Besançon, France

Over the four day Easter weekend we made a day trip to Besançon in France. The city was rather dreary and sterile, but the citadel above the city was amazing. 

Besançon was the least colorful of any of the French cities we have visited

City center where we caught the tail end of the market

The Doubs river flows right next to the city

Picnic lunch on the Doubs

Looking through the gate to the fountain in the city center

After lunch we headed up the hill to visit the Citadel and passed by several Roman ruins on our way up.

Remains of an amphitheater

Roman gate

Hiking up to the Citadel with the city in the background

Entrance to the Citadel

From inside, looking out at the city

The Citadel is like a huge, well protected and well preserved city. It occupies 11 hectares and houses several buildings. These buildings have been turned into several museums and part of the Citidel grounds have been turned into a zoo.

Monkeys live in the moats around the city

View from inside the city walls

One of the buildings has been transformed into an aquarium

Jack next to a fish

Another portion of the building has been turned into an insectarium

Our favorite part of the Citadel was the zoo. It was really neat to see the animals living in these ancient ruins.

Jack named this lion Simba

Looking out over the zoo

Entrance to the zoo

Looking down at the river from the Citadel

View of the Citadel walls

We walked back down to the city for dinner and stopped so Jack could have a ride on this classic carousal