France is undoubtedly one of the most desired tourist destinations not only of Europe , but of the whole world. Its capital, Paris, receives millions of visitors annually, but it is not the only interesting city in the country. Bordeaux , Marseille, Lyon and other villas compete in attractive with places like the beautiful coast of Brittany or the prehistoric sites of the Vézerère Valley to name a few. Join us to know these 25 Curious facts from France that may be unexpected for you.
25 Curious facts of France
France is one of the main countries of Europe , not only because of its size and population, which is around 67 million, but because of its historical and cultural weight. We have divided these Curious facts of France in sections to facilitate reading. We hope you like this information about France !
Curious facts of France Geographical and political
1. One of the Curious facts of France is that it has 12 different time zones and this is because it has overseas territories.
2. France has been one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council since the end of the Second World War.
3. The capital of France , Paris , it exists since the third century BC and was founded on the île de la Cité by a tribe of Celtic Gauls called Parisii . During the Roman occupation it was known as Lutetia.
4. In Brittany you can visit a megalithic site called Carnac. It is believed that it is even earlier than Stonehenge . There are more than 3,000 vertical stones dated between 5000 and 3500 BC.
5. If you want to see one of the highest road bridges in the world, you can drive along the Millau Viaduct. It was designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster and opened in 2005. It has a height of 343 m. on the bottom of the valley.
6. Another of the Curious facts of France is that it was the first country to legalize sexual activity between people of the same sex and did so in 1791.
7. The NGO "Doctors Without Borders" was founded by a group of French doctors in 1971. It received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
8. More information about France really curious: His army is the only one in Europe that still has carrier pigeons. They are ready to be used in case of disasters that prevent other types of communication.
9. If you travel through France you will realize that it is the country of the roundabouts. They have about 30,000, which is more than a half of all the roundabouts in the world.
10. In France the municipality with the shortest name is Y. It is in the department of the Somme.
11. Another of the Curious facts of France is that it is the country with the most winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature. In total, 15.
12. To finish this first block of information about France , it is interesting to know that in the country there are about 40,000 castles and about 400 types of cheeses.
French culture
France is a culturally very rich and diverse country. The French culture has marked that of many other countries in the most diverse fields. Gastronomy, art, literature or world politics are debtors in many ways. Let's see some curiosities of the French culture and its traditions:
13. One of the national treasures is the Bayeux Tapestry, it was created around the year 1070 and recreates the story of how William the Conqueror at the command of the Normans conquered England in the year 1066.
14 Leonardo da Vinci , the last years of his life, he lived in France. He did it at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise. He lived from 1516 until his death in 1519.
15. The Gioconda , the most well-known work of the Italian master is kept in the Louvre Museum, one of the most important pinacotheques in the world, where it is its main star. The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century.
16. To get an idea of the importance of French culture there is nothing more to take a walk by the Père Lachaise cemetery of Paris . There are the tombs of famous people, some French and others who lived in the country. Among them Frédéric Chopin, Honoré de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt, Pissarro, Seuret, Modigliani, Oscar Wilde and many more.
17. The father of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was also French.
18. Every year in the month of May, in the French city of Cannes, the most important film festival in the world takes place.
19. The French flag , called "Le drapeau tricolore" is one of the symbols of French culture. This flag was created in 1790 during the French Revolution.
French cuisine
The French cuisine It is one of the jewels of the culture of France. We are not going to enter it, just mention that every day a new book about the world is published French cuisine . Only two curiosities about drinking and food from France more typical
20. The moldy veins of Roquefort cheese are formed when molds of the genus Penicillium develop internally.
21. The success of the French monk Dom Pierre Pérignon in the seventeenth century to make sparkling wine, was due to the fact that he used a different type of bottle, made in England, and covered the bottles with corks brought from Spain, something that had not been done. predecessors.
How tall is the Eiffel Tower
22. One of the curious facts about France that he asks the most is how tall is the Eiffel Tower . The structure built by Gustave Eiffel measures 324 meters of height counting the antenna of its top part.
Traditions of France
The traditions of France They are many and very varied. Most have to do with religion and are celebrated more in rural areas than in cities. If you want to know the real ones traditions of France It is better to visit towns than cities.
23. We can not say that the guillotine is one of the traditions of France , but if its inventor was the French doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin and devised it in an attempt to make executions more humane. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.
Anthem of France
24. The country adopted as anthem of France "La Marseillaise" in 1795.
25. The original name of the anthem of France was "Le chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin", bone "War song for the Rhine army". She became famous when the National Guard of Marseille sang it while marching towards Paris during the French Revolution.
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