Citadelle de Montmédy

We woke up at 7am to the sound of traffic going past. I don’t know what exact vehicle woke us up properly after the binmen had been but it sounded like it was sticking to the road as it was driving.
By 8am we were up and dressed and the bed was away and our first port of call was the Boulangerie for fresh bread and cakes for breakfast. Once we got the bread we headed back to Wanda and Ellie had croissants and I had fresh bread and Brie followed by another pistachio eclair.
At 9:30am we left our park up and headed 1 hour down the road to the Citadelle de Montmédy. This has been in my list of places to visit for about 3 years and I’m not sure how I found it unless a helicopter flew over it whilst I was watching the Tour de France.
It was a quiet drive to get to the citadel and when we arrived the Motorhome park up was completely empty and we parked up in a levelish spot and flicked all the electrics over and gassed the fridge. This would be our home for tonight.
Straight away I grabbed my camera bag, and we both put our coats on and then locked Wanda up.
The Montmédy citadel was built in the 16th century during the reign of Charles V.
Part of the Spanish Netherlands, the citadel was besieged by the troops of Louis XIV and became French in 1659. In the 17th century, Vauban carried out major modifications in accordance with his own defensive principles. From 1870, it was Séré de Rivières who developed it.
It was the capital of the district from 1800 to 1926 .
During the First World War , Montmédy was a hub for the German army for supplying the Verdun front , using for this purpose the line of the Meuse railway from Montmédy to Verdun which had just opened just before the start of hostilities. On September 7, 1916 , the Crown Prince received Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff at Montmédy station during their first trip to France.
Between 1928 and 1940, the Montmédy sector was the location of several works of the Maginot line (177 blockhouses and 36 turrets, seven casemates, fifteen fortified houses, 155 L 77 batteries to the south-east of Montmédy)
During the Second World War ,the command post of the 2nd Light Cavalry Division of General André Berniquet was established in Montmédy.
Given all of its history Montmèdy is a fascinating place and with all of the architects, owners and warmongers that have had a hand in its construction it has the most bizarre layout.
Leaving the car park we walked up a tarmac road and over a tarmac brick bridge that had an archway with chains hanging from it and pillboxes either side. This used to be a drawbridge in the 16th century.
From there we walked up a small hill to the outer fortifications and over what used to be a second drawbridge. After the second drawbridge we then had to pass under a huge steel drop-down gate and then into a tunnel that had 6” wooden and steel reinforced doors. Leaving the tunnel and actually entering the citadel we passed by another set of 4” steel doors. We really got the feeling they wanted to keep people out.
Inside the citadel is a museum which was unfortunately closed and that also meant we couldn’t get access to any of the ramparts or the tourist parts which was a shame, but we did have a good walk around the inner citadel and we couldn’t believe it’s still full of houses and people still live there. It really was a fascinating place and will be one of the first places we come back to.
Back at Wanda it was now midday and we knew we couldn’t sit here all day so I checked the app for a place in between the citadel and where we would be heading tomorrow and found a place 80 miles away.Read more