Île-de-France
People often confuse Paris and the Ile de France area. Admittedly Paris and its suburbs gathers more than 10 million inhabitants and is without any doubt the largest town of France. The Island of France, it is thus Paris with its quays, its monuments, its old workings, its beauty celebrated in the whole world... But it is also Versailles and its Castle, one of the most viited monuments in the world, the edges of the Marne and the last guinguettes where people danced formerly with the sound of the accordion, Chantilly and its horsesraces, the Valley of Chevreuse so close from Paris with his forests and his abbeys, Provins and his medieval city classified with the world inheritance of UNESCO, the Roche-Guyon, near the Normandy, with its keep planted on a rocky outcrop and dominating the valley of the Seine... If Paris is known, the Ile de France area also offers a multitude of other assets, less known undoubtedly, but quite as enthralling.
In addition to an exceptional cultural and historical inheritance, the Ile de France holds to the gastronomists and to other fans of "true" products, many surprises. Is it necessary to present the Paris mushroom, at the origin cultivated in the unused careers of Paris. But do you know that the area produces quantity of fruits like the apple Faro, slightly acidulous, delicious to crunch, the required cherry of Montmorency, griotte acid used to make jams and preserves, the pear of Groslay whose name is not a variety but devotes know-how, more than 2 hundred years old, of the nurserymen of the area. For the experts, the poultry of Houdan, to the dark and tight flesh, fine and tasty adapts to wonder out of casserole. A French cheese plate would not be complete without famous Brie de Meaux, soft cheese, with milk of cow, genuine star of the regional production. Also let us quote Coulommiers for cheeses, the Meaux Mustard for the spices, the Crystallized Petals of Pinks from Provins and finally the digestive with the Grand Marnier, produces exclusively in Neauphle-the-Castle, and the Noyau de Poissy...
