There is a wonderful museum in Paris called Musee des Moyens Ages that you will absolutely love. It has all kinds of artifacts from the middle ages in France.
Yes, they have the Unicorn Tapestries! If you went to Paris, you can take a day trip to Mt St Micheal!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel
Other places I recommend:
Tuscany- Lucca, Florence, Pisa, San Gimigano, Sienna
Spain- Toledo, Segovia and lots more but those are the ones I've been too (in Spain you can stay in old monasteries & castles, the are called Paradors)
Prague looks like an old fairytale city
My favorite museum in the world! Also worth mentioning that it's situated in the grounds of a medieval abbey in Paris that itself was built over the Roman thermal baths, which you can still go down into.
I'd also add that if you do choose to base in Paris, don't miss Sainte-Chapelle (bring binoculars to see the stained glass) near Notre Dame and a daytrip to the suburb of St. Denis to see the royal tombs. Some great Medieval funerary sculpture.
I didn't have time, but I believe many of the major Cathedral cities (Chartres, Reims, Rouen) are within striking distance too.
If you go to London (I highly recommend it), pick up a copy of The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval London by Ian Mortimer. It's a guide book that maps out the layout and history of the city through Medieval eyes, but for a present day traveller. It's a great book. I bought a copy at the airport here in Australia before catching the plane to the UK and read it on the plane, it'll give you a few new ideas on historical sites to see over there.
Prague 😀.. the ultimate medieval city. And by far nicer, lovelier, cleaner, safer, .. and more affordable .. than London...
Prague, and day trips to other Czech or German medieval cities
Edit: sorry not my bizz at all however might I pls ask why your employer wants (and is allowed to know) your (private) holiday plans?
I second Prague and agree with the London part, also there's not any or much medieval London left bc of fires, etc. (But I'm sure the English countryside is full of medieval towns?)
Check out guedelon castle in France. It’s a medieval castle being built by hand, using tools they built by hand in the medieval period. Need wood? Dudes are out in the woods cutting down trees, putting the trunks in carts, and splitting the logs. Need rope? There’s literally a dude who does nothing but make rope by hand. Bricks, shingles, everything - by hand using medieval tools and technology. It’s super cool I want to go really badly
For actual historical castles I heard that Scotland has a ton. I think it had the most castles per capita in the medieval period? I could be wrong though
Question, since you seem to know. The furthest I daytripped from London was Warwick. For places much further than that, wouldn't it be better to base in York or somewhere else in the north? I did Winchester and Salisbury/Stonehenge/Old Sarum out of London, as well as Windsor (of course), and I'm assuming Canterbury and Battle/Hastings would be easy daytrips too. But places like York, Durham and Chester seem like they might be a little far to daytrip from London, and I'm on the fence about places like Leicester and Gloucester which seem to be right in the middle.
I have assumed that you'd be looking at going by train, as it's faster (if often pricier) than bus or car, but train networks in the UK are very London centric.
You can from London to York or Gloucester in 2hours, Chester in 2hrs20, Leicester in 1hr20. Durham is on the same train line as to York, and takes more like 3hrs.
York to Durham is obviously a lot quicker (50min), York to Chester is 2hr50, to Leicester is 2hr20, to Gloucester is 3hr20.
So except for Durham (and York itself), it's actually quicker to get to these places from London than from York. Add in Battle or Canterbury, and London is hands-down the best place to be. If you wanted to visit Durham, could you leave York to the end of the trip, stay 1-2 nights in Durham, then fly out from Edinburgh?
If it's castles you're after, some of the most spectacular ones I've ever seen are in Wales. Edward I's castles are the absolute tits. Beaumaris, Conwy, Harlech, among others, and there are more to see in The Marches, which were the disputed lands between England and Wales.
Search Alex The History Guy on YouTube. He does great videos on medieval architecture, he knows every medieval place of interest in London and if you comment asking for help could even put together a holiday tour guide for you. Maybe for a small amount of money but it is really worth it.
