Napoleonic Travel

We did visit places in Paris particularly due to their Napoleon I connection. The Milan opera house has a sword of his.

https://terreborromeo.it/en/isola-bella
has a bed he slept in

Not to miss is Château de Malmaison in one of the suburbs of Paris, once his home with Josphine de Beauharnais.

Ofcourse Waterloo, south of Brussels in Belgium. Where, think it's original but not really sure, one of his coaches is on display in the museum. He used it as a mobile command post.

Musée Napoleon in Brienne-le-Château where he had his first (if I am not wrong) military education as a teenager.

Château de Fontainebleau with the table in the room where he signed his abdication before he was exiled to Elba. In the same room, one of his thrones to see too.

Last fall in Ajaccio, Corsica - Napoleon's birthplace. Several tourist attractions there loudly hype their connection to him, the city claims him as their own hero. Restaurants, bars, museums, monuments, a previous family residence, probably more.

We stumbled across "Napoleon's House" in Ajaccio's old town, just steps from our hotel, as we were exploring, looking for a place to eat. I was skeptical, it looked like an ordinary building, it emanated grotesque made-for-tourist vibes, ticket hawkers and sellers all dressed in period costumes, powdered wigs, that sort of thing. My wife wanted to check it out. I want a happy wife, so I held back all my snark and sarcasm, and just reminded her that there was a Thai restaurant on the next block. But it was hot outside and she wanted to give it a try. We handed over our euros and went in. It was pretty much as I expected. An old apartment flat with some displays of old documents, maps, paintings of Napoleon and his victories. I think they had a lock of his hair in a glass case. It was boring, and there was no air conditioning. My wife quickly tired of the dusty displays and asked me how far away was that Thai restaurant again? We left "Napoleon's house" and went out in search of spicy food and aircon.

My most interesting Napoleon-related experience in Corsica was chatting with the petite young woman at the reception desk of our hotel that evening after we returned from dinner and exploring the old city. Our hotel was an elegant and ornate 17th century palace (which I had not realized when I booked it - price was surprisingly reasonable for a comfy place in the center of the old town). The smiling young woman in reception was friendly, charming and seemed to be in the mood to chat. It turned out our hotel had belonged to a close relative of Napoleon (cousin or uncle?) - who was her ancestor! (shocked emoji goes here). Every time she said Napoleon's name, her face looked like she had just smelled something bad and was about to spit on the ground. She went on to rant about how the city glorified Napoleon to promote tourism, but he was a traitor to Corsica and a disgrace to all France, she said she shouldn't be telling me this but she hated him, he was an expletive-filled so-and-so, on and on, full of vitriol. Maybe she had been drinking (she was working the reception desk, but things were quiet...). I was a bit shocked initially, but also amused - her rant came completely out of left field, and left me chuckling (after we had excused ourselves).

So lesson learned: if something smells like a tourist trap, it usually is. And not everyone loves napoleon - including some members of his family. Go figure.

While not specifically places where he was, there are numerous fortifications, such as Cuidad Rodrigo, in the Spain that have been turned into "Paradores" where you can vacation. These were battlefields in the Napoleonic era.

https://paradores.es/en

Not gonna lie - when I saw your post’s title my initial thought was, “Oh, they want to go rampaging through and conquering Europe?” Ha!

Thank you everyone! A return visit to Paris seems to be in the cards. Going to Malmaison would mean going to Paris. Reluctantly, as I didn't like it much the first time. However, as a contributor wrote recently, the fourth time can be when you start liking the destination. Please don't hesitate to add insights and musings over the next 6 months, or during 2026, or later, as all perspectives are welcome, and the quest is lifelong.

Interesting interpretation on Napoleon labelled as a traitor to Corsica. I would have stressed the reverse was true as she is painting with a pretty broad brush omitting a lot of history leading up to Napoleon having to depart from the island but then there is the language obstacle. If that woman's English was good enough to tackle this topic, all the better.

I have tracked down, gone after numerous sites and places connected with Napoleon. Are you only focused on those in France? What about in the Czech Rep, or in Vienna, or in Germany?

If you want to see memorials, statues, and the like connected to Napoleon, I would suggest a few of these places in France: Rouen in front of the Hotel di Ville, Nogent-sur-Seine...that's a town proud of its Napoleonic history, St Cloud, Compiegne (the

chateau) , Amiens, Luneville, Metz, Nancy, Grenoble (centre ville ), Montereau, Fontainebleau , not only the famous Chateau but also the Napoleon Musee on Rue St Honore ca 35 mins or so from the Chateau.

