A Travel Guide to Lorraine
Lorraine is a place with many artistic traditions. Among the oldest crafts in Lorraine, the most popular is crystal. For more than 200 years, Baccarat has been well known all over Europe for its hand-blown glass, however Saint Louis crystal was being produced for more than 400 years, which makes it the oldest crystal glass works in the country. Wonderful pieces of crystal that are decorated and engraved with gold can be seen here. Since the beginning of the 16th century Lunéville and Mirecourt have been creating embroidery. You can still find pearl embroidery in the couture houses.
Earthenware and china has been produced in St Clement since the 18th century and crystal enamel has been produced in Longwy. Stringed instruments like violins are mainly produced in Mirecourt. These instruments are exported all around the world. The tradition of manufacturing musical instruments began in the 17th century, it also included the production of organs. Mirecourt has over thousand organs; Moselle has 600 of them, making it one of the largest collections of musical instruments in France. There are many who visit the area both to buy the instruments and to watch how they are made.
With more than a hundred gardens and parks and three nature reserves, the Lorraine-Vosges is an amazing Place for a botanist. It has more than 40 orchid species, one botanical garden, more than 3000 plants and the Parc du Haut-Chitelet, which is one of the best alpine gardens in Europe. The first European prize for towns with gardens and flowers was awarded to Metz. Along with the Meuse, Meurthe and Moselle, there are a number of secondary rivers that make the scenery extremely beautiful. With two theme parks, a zoological Museum and five thermal spas at Nancy, a miniature railway that runs through the Abreschviller forest, steam train at Vallée de la Canner and a 600 hectare thermal and tourist complex, the attractions in Lorraine are highly varied and many. Visitors will never have a boring day in this region as some exciting activity or a fascinating place to be seen is just around the corner.
There is a wide variety of self catering holiday accommodation in Lorraine ranging from apartments in the towns to gites and cottages in the countryside.
