Poitiers History Walks:

For the history lover, Poitiers has it all.  Here the Romans built one of the largest of their arenas, the Wisigoths set out for their most important battle, and the first monastery in Gaul was established.  Battles and weddings made, and unmade, France.  Counts, Dukes, Kings, and Emperors lived in Poitiers; an Empress was exiled here, a Queen exiled herself here, and Joan of Arc left from here.  Romanesque sculptors and Troubadours reached the peak of their art at Poitiers, Templars met their downfall here, and no city boasted longer fortified walls.  The Giant Gargantua, a winged nun-devouring dragon and a devil with gas all made their appearance. 

Today’s Poitiers is quieter than its turbulent past, but its old streets are lined with ancient mansions, monuments, and stories.  Poitiers is also the classic city for walking: you can walk everywhere, and nothing is far.  Poitiers Historical Walks will guide you through the city, and help you find the educational, the memorable, and the amusing.  Come and discover the city with the momentous and humorous past.

Our guide offers you five walks, each one focused on a particular theme in Poitiers’ history: (1) Touring Limonum guides you through the Gallo-Roman city; (2) Along Poitiers’ High Street climbs from the River Clain to Notre-Dame-la-Grande, touching on all epochs of the city’s history; (3) Wisigoths, Vikings, Saints and Martyrs covers the period from the Fall of Rome to the rise of the Count-Dukes of Aquitaine; (4) In the Footsteps of Eleanor of Aquitaine follows one of history’s most remarkable women, and the last of the Aquitaine dynasty; and (5) Reformed and Reconstructed Poitiers takes us from the Renaissance, through the Wars of Religion, and ends with the Urban Renewal of the 19th century. Separately our Tales of Poitiers also present some two-dozen-plus short vignettes that add stories to the walks, or that can be read as a history by themselves.