Just by staying in Nancy, the walk of the dukes is very rich: place Stanislas, palace of the dukes to begin with, this flamboyant palace, built half a millennium ago. You can also go for a walk, for example, on the rue Bailly side, right next to the magnificent Place de l’Alliance, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Why rue Bailly? It takes its name from Nicolas Bailly, gardener of Duke Leopold who left in history a little story of peas that he offered on New Year’s Day to the Duke.
In the nearby suburbs, drop by Jarville, on the Malgrange site closely linked to several Dukes of Lorraine, including Stanislas, who had a castle built where Voltaire and Montesquieu were welcomed. Montesquieu had written on this subject: “the Malgrange is the most singular house in the world because one sees everywhere the genius of the king with the unique talent for doing charming things”. If we go back further in the history of the Dukes of Lorraine, which stretches from the 11th to the 18th century, we can go to the Vosges, to Chatenois, where the castle of one of the very first Dukes of Lorraine, Gérard d’Alsace, who will marry Edwige de Namur, a descendant of Charlemagne. Of this castle, there is almost only one wall of the old fortress left, but you can climb the small hill in the heart of the village to find the church there.
On this route of the dukes, note the essentials: castles of Sierck-les-Bains (57), Commercy (55), Lunéville (54). In total, on a first scouting, there are a good forty more or less known places. For example, if you spend a stay at the Château de Failloux (bed and breakfast), in Jeuxey near Epinal, you will know that it was a residence where the Stanislas family liked to stop on their way back from Plombières, where the little family had gone to take the waters. At the Princesses Adelaïde and Victoire, in Jeuxey, it was a stopover before returning to Lunéville.
