A few photos of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a town where I was fortunate enough to spend many happy years. This post is a way of keeping alive an old piece I wrote for a now-defunct local paper, Côté Yvelines.
Picture this: Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Some years ago, I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Olivier Bassine for Côté Yvelines. The paper has long since folded, but I held onto the text — and here it is, reproduced in full.
It was a short interview about Saint-Germain-en-Laye — why I love the place, a few things worth seeing, and memories of a town I am genuinely fond of, having lived there — on and off — for the best part of fifteen years.
I have added original photos taken fairly recently, on one of those rare winter days that felt almost like spring — temperature just nudging above zero, with dramatic cloud formations offering something other than the usual flat grey. Côté Yvelines was a free magazine, available online and distributed through bakeries and at the Saint-Germain-en-Laye RER station, as well as other towns across the Yvelines.
by Olivier Bassine, Côté Yvelines
Yann Gourvennec is a devoted fan of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Based in Paris these days, he still returns regularly to photograph and paint the royal town.
The sort of place you’d want to move into
“I’m in Paris now, but I’d have been perfectly happy staying in Saint-Germain. This neo-Gothic house (below) dates from 1850 — one of those extraordinary nineteenth-century buildings that seem to reach back longingly towards the Middle Ages. Every time I walked home along the rue de Tourville, I went right past it.
It’s seen better days — the stonework is badly weathered by pollution — but it’s still a beautiful thing, and you’d find yourself wondering what it would be like to live there.”
The château park kiosks
There’s a real holiday feel to this spot — especially once the weather picks up. Sun loungers appear on the château terrace, and you could quite easily convince yourself you were somewhere rather more exotic. Oddly, it’s quieter in summer, which is precisely when it’s at its best.
The terrace: made for walking
I first came across the terrace of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1984, during my military service at the Ministry of Defence on Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris. They’d bring us out here for physical training. When I later moved back to Saint-Germain — being keen on mountain biking and running — I found myself on it constantly. It’s hard to resist: a sweeping, tree-lined straight, 2.5 km from end to end.
The backstreets of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
These narrow lanes are one of Saint-Germain’s defining features — there are plenty of them, and they never lose their charm. They’re also irresistible subjects for photographs and watercolours (this one leads onto the rue au Pain). I never actually lived in one of these little streets, but I’ve always thought I’d have loved it.
There are many other treasures in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, hidden or not. Here is a full-fledged photo gallery made of the photos taken during that outing in one of the most enchanting places west of the French capital city. It’s a slideshow, all you have to do is click the arrows to move from picture to picture.
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Je suis photographe et aquarelliste. Je pratique la photographie depuis l'enfance et la photographie numérique depuis 1995. J'en ai fait mon activité principale en 2021. Je possède un studio photo dans le 15e arrondissement de Paris
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