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Chateau de Monte-Cristo Review

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Château de Monte-Cristo

Address: Av. du Président-Kennedy, St-Germain-en-Laye, 78100
Phone: 01-39-16-49-49

Monte Cristo Castle

Category: Museums/Galleries, Castles/Palaces
Location: St-Germain-en-Laye

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Fodor's Review:

The elegant town of St-Germain-en-Laye, encircled by forest and perched behind Le Nôtre's Grande Terrace overlooking the Seine, has lost little of its original cachet, despite the invasion of wealthy former Parisians who commute to work on the RER (the station is in the center of town and has frequent trains to and from Paris).

If you're fond of the swashbuckling novels of Alexandre Dumas (who, incidentally, enjoyed the rare honor of reburial in the Paris Panthéon in 2002), then you can enjoy the Château de Monte-Cristo (Monte Cristo Castle) at Port-Marly on the southern fringe of St-Germain (signposted to your left as you arrive from Marly-le-Roi). Dumas built the château after his books' surging popularity made him rich in the 1840s. Construction costs and lavish partying meant he went broke just as quickly, and he skedaddled to a Belgian exile in 1849. The château contains pictures, Dumas mementos, and the luxurious Moorish Chamber, with spellbinding, interlacing plasterwork executed by Arab craftsmen (lent by the Bey of Tunis) and restored thanks to a donation from the late Moroccan king Hassan II.

Cost: EUR 5
Open: Apr.-Oct., Tues.-Fri. 10-12:30 and 2-6, weekends 10-6; Nov.-Mar., Sun. 2-5

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