Chartres, our first stop

Our first full day was also the day of our longest drive. We picked up our car and were on the road from Paris to Dinan, a town in Brittany 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the west. Less than four hours, if you take the main autoroute.

We didn't need to be there until dinner time. That meant there should be plenty of time for side trips and stops on the way. Right?

Our first stop was in Chartres, home of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres). The current cathedral was constructed mostly between 1194 and 1250. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture.


The cathedral sits on top of the hill in the center of the city.




The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact.

St. Basil's Cathedral - on the inside

St. Basil's Cathedral - Interiors - Images by Pam Lane

Now to the inside of St. Basil's Cathedral. As I mentioned in my previous post, the cathedral is actually eight churches arranged around a ninth central church, joined by a labyrinth of corridors. And each room is uniquely decorated.

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral - Exteriors - Images by Pam Lane

In the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible ordered the building of the Cathedral of the Protecting Veil, or the Church of Saint Vasily the Blessed (Saint Basil in English) to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. According to legend, Ivan had the architect blinded so that he could not create a more beautiful building. The story is somewhat doubtful, but the beauty is not exaggerated.


St. Basil's stands just outside the Kremlin walls, at the far end of Red Square. When you enter the square from the typical entrance to the north, St. Basil's rises up in the distance, across the huge stretch of the square, like something out of a fairy tale.

The cathedral is actually eight churches arranged around a ninth central church. The building's design is unlike anything else in Russian architecture.

The cathedral was originally all white. It must have been beautiful that way too, but it's hard to imagine. The color was added in the 17th century.

The cathedral was secularized in 1929 and remains the property of the Russian Federation, serving as a historical museum.