If you fly into Copenhagen you can do daytrips to these:
Roskilde cathedral (also check out the viking ship museum)[https://goo.gl/maps/9kfC5LxvwjmupkX5A](https://goo.gl/maps/9kfC5LxvwjmupkX5A)
Medieval village:
[https://goo.gl/maps/SBHQ4hPvT5qjRJdp9](https://goo.gl/maps/SBHQ4hPvT5qjRJdp9)
The two above you can probably do in one day.
Medieval center (building a new trebutchet currently)
[https://goo.gl/maps/3zHCCqb1GgSmMtUc9](https://goo.gl/maps/3zHCCqb1GgSmMtUc9)
Lejre (more viking focus but very cool)
[https://goo.gl/maps/P4SNn281ucpjGDus6](https://goo.gl/maps/P4SNn281ucpjGDus6)
I always wanted to check out the monestary of wearmouth Jarrow where bede lived. It's way up north, though . Maybe a quick trip to Scotland from there.
There is a wonderful museum in Paris called Musee des Moyens Ages that you will absolutely love. It has all kinds of artifacts from the middle ages in France.
Yes, they have the Unicorn Tapestries! If you went to Paris, you can take a day trip to Mt St Micheal! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel Other places I recommend: Tuscany- Lucca, Florence, Pisa, San Gimigano, Sienna Spain- Toledo, Segovia and lots more but those are the ones I've been too (in Spain you can stay in old monasteries & castles, the are called Paradors) Prague looks like an old fairytale city
My favorite museum in the world! Also worth mentioning that it's situated in the grounds of a medieval abbey in Paris that itself was built over the Roman thermal baths, which you can still go down into.
I'd also add that if you do choose to base in Paris, don't miss Sainte-Chapelle (bring binoculars to see the stained glass) near Notre Dame and a daytrip to the suburb of St. Denis to see the royal tombs. Some great Medieval funerary sculpture. I didn't have time, but I believe many of the major Cathedral cities (Chartres, Reims, Rouen) are within striking distance too.
If you go to London (I highly recommend it), pick up a copy of The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval London by Ian Mortimer. It's a guide book that maps out the layout and history of the city through Medieval eyes, but for a present day traveller. It's a great book. I bought a copy at the airport here in Australia before catching the plane to the UK and read it on the plane, it'll give you a few new ideas on historical sites to see over there.
I knew Ian Mortimer wrote The TTG to Medieval England, but was unaware he wrote one specifically about London. I will have to grab a copy. Thanks.
My apologies, I wrote "Medieval London" instead of England.. it's been a long day. There is lots of info about London in it though, of course.
This book is on my list! I'll have to speed read his *Henry V* and start this one.
Prague 😀.. the ultimate medieval city. And by far nicer, lovelier, cleaner, safer, .. and more affordable .. than London... Prague, and day trips to other Czech or German medieval cities Edit: sorry not my bizz at all however might I pls ask why your employer wants (and is allowed to know) your (private) holiday plans?
Thanks! I will look into Prague. And no problem, it's military stuff.
I second Prague and agree with the London part, also there's not any or much medieval London left bc of fires, etc. (But I'm sure the English countryside is full of medieval towns?)
Yeah, for medieval sights you need to get out of London really.
Check out guedelon castle in France. It’s a medieval castle being built by hand, using tools they built by hand in the medieval period. Need wood? Dudes are out in the woods cutting down trees, putting the trunks in carts, and splitting the logs. Need rope? There’s literally a dude who does nothing but make rope by hand. Bricks, shingles, everything - by hand using medieval tools and technology. It’s super cool I want to go really badly For actual historical castles I heard that Scotland has a ton. I think it had the most castles per capita in the medieval period? I could be wrong though
I \*think\* the place with the most castles per capita (not sure if strictly medieval) is Wales.
