Poitiers

Introduction

Poitiers is the capital of the western French region of Poitou-Charentes and has around 92,000 inhabitants. Poitiers is a pleasant, relatively small city of around 85,000 inhabitants that has strong medieval roots. It is on the Clain river. Charles Martel changed the course of French and European history near Poitiers in 732 by halting the advancing Moors in the Battle of Tours, which was the first decisive Christian victory over the Moorish invaders. The battle took place just a few kilometres north of the city.

Sights and Activities

• City Centre. Has a small square called "La Place d'Armes" in front of the Town Hall, which is surrounded by cafes, where you can sit down with a glass of wine or coffee or get something to eat. It is being refurbished; the whole area is now a pedestrian only zone. It gets packed on weekends, especially during summer. Other parts of the town may give you an impression of a ghost town, especially during lunchtime, when the shops are closed.
• Baptistry of St. John. One of the oldest Christian buildings in Europe, dating back to 4th century. Inside, you can see the baptismal pool on the floor.
• St. Pierre Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Poitiers). Has organ performances.
• Church of Notre Dame (Église Notre-Dame la Grande, Poitiers). Virgin Mary is the Patron Saint of France, so every town will have a church named Notre Dame (Our Lady). Poitiers' Notre Dame dates from the medieval times and is of Romanesque architecture. On some evenings after dark, light shows are projected on its façade to illustrate how colourful it used to be.

Getting There

By Plane

Poitiers – Biard Airport (PIS) has flights to Lyon, Edinburgh, Girona and London.

By Train

The journey from Paris (Montparnasse station) to Poitiers takes 90 min on the TGV high speed train. Upon arrival, the city centre is straight ahead out of the station, on the top of the hill.

By Car

Halfway between Paris and Toulouse on the motorway A10, Poitiers can be a nice place to stay for a couple of days on a trip to other destinations in the South West region of France.

Getting Around

Given the small size of the city centre, walking is the best way to get around. All the main attractions, apart from Futuroscope, are within reasonable walking distance of each other.

Poitiers' train and bus stations are next to each other. Nearby towns, cities, and local attractions can be reached by bus, operated by Vitalis.

Sleep

There are many hotels in Poitiers, with prices ranging from €30 for a double room in a one star hotel to more than €200 in a relais et chateaux.

Keep Connected

Internet

France is one of the best connected countries in the world, with data speed for upload/download ranked among the top 5 in the world. Most hotels and hostels would have in-house facilities to provide free internet access. Many major cities also have initiatives put in place to provide free wi-fi connection in public spaces. Alternatively there are internet cafés available in most cities/towns at a reasonable rate. Some private businesses, such as local cafés (or even the Starbuck's chain), may also provide wi-fi connectivity - keep an eye out for the signs by the shop windows/doors. Also look for the @ symbol prominently displayed, which indicates internet availability. However, with most homes now wired for the internet, cyber cafés are increasingly hard to find, especially outside the major cities.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

To dial an international number from France, the IDD is 00, followed by the country code that you wish to dial, the area code and the phone number.
To call France from abroad, start with the international direct dialing (IDD) code from the country you're in, followed by French country code 33, the area code (drop the first zero in front of the area code), and the phone number. French telephone numbers are rarely given without the area code. The telephone number, including the area code, is made up of 10 digits. They are written in a set of 5 pairs of digits (i.e. 01 xx xx xx xx xx).
In France, the area code designations are: 01 - Paris Area ("Région Ile-de-France"), 02 - northwest, 03 - northeast, 04 - southeast, 05 - southwest, 06 - mobile phone providers. From 2010 onwards, 07 will also be assigned to mobile phone providers in order to cater for the surging demands for mobile phones.

Emergency numbers are 15 (medical aid), 17 (police station) and 18 (fire/rescue). You can also use the European emergency number 112 (perhaps a better choice if you don't speak French). These calls are free and accessible from virtually any phone, including locked cellphones.

France uses the GSM standard of cellular phones (900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands) used in most of the world outside of the U.S. There are several companies (Orange, SFR, Free, Bouygues Télécom and some others MVNOs like Virgin Mobile) offering wireless service. The country is almost totally covered but you may have difficulties using your mobile phone in rural or mountainous areas. If you stay for some time, it may be advisable to buy a pre-paid cell phone card that you can use in any phone that supports the GSM standard on the 900/1800 MHz bands. Then incoming calls and SMSes are free.

Post

La Poste in France is also referred to as the PTT (short for postes, télégraphes et téléphones). The mailboxes are painted bright yellow and often there is a slot for local city mail and another slot for "outside mail". Normally there is a queue in the post office, but most of the post offices have the self service machine installed which is quite easy to operate. Nowadays many of the tabac and even some of the souvenir shops also sell postage stamps. Normally an overseas postcard costs almost as much as sending a letter. Mails sent in France also have a zip code. The first two numbers represent the administrative department (e.g. in Paris' case that would be 75).

Post offices are generally open from 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Apart from the basic job of mailing letters, most of the post offices do some banking activities also and some even have photocopy machines and cyber cafes for internet access.

For international package services, you might also check options with companies like DHL, UPS or TNT, which have competitive services and prices and might be faster in most cases.

External Links

• Official Governmental Website
• Official Tourism Website