clovis I took over Le Mans, along side other Frankish tribes during his quest to unite Frankish territories and create, what will later become France.

Later Le Mans became principal city of province Maine.

During 11th century counts of Anjou and dukes of Normandy fought over this region, until citizens of Maine rebelled against Normans and proclaimed Hugh V as count of Maine.

Maine as a province existed until French revolution, when one part engaged in revolution, but other part remained counter revolution.
Maine split in two regions Mayenne and Sarthe, and Le Mans became principal city of Sarthe.

At the city center is Saint-Julien Cathedral. Building like that was hard to build in middle ages. It took over 500 years to finish it. Cathedral shows mix between different architectural styles. Saint-Julien Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals of France.

The Old City is located behind the cathedral. It has small narrow streets with houses and buildings from middle ages and beginning of Renaissance. Streets are mostly pedestrian and give chance to have a nice walk through history.

Ruins of a Roman thermas from 3rd century have been recently uncovered and opened for public.

The Gallo-Roman Walls, surrounding city, are very well preserved and can been visited.

The Musee de Tesse museum among other interesting displays, offers a chance to visit reconstruction of Egyptian tomb.

L'abbaye de l'Epau (Epau Abbey), is property built by Queen Berengaria of Navarre, widow of Richard I of England. It is fully restored now and is used for cultural events.

When you visit Le Mans, be sure to try rillettes. It’s a version of boiled pork pâté. You can buy them in almost any meat shop and eat them with fresh baguette.

Varieties of restaurants are located in the old town, settled in small squares, or on the corner of two streets. You can choose between typical French cuisine, or try something different, like Moroccan, or Lebanese cuisine. They have perfect atmosphere, but they can be little bit pricy. If you are looking for something cheaper, close to Place de la Republique, you can find several small restaurants or fast food corners. They are very popular with young people during weekends.

Most of the bars and pubs are nearby Place de la Republique in the streets that go from square to the river. Several old houses in the old town have been modified into bars. Le Mans is not so loud on weekdays, because local campus is far from center. Only on weekend you can find the city a bit crowded.

Le Mans has nature park called Arche de la nature, which occupies 450ha of land.
You can take a walk, rent bike or canoe, play golf or enjoy some of the events that place there several times a month. One of the main attractions is orientation program. It is made for all ages, as well as for groups, singles or family.

Geneva MotorShow 2013 - Audi R8 LMS ultra front left" by Clément Bucco-Lechat - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Le Mans is known for the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing called The 24 Hours of Le Mans. It takes place outside of Le Mans every year since 1923. It’s a prestigious race, where drivers have to manage their cars to sustain 24 hours drive. It’s not just fuel, tires, and braking materials that should be worried about, but also endurance of the drivers. Only three drivers per one car are changing seats during those 24 hours. The race attracts tourists and race fanatics from around world. During the reace every bar in city is full. During the year tourist can visit the circuit and museum.

Le Mans has small airfield, but it’s only for private planes.

There are several train connections to Le Mans from Paris, but also from Charles de Gaulle airport. It’s a 90 minutes drive and it can be easily combined with your flight.

Le Mans has also good train connections with other regions near by, like Brittany, Bordeaux or Nantes. Small nearby town can be visited by local trains from Le Mans.

If you’re coming by car, Le Mans is well connected with cities on the north coast. From there to Le Mans, you can make a nice trip trough several French towns and beautiful landscapes. Le Mans is located on the L’Oceane highway, which connects Paris to Nantes.

Then book a hotel in Le Mans, France and check it out.