Dark Travel: Picardy (northern France)

I always love to read Amy's (http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.com/) accounts of her travels and day-trips and they inspired me to write about my own journeys as well. The last time I travelled outside of Europe was exactly a year ago, when I went to Morocco with my boyfriend. Since then I’ve only been to places in Europe though and this probably won’t change for a while, because we have very little money to spend. So my travel topics will mainly concern European countries.

Wherever I travel, I always seek out places that have interesting historical stories to tell. Being an archaeologist and a cultural heritage expert, I especially like to visit excavation sites and monumental buildings. But I also tend to look for places with a ‘dark’, mysterious atmosphere. Usually these traits are not difficult to find all in one spot. Since this blog is mainly about ‘dark things’, I will concentrate on those places that could be of interest to likeminded people.

Last summer we went to northern France, to a region called Picardy. This area is particularly known for the origin of the gothic building style and therefore one can visit plenty of beautiful cathedrals and cathedral ruins. There are many charming cities with a rich cultural history, such as Amiens and Laon. But even in the smallest villages there are breathtakingly beautiful remains of castles and abbeys.

Since most tourists travel further south towards the warmer provinces, this area of northern France is not overly crowded with foreigners during summertime. This is certainly a good thing if one wants to engage with the locals and enjoy nature and places of cultural interest without having to stand in line first. Finding a local goth club can be a lot harder in this area though. We certainly didn't come across anything like it, so keep that in mind if that's what you're looking for! 

Since we visited many places, I will write several posts on Picardy. This one is just a general impression of the region. 

The village of Berny-Rivière, where our camping place was:

More impressions of Picardy: