Belfort is famous for its fort and the statue of a lion which protects it. The lion was designed and built by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and completed in 1880 as a monument to remember the resistance against Prussian forces.
The fort houses museums (only open on some days and closed when we visited unfortunately). The fort is free to visit and walk around and the climb from our stopover to the fort was definitely worth the exertion.
It does cost 1 Euro to get closer to the statue of the lion, we thought it was worth the expense. There are also toilets and a small gift shop. The gift shop was more like a walk past/drive through and you ordered your souvenir through the hatch. Not so easy with school French learnt many years ago!
The views from the fort were 360 degrees, it was just a shame we had cloudy drizzly weather. I can imagine how amazing they would be on a clear blue day.
After our visit to the fort we took a wander down towards the main town area. There are 2 parts, the old town and the new more modern town. Almost separated by the Savoureuse river.
In the evening we decided to take a wander to see the lion and fort all lit up...