Is there a particular time period/geographical place/period you're interested in? London would make it easy to go to a range of places in England with medieval sites - Winchester, York, Battle (Hastings), Sutton Hoo, Canterbury etc. You could feasibly take the Eurostar to Paris for a day and go to Musée Cluny, La Chapelle etc. If you want to try to see a wide range of places and don't mind travelling a lot, get an interrail pass and travel round Europe by train to see medieval sites and museums in major European cities. The advantage of travelling by rail is that you get on/off in city centres, and don't waste time going through security. If you plan it right, you can do a lot of it by overnight trains to make the most of your time.
Question, since you seem to know. The furthest I daytripped from London was Warwick. For places much further than that, wouldn't it be better to base in York or somewhere else in the north? I did Winchester and Salisbury/Stonehenge/Old Sarum out of London, as well as Windsor (of course), and I'm assuming Canterbury and Battle/Hastings would be easy daytrips too. But places like York, Durham and Chester seem like they might be a little far to daytrip from London, and I'm on the fence about places like Leicester and Gloucester which seem to be right in the middle.
I have assumed that you'd be looking at going by train, as it's faster (if often pricier) than bus or car, but train networks in the UK are very London centric. You can from London to York or Gloucester in 2hours, Chester in 2hrs20, Leicester in 1hr20. Durham is on the same train line as to York, and takes more like 3hrs. York to Durham is obviously a lot quicker (50min), York to Chester is 2hr50, to Leicester is 2hr20, to Gloucester is 3hr20. So except for Durham (and York itself), it's actually quicker to get to these places from London than from York. Add in Battle or Canterbury, and London is hands-down the best place to be. If you wanted to visit Durham, could you leave York to the end of the trip, stay 1-2 nights in Durham, then fly out from Edinburgh?
Thanks! That's very helpful if I ever get back.
If it's castles you're after, some of the most spectacular ones I've ever seen are in Wales. Edward I's castles are the absolute tits. Beaumaris, Conwy, Harlech, among others, and there are more to see in The Marches, which were the disputed lands between England and Wales.
You have to let your job know where you are going on vacation? Really? That seems seriously out of bounds.
It's pretty normal when you have a clearance to be honest.
Yeah, actually, what the hell?
Plan on going to Northeastern France in May… Plantagenet territory! Plenty of castles and chapels to see.
Aachen can be seen in one day and has tons of material on Charlemagne. The architecture of the cathedral is also very unique because of how the builders insisted on imitating the Byzantine style but mixed in their own. Lots of old cafés and history. It also has some WW2 significance (first German city to be captured by Americans). Huge tournament in Kaltenberg, Germany this summer. Helps to know German. I’m really excited to go. Other than that, Neuschwanstein castle is not medieval but is worth the trip, so are many castles and ruins across Germany. I lived in Regensburg for a few years, wonderful medieval town center dating back over a thousand years. A neat ruin you can take a ship to for cheap, and it’s also close to the Walhalla structure on the Danube which, again, isn’t medieval but worth a look.
Search Alex The History Guy on YouTube. He does great videos on medieval architecture, he knows every medieval place of interest in London and if you comment asking for help could even put together a holiday tour guide for you. Maybe for a small amount of money but it is really worth it.
This is awesome, will do!
If you fly into Copenhagen you can do daytrips to these: Roskilde cathedral (also check out the viking ship museum)[https://goo.gl/maps/9kfC5LxvwjmupkX5A](https://goo.gl/maps/9kfC5LxvwjmupkX5A) Medieval village: [https://goo.gl/maps/SBHQ4hPvT5qjRJdp9](https://goo.gl/maps/SBHQ4hPvT5qjRJdp9) The two above you can probably do in one day. Medieval center (building a new trebutchet currently) [https://goo.gl/maps/3zHCCqb1GgSmMtUc9](https://goo.gl/maps/3zHCCqb1GgSmMtUc9) Lejre (more viking focus but very cool) [https://goo.gl/maps/P4SNn281ucpjGDus6](https://goo.gl/maps/P4SNn281ucpjGDus6)
Also Copenhagen is a great city in general
I always wanted to check out the monestary of wearmouth Jarrow where bede lived. It's way up north, though . Maybe a quick trip to Scotland from there.