Metz - Buses and Buses - Transportation - Attractions Monuments and Sightseeing.

Lorraine is a part of eastern France, right on the border with Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. The region, which until January 2016 was described using an acronym - ACAL. This is an acronym for the first letters of Alsace, Champagne, Ardennes and Lorraine. Interestingly, since the beginning of 2016, the region's name has been changed to Grand EST.

The urban municipality of Metz, as the largest of all Lorraine's municipalities, is its capital and, as it turns out, a rather important point on the historical, as it were, map of Europe. A Europe in conflict, engaged in years of wars and squabbles, often over small tracts of land.

Initially, back in the days of the Roman Empire, Metz was one of the main centers of Gaul. It became rich from the export of wine. Metz was home to an amphitheater, an aqueduct and numerous fortifications. When the city was occupied by the Franks in the fifth century, there were already Christians in the area, as evidenced by the fact that there was already a church there.

Over the following centuries and dozens of conflicts, fought in every corner of Europe, Metz had to defend its independence from outside forces. First, in the 12th century, it sought independence from the authority of the bishops, then from the Dukes of Luxembourg and the armies of the participants in the Hundred Years' War. The following centuries were increasingly turbulent for the city. It fell into the hands of once one, then the other, and finally in 1918 it became part of France.

Attractions and sights in Metz

The story of the city should begin with the fact that Metz is the world capital of mirabelles. It is from there that these small yellow plums, which still grew in almost every Polish backyard in the late 1990s, originated.

Metz is also a legend of a dragon called Graoully, having its lair right in the current capital of Lorraine. According to belief, the dragon's name is derived from a French word meaning swarm. This is attributed to the myth that the dragon and its accompanying snakes were like a swarm in an amphitheater. Until the nineteenth century, the city had a procession with an effigy of the dragon. During the St. Mark's procession, three flags were carried, including one depicting the dragon's head. In the next century, an effigy of a dragon was built, and later, instead of banners, a huge effigy of Graoully began to be presented.

In Metz you must visit the Templar Chapel, with breathtaking frescoes painted on the ceiling of the temple. Also noteworthy is the Basilica of Saint Peter, dating back to 380 AD. It was rebuilt in the tenth century and restored in the last century.

And don't forget the museums, especially the Centre Pompidou, a museum of contemporary art, focusing on presenting works created since 1905.

Metz - transportation and buses

You can get to Metz, for example, by bus Sindbad. The stop where our buses stop in Metz occupies the intersection of Monument aux Morts Avenue Joffre and Avenue Ney, near the Moselle River, on which this beautiful city lies.

From the stop it's a stone's throw to the old town and St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is also an important item on many tourists' lists.