This small island, a byproduct of 19th-century canal construction, is now home to a charming Japanese garden.

This church looks more like a spaceship than a house of worship.

This "social palace" housing complex created a relatively stable and self-contained worker's society... for a time.

When the imprisoned pope's remains were finally returned to the Vatican, his heart stayed behind in France.

France's third-largest necropolis offers a peaceful respite from a busy port city.

A quaint medieval harbour where Benjamin Franklin landed in 1776.

This pair of running lions engraved on animal bone is one of the earliest artistic depictions of big cats.

Celebrate the end of the Great French Wine Blight with a festival of kissing.

A miniature Corsican village built out of pebbles.

A once drab public housing estate is transformed into a colorful gallery of trompe l’oeil murals.

Before the electric telegraph, a chain of stone towers carried messages across France.

This disused boat elevator was saved from the scrap heap so that visitors could tour its rusting skeleton.

This fascinating abbey is considered the oldest monastery in the region.

This 5,000-year-old tomb once had its own hinged door.

In France, a medieval-style home pays homage to an intrepid explorer who discovered Québec.

A snowy highland notorious for unexplained aircraft crashes is France's own Bermuda Triangle.

A garden of massive sculptures sits in Jean Lindard's backyard.

A fortified palace in the shape of a ship on the Thiou river.

The shape of this old salt factory complex was inspired by the course of the Sun.

This traditional festival celebrates a family of wooden giants that have survived Nazis, wars, and religion.

The huge golden reliquary of a testicle-smashing saint.

A 13th century fortified house built to defend the Duchy of Burgundy.

The woman who helped save 15th-century France was born in this humble home.

Lyon's miniature version of the Eiffel Tower was built as a statement in support of French secularism.