World Cup football fans can feast on French culture between matches. Gareth Huw Davies reports
A sporting chance to see France
This old Breton port has big plans for the World Cup. Cours St André is being turned into a mock Copacabana Beach. Spectators can travel by riverboat.
After having afternoon tea (£3.45) at La Cigale (Place Graslin) - all mirrors, mosaics and rococo gilding - I visited the Museum of Fine Art (Rue Gambetta; entry £3.18) to see Courbet's Les Cribleuses de Blé. In the evening, I went to the Arms' Park bar (Rue Kervegan), for live jazz, rugby scarves and photos.
- BORDEAUX
I stopped for coffee at Nulle Part Ailleurs (19 Cours du Maréchal Foch) , a swish café owned by football stars Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry.
I lunched at Aux Trois Arcades in Place du Parlement, a quiet, traffic-free square with a fountain; then strolled along the immense waterfront, where old port buildings take new life. Even a huge concrete German submarine shed is soon to be made into an arts complex.
- TOULOUSE Toulouse is a rugby-obsessed city and home to the French star Thomas Castaignede, a student. I spent an hour in the enormous Place du Capitole trying to spot the fly-half on his way to a lecture. But no sign of him, although there was many a dyed-blond lookalike.
- MONTPELLIER This is the western Med, where the Spanish influence is strong and the welcome brighter. I lost eight francs in the bus ticket machine; the driver gave me such a cheery smile, I didn't complain.
- MARSEILLES During the World Cup, Marseilles's Vieux Port will have the best free, staged entertainment of all the World Cup venues. And it will also be one of the best venues for seafood restaurants. The Bar de la Marine (on the port, Quai de Rive Neuve), where I sampled the seafood salad, was excellent - and other restaurants looked just as good.
- ST ETIENNE The former rubbish tip opposite my hotel, now a golf course, exemplifies St Etienne's make-over. And on the trolley ride into town, I passed its last coalmine, closed in the early 1990s; during the tournament, a local artist plans to wrap the slag heap in ribbons.
- LYONS Lyons has a huge amount to offer between matches: the largest Renaissance district in Europe after Venice; Place Bellecour, one of Europe's largest squares (space for a permanent force of charging cavalry); the mighty, recently restored opera house, brilliantly extended below and above. And on top of all this, it is the gastronomic capital of France; arguably, the world.
- PARIS AND ST DENIS My first call was the ticket window at Gare du Nord for that astonishing bargain, the Paris Visite pass (£5.35): valid all day on buses, the Métro and RER trains.
- LENS Lens is often ribbed for being boring; nothing there except the steam engine-shaped railway station, we are told.
- Getting there: Rail Europe, the UK representative of SNCF, has a brochure listing Eurostar connections from Waterloo to all World Cup venues. Call 0990 024000 for a free copy; 0870- 904 4298 for bookings. You can also call Eurostar direct on 0345 303030. Eurotunnel (0990 353535) offers five-day returns from £120 a car and journeys lasting from six days to six months are £190 during the tournament. Air France (0181-742 6600) flies to most World Cup destinations.
- Getting to the match: Paris has the best connections: superb buses, Métro and RER trains. Nantes and St Etienne have good trams and Marseilles's Métro is excellent. Bordeaux, Montpellier and Lyons are not so well connected. The stadium at Lens is within walking distance.
- Further information: French Tourist Office (0891 244123) 178 Piccadilly, London W1V OAL.
Quiet, narrow streets lead off the square, each built with a kink to defeat the wind. Most streets lead to a fountain, or sumptuous quarters of a merchant enriched in the dyes trade.
The Bemberg Foundation is in the fine Renaissance Hotel d'Assézat, where I inched around the rooms behind a party of three-year-olds viewing an important Bonnard collection and a Sarah Bernhardt self-portrait.
The city centre has a pedestrianised zone which includes the egg-shaped Place de la Comédie. I had lunch in Brasserie du Théâtre (22 Bd Victor Hugo), then visited the Place Royale de Peyrou - a grand setting for an equestrian statue of Louis XIV with an unusual past: when it was being transported to Montpellier by canal from Paris, the boat and statue sank under the weight of admirers who boarded to have a look. Finally, I visited Musée Fabre (Bd Sarrail) for its fine collection of European art, including a Reynolds.
In the afternoon, I visited the Centre de la Vieille Charité, a museum complex around a restored Baroque chapel - which includes one of the best Egyptian collections after the Louvre. I ate dinner at L'Entracte (Place Thiars) down by the docks.
For 80p I glided past pleasantly unpretentious civic architecture to the Museum of Modern Art (£3). It has the largest modern art collection in France outside Paris and was built in 1987 by supermarket magnate Guichard in colliers' black; displays include items by Warhol and Lichtenstein.
In the evening, I visited the amazing Midi Minuit (Place Jean-Jaurès), which has 420 drinks (including 65 whiskies and 30 bottle beers), two televisions, a pianist and an engaging multi-lingual barman named Said.
I lunched at Le Bouchon aux Vins (62 Rue Mercière), a keenly-priced city restaurant, before visiting the Musée des Beaux Arts for the Matisse exhibition (until June 28, entry £2.70). Then I took the bus to Cité de la Creation, to see the 24 three-storey high murals inspired by Lyons architect Tony Garnier.
St Denis is technically a town in its own right and contains the new Stade de France. The venue is worth a visit even by football-phobes; it is likely to be a great cauldron of emotions during the World Cup.
To the Black Bear (161 Rue Montmartre), new sports bar with many TVs, owned by former rugby stars Rives and Paparemborde. Among photos and items are Eric Cantona's Manchester United shirt; and, a delightful anomaly in France, cricketer Ian Botham's pads.
This is unfair. Lens should be seen as a worthwhile stop-off in a tour through north-west France that also includes Lille, Bethune and Arras, all worth visiting for their architecture and First World War associations - Lens was completely flattened.
I stopped off at the Salon du Thé (Place Jean-Jaurès). The display counters were piled high with sensual concoctions, including a World Cup cake.
Gareth Huw Davies travelled with the French Tourist Office, SNCF, Eurostar, Le Shuttle and Air France.