Provins - the Medieval Town 90 Minutes From Paris That Missed Both the Industrial Revolution and the Tour Buses

Less than 90 minutes from Paris, a small French town that in the Middle Ages was the third-largest in France has stayed almost unknown today. Provins has 1.2 kilometers of medieval walls with 22 towers, an octagonal donjon unique in all of France, and some of the best-preserved Romanesque-Gothic structures in Europe.

In the 12th-13th centuries, traders from Flanders, Italy and the East passed along these streets. Six major fairs a year made Provins one of Europe's main trading centers, with its own currency - the provinois - used from Flanders to northern Italy. When the region passed under the French crown in the late 13th century, the city slipped quietly off the stage. The Industrial Revolution never came. The result: the entire medieval architecture preserved unchanged.

The main attractions? The Caesar Tower - an octagonal donjon built by Count Henri the Liberal, unique of its type in France. The Saint-Quiriace Collegiate Church with Gothic construction left unfinished - and that unfinishedness is now part of its attraction. 13th-century grain stores that function as museums. And the whole network of underground passages carved into limestone - they impressed Umberto Eco so much that he wove them into "Foucault's Pendulum."

For those who travel in short hops, Provins is a town for a two-day or day trip from Paris. The train from Gare de l'Est runs to Provins regularly. There are no crowds of tour buses here, which pre-season is a bigger advantage than it sounds. And in June and September, in the 3.5-hectare Rose Garden, more than 450 varieties of roses bloom. That's France's quiet luxury - a medieval town with no queues, with authentic life and zero tourists infected by selfie mania.