East of Paris during 1814 campaign to stave off the invading Allies is "La Route des Quatre Victoires" ie, the villages of Vauchamps, Montmirail , and 2 others, all of them Allied defeats at the hands of an outnumbered Napoleon. There is also the memorial post on the battle of Montmirail. For this undertaking you need a car to get out there.

I was told of this entire route and memorial by an old French local, whose daughter did the translating and drove me out to see this site. Thanks to her mom I saw all this in 1984. An example of "inside" historical tips on the location of historical sites.

There is a lot more if you want to know about the others.

That Napoleon Museum mentioned above is located specifically at 88 Rue St. Honore , Fontainebleau.....well worth seeing.

In Montereau (the next stop after Fontainebleau, ) the statue of Napoleon on horseback , is at the Place de Legion d'Honore. In Feb 2024 the town hosted a Napoleon reenactment to commemorate his victory there against the Allies in 1814. You can imagine the enthusiastic turn-out.

Rouen has its stunning Napoleon statue too.....in front of the city hall, Hotel de Ville.

Fred, thank you for replies and insights. What interests me the most is the civilian Napoleon, the politician Napoleon, and Napoleon master of ceremonies. The blood, tears shed, and moments of gloire of the battlefield interest me less. Gare d'Austerlitz and the Arc de triomphe du Carrousel are testament to what the French thought, and thinks, of the emperor.

@ Cherryplanter....If it's the civilian Napoleon that is your primary interest, then focus on the Consular period, during which time the great administrative reforms were accomplished. There was relative short period of peace after the collapse of the Second Coalition to the formation of the Third. This is in 1801 when the Austrians signed the Peace of Luneville (see that House of the Treaty in Luneville where this took place ) I went to Luneville twice but focus on the centre ville and the chateau, which has a statue of a Napoleonic hussar in the courtyard...all very fitting.

Then in 1802 the British finally sign a peace with Napoleon, giving Europe a general peace the first time in 10 years. This is the Peace of Amiens which you can see in the Hotel de Ville in Amiens. I didn't get to that either , focusing rather on the WW1 military cemeteries in and near by Fricourt.

If you're in Paris and in the 6th Arron. there is the "Rue Bonaparte."....a pleasant surprise when I came upon this time.

On the politician Napoleon....go to St Cloud, the Chateau where the event of Brumaire (using the French Rev. calendar) of 1799 takes place. The train from Gare St Lazare goes there.

Have you considered Saint Helena? It was the British island where he was exiled and subsequently died. Flights to the island depart from Johannesburg once a week so it's a bit of a trek to get to but it's an incredibly interesting island.

@ Cherryplanter....It goes without saying you have to go Paris to catch more evidence of sites connected with Napoleon as those you listed. This trip there I happened to be in Paris during the days the Museum of the National Archives located not that far from the Marais was running an exhibition on revolutionary music from the Revolution on...bravo. Purely by chance saw notice of this from the bus scheduled to end on 14 July, glad I caught this enlightening event.

It was free and well attended by the French and some tourists too, certainly not an exhibit where you and a few others are the only viewers, quite the contrary

One of the exhibition's main music features was that written in 1794 at which time France was in a state of war with 3 Great Powers, Britain, ,Austria , and Prussia. This piece of music literally a war song and written as such rivalled the Marseillaise as the national anthem at the time and was the official song of the First Empire under Napoleon, " La Chanson du Depart " ...a great piece of music.

You would have been interested.

https://www.theculturalexperience.com/historical-periods/guided-napoleonic-tours/

Lots of ideas here, even if you weren't going to go on their tours.

Oh, I'm excited for the equestrian statue in Rouen! I plan to be there this Oct.

Thanks for this invaluable link. Most interesting is seeing the list of historians has their area(s) of specialization particularly that on war studies and also on Napoleonic history. The Napoleonic tours on specific aspects and events of the Emperor are very appealing

@ cherryplanter....If you want to see a battlefield museum in Vienna, I would suggest taking the S-Bahn out to Deutsch Wagram, the Museum on the this momentous battle only opens a a couple of days a week. In Vienna itself is the small museum on Aspern, where he was checked and defeated for the first time by the Archduke Karl, whose statue along with that of Prinz Eugene is in front of the National Library (National Bibliothek)

In Germany aside from the above-mentioned museum in Leipzig , the other one is in Jena, closer to Apolda, "1806 Museum"