Flânerie in Saint-Germain-en-Laye

This is the 32nd in a series of walking tours highlighting the sites and stories of diverse districts of Paris.

I’ve always wanted to wander round Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where the history books tell us so many kings of old liked to hunt, feast and do a little scheming. So, when I discovered how easy it is to reach by hopping on the RER Line A and heading west for barely 30 minutes, the lure was irresistible.     

It’s one of those destinations where the beauty smacks you in the face as you exit the station. The majestic château is just across the road, its creamy stone walls and sculpted balconies topped by a balustrade and bookended by romantic towers. It’s simply stunning. I stopped. I stared. I feared that no photograph I could take would do it justice. I walked round to the side, admiring the architectural detail, then back the other way to gaze past the elaborate gates into the garden, a perfectly proportioned André Le Nôtre creation. Then I passed under the fluttering tricolore and through the entrance to explore the inside. 

Until the 17th century, this was French royalty’s grandest château, home to 29 kings of France, starting with Louis the Fat, under whom its construction began in the 1120s. The last was Louis XIV, who was born here, but left Saint-Germain for good in 1682, taking his court and most of the furniture with him to settle at his flashy new residence in Versailles. In its heyday, during the reigns of Francis I and Henri II, large numbers of guests flocked here to hunt in the surrounding forest, dance in the ballroom and try out the jeu de paume tennis courts. There was even a zoo. The Emperor Napoleon – who enjoyed chateau life as much as any royal – liked to visit too and he established a cavalry school here in the early 1800s. 

Under the “other” Napoleon, Emperor Napoleon III, the château was renovated and opened to the public as a museum for France’s Gallo-Roman treasures. Today, building on that, it is the home of the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale, housing  29,000 objects and telling the country’s archaeological story from prehistory to the Middle Ages. Entry to this treasure house is only 6€, and I decided – with apologies to archaeology fans! –  simply to walk through, admiring the building itself and to come back another time to uncover the secrets of its displays. The two spectacular highlights I saw were most definitely worth the entry price in their own right. 

I found an exit to the balcony overlooking the carefully restored central courtyard and was able to stand there alone, gazing at the renaissance facades of cream stone and red brick, where arched walkways ran around all four sides, underneath a double row of arched windows.  It was easy to picture scenes from the past – royal guests striding out in their hunting clothes, merrymakers returning from a feast, the hush on the day when Louis XIII died here, a courtier scurrying across with a message from Louis XIV to his mistress, Madame de Maintenon.   

The other highlight is the chapel, built in the 13th century by Louis IX, later Saint Louis, where the plain walls and high vaulted ceiling are a testament to the faith of this very pious king.  At one end, is a stained-glass window, decorated by golden Fleur de Lys symbols on a bright blue background, a reminder of the château’s royal connections.  My mind wandered to a wedding which took place here, that of the flamboyant François I to Claude, the quiet, frail Duchess of Brittany who bore seven royal children before her death in her mid-twenties.  I knew too that when the long-awaited baby Louis, the future Louis XIV, was baptised here, 30,000 bells were rung in celebration all over France. 

But there was much more of Saint-Germain-en-Laye to explore and first I went to the Espace Vera, described as ‘a little temple of Art Déco’, where the work of the Vera brothers is honoured.  André (1881-1971), a garden designer, and Paul (1882-1957), a painter and designer, moved out of central Paris to live and work here and when Paul died, his brother bequeathed his work to the town and set up this museum in his memory.  The displays were an eclectic mix including tapestry chairs with art deco motifs, geometric garden designs and watercolours depicting forest walks around Saint-Germain-en-Laye and holidays spent at Honfleur on the Normandy coast.   

At the tourist office, just two minutes’ walk from the château, I collected a handy little map outlining walking routes past the town’s highlights and chose the shorter one, the “Heart of the Town” circuit. It took me first into Rue du Vieil Abreuvoir, where the house with the elaborate balcony turned out to have belonged to Mme de Maintenon, mistress and then second wife of Louis XIV. The notes said she bought the house, so handily placed for the royal château, in 1680 and I wondered whether Louis had paid for it. Either way, the beautiful wrought-iron railings around the balcony were not from her time. They were added in 1880. 

History oozed out of buildings I passed and plaques highlighted that a duke had lived here, a marquis there. The road names spoke volumes too, whether Rue des Coches, named after the spot where horse-drawn coaches used to depart for Versailles and Paris, or Rue des Vieilles Boucheries, where the old meat market was held and which is now a delightfully narrow road full of colorfully painted houses. Flour Street (Rue à la Farine) is where the grain hall was and Bread Street (Rue au Pain) is where the bakers set out their stalls on market day. Number 38 is the house where Debussy was born, alas closed and covered in scaffolding, but due to reopen shortly. 

Many of the olde worlde buildings are now shops and cafes, places to browse when you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for, but will know it when you see it. A scarf from Lily Rose in Rue des Coches perhaps, or something inspirational from Auxa Camomile in Rue du Vieil Abreuvoir, where text painted onto the window promised haute couture, accessories, luxury leather, fantasy jewellery and furs. If you are a shopper, you’ll love it, if – like me! – you are not really, then you will surely still be enticed into a little browsing. 

If I had to pick one shop you really mustn’t miss, it’s the Patisserie Grandin in Rue au Pain, founded in 1822, a veritable high temple of all things sweet. I think I saw every gâteau I’ve ever heard of, plus some Saint-Germain specials such as the Debussy – think hazelnut, chocolate and rum-soaked raisins – to celebrate one of the town’s best-known residents. I wanted to sit straight down and enjoy something decadent but, alas, it’s a shop and not, as the assistant I questioned explained, probably for the tenth time that day, un salon de thé. I feared one of their exquisitely crafted pastry masterpieces would fare poorly on the RER back to Paris, so I forced myself to pass on this occasion. 

Rue de la Salle, near the end of my circuit, summed it all up. Number 14, a half-timbered beauty, which is said to be the oldest house in the town, is a stone’s throw from Starbucks.  Also here are, to pick at random, Tanago, crammed with accessories and jewelery, the 17th century “residence of the Marshalls of Villeroy,” once owned by the governor to Louis XIV, and a branch of the Orange phone company. Just around the corner, in the Place Charles de Gaulle, came the imposing Saint-Germain church, a pillared building in the style of La Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement.  In short, a real mix.   

Before hopping back on the train, I made for the castle gardens, so renowned that they are both a jardin remarquable and a monument historique. I didn’t have time to do justice to the several thousand hectares of forest, or even the 40 acres of formal gardens leading out from the château. I opted for a stroll from the front gate to the huge circular pond where a look back through the fountains gave me another splendid château vista. Then I followed a tree-lined walkway to a viewpoint where the tall blocks of la Défense rose up in the distance and Paris splayed out at their feet. Quite a sight! 

Two or three minutes’ walk away I found a little café hidden at the edge of a wood. Not quite the Patisserie Grandin, but a secluded haven for enjoying a drink and a cake du jour. There I plotted a further visit to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to seek out the things I’d missed, such as the archaeological treasures, Debussy’s birthplace and the Maurice Denis Museum of Symbolist works. Then I’d have a proper look at the castle grounds and try out one of the walking routes through the forest listed on a leaflet from the Tourist Office. In Saint-Germain-en-Laye, as I have so often found in other places, one flânerie has a tendency to lead to ideas for another!