Saint-Jean-les-Deux-Jumeaux France
Frequently Asked Questions
At a pontoon on the Marne in Seine-et-Marne, in a meander lined with meadows and poplars. The village has a few hundred residents and sits barely an hour from the Paris boulevards, yet in another world entirely.
This is a breathing stop, not a sightseeing one. The towpath, flat and shaded, invites a walk; the church takes a few minutes; and in season the mooring rents electric bicycles and pedal boats to turn the stop into a country loop.
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste church has raised its Gothic outline above the roofs since the 13th century, and the interior holds the surprise: 17th-century woodwork, listed as a historic monument, wrapping the choir in the warmth of aged oak. A few minutes is enough.
A former royal hunting estate nearby, where Henri IV had a chateau built for Gabrielle d'Estrées. Only romantic ruins remain, reachable by bicycle from the towpath.
Yes, the river mooring rents electric bicycles in season. The towpath is flat, shaded and suits every pace, on foot or on wheels.
Yes, on the nearby heights. Its 7th-century Merovingian crypt is among the oldest surviving examples of funerary architecture in France: carved sarcophagi and antique columns in a striking half-light. Reachable by shipboard excursion or by bicycle, depending on time.
Four kilometres downstream, it was long the world capital of millstone quarrying: its quarries supplied the stones that ground grain in mills across Europe and America. The town retains a distinctive industrial heritage.
Very few. Plan your purchases on board or at the main stops. This is a village of a few hundred people, not a call equipped for passing traffic.
Brie de Meaux, king of cheeseboards since the Congress of Vienna, with a local mustard or a glass of champagne: the appellation boundary is only a few dozen kilometres upstream. A picnic on the bank makes the most fitting meal here.
Spring, when the surrounding orchards are in blossom, and autumn, when morning mist lingers on the river until the sun burns it off. Summer works too, but the light is less interesting.
