Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [278]
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From place St-Pierre you get a good view of the flying buttresses holding up the 12th- and 13th-century Église St-Pierre. Once part of a Benedictine monastery founded in the 7th century, it was outside the city walls and thus vulnerable to attack; the fortresslike, pre-Romanesque bell tower attached to it was used as a refuge by monks, and dates from around 1000. The fine, brightly coloured clerestory windows in the nave, choir and apse date from the early 14th century.
To the northwest on place St-Aignan, Église St-Aignan is interesting for its wooden barrel-vault roof (1625), arcaded nave and painted interior of faded blue and gold floral motifs (c 1870). The stained glass and the Renaissance Chapelle de St-Michel date from the 16th century.
Le Petit Chart’ Train ( 02 37 25 88 50; lepetitchartrain@wanadoo.fr; adult/3-10yr €5.50/3; 10.30am-6pm Apr-Oct), Chartres’ electric tourist train, covers the main sights in 35 minutes; it departs from in front of the tourist office.
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INFORMATION
Atlanteam ( 02 37 36 62 15; 13bis rue Jehan de Beauce; €1/2/3.60 per 15/30/60min; 10.30am-midnight Mon-Sat, 2pm-midnight Sun) Internet café.
Post Office (3 blvd Maurice Violette)
Tourist Office ( 02 37 18 26 26; www.chartres-tourisme.com; place de la Cathédrale; 9am-7pm Mon-Sat, 9.30am-5.30pm Sun Apr-Sep, 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm & 2.30-4.30pm Sun Oct-Mar) Rents 1½-hour English-language audioguide tours (€5.50/8.50 for one/two) of the medieval city and has info on binocular rental, cathedral lectures in English etc.
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THE BUTCHER OF CHARTRES
There’s nothing sinister about the butcher of Chartres. Boucherie Pinson, the medieval town’s oldest boucherie, tucked behind cherry-red and chocolate ironwork at 4 rue du Soleil d’Or, is all about good, honest, old-fashioned charm.
The shop has been in business since 1892, and Roland Pinson has wielded the proprietor’s knife with precision since 1958. He might well be in his late 70s, but it’s clear from the ferocious passion with which he discusses his cuts that he is here to stay.
‘It’s my life,’ he says with a wry smile, as if it could possibly be anything but. A historic relic, this butcher’s shop is a blast to the past. There is no cash register (just a paper ledger), no digital scales, no meat behind glass or hiding the nasty bits in a back room (fat trimmed from Pinson’s legendary entrecôte and other joints are popped in a wooden drawer). Hunks of meat hang on hooks above a long wooden chopping block, chopped so much it’s U-shaped. White marble clads all four walls bar one in which a 1930s refrigerated larder – the nearest thing to modernity – is embedded. The patterned mosaic floor is original.
Customers, fiercely loyal, have grown up with this shop. Each is greeted first by Madame Pinson, well wrapped in winter coat, hat and scarf (there doesn’t appear to be heating in the shop) – kiss, kiss, one on each cheek – followed by Monsieur Pinson between chops. He wears a shirt and tie underneath his bloodied apron and service is endearingly slow.
‘Do you have any calf kidneys today Roland?’ ‘No, only lamb.’ It’s not all about an attentive personal service. As EU regulations (to which this butcher’s shop, being a protected historical monument, appears immune) are fast seeing certain meat cuts disappear, this butcher of Chartres is one of France’s last bastions of une bouffe d’autrefois (cuisine of yesteryears).
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EATING
Maison du Saumon et de la Truie qui File ( 02 37 36 28 00; 10-14 rue de la Poissonnerie; menus €29.80, €31.60 & €32.90; lunch Tue-Sun, dinner to 11.30pm Tue-Sat) Inhabiting Chartres’ most photographed half-timbered