Bastille Day is celebrated on July 14th each year; it commemorates the storming of the prison fortress Bastille (1790) and the subsequent celebration, Fête de la Fédération (The National Holiday) that marked the one year anniversary in 1780.
The holiday is still celebrated annually as a symbol of uprising – nobody quite does revolution like the French. The storming of the Bastille was a flashpoint in the revolution and one of the birth pains of modern society when old ideas of hierarchy began to crack with the subversion of the aristocracy.

Today, Bastille Day is celebrated with huge military parades in Paris from Cadets of the Royal Horse Artillery with international participation from Britain and Germany. As it is a national holiday in France, tourists should expect some areas to have closures, although hotspots should be fine for public transport and retail. We do recommend you make full use of a cash machine beforehand though.

The celebration starts early and throughout the day there are a variety of parties, dances, communal meals, live music and firework displays. One of the more unique traditions of Bastille Day is the Firemen’s’ Galas, where fire stations across the country open their doors to the public for a look around the stations.

Bastille Day is celebrated in French communities around the world, but for those of you wishing to pay a visit to the land of beautiful women and good food, P&O ferries’ Dover to Calais service can get you there and back at a low cost on a service that runs up to 46 times a day.

Image credit: irene

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