Four wash houses stand along the Orvanne in Salins; the Lavoir des Vannes is one of them. The town’s history is also reflected in the Église Saint-Apollinaire, the Maison des Dîmes, the Maison Directoire and the Château de Salins. Two hikes offer another perspective for planning your trip: walking trail no. 09 in the Salins / Saint-Germain-Laval area is 17 kilometres long and is listed as taking four and a half hours; another hike near Salins is 11.5 kilometres long. This gives you a choice of different focuses: architectural history or walking.
Architectural History and Details in Salins
The Église Saint-Apollinaire was built at the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century. Its floor plan is cruciform; the bell tower has four gables and a double-pitched roof. Inside, the church houses two carved stone recumbent effigies from the 13th century. An 18th-century wrought-iron grille protects the choir. This brings together different periods in one building: its medieval origins, the 13th-century effigies and the later fittings in the choir. Anyone interested in sacred architecture can take in both the building’s form and its individual decorative details.
The Château de Salins was built between 1470 and 1484 by Guillaume de Courtenay. The original château was surrounded by moats. In the 18th century, Trudaine, Seigneur of Montigny-Lencoup and Salins, extended the building on its south side. These details mark different aspects of its history: its construction in the late 15th century, the moats of the original château and an 18th-century extension. Those interested in dating historic buildings will find both a specific construction period and a later alteration here.
The Maison Directoire, also known as the Château de Bois-Millet, was built on the foundations of a fortified castle dating from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Maison des Dîmes is notable for its former function: it originally served as a place for collecting the church tithe paid in kind. Payment in kind means goods were given instead of money. At the Ferme de Villiers, a dovecote made of sandstone and brick stands out. Salins’ architectural details thus range from an earlier historic building and a former tax-collection function to the materials used for a dovecote.
Walking: Distance and Scenery
Walking trail no. 09, “Petits villages et vallons briards,” is 17 kilometres long in the Salins / Saint-Germain-Laval area. Its listed duration is four hours and 30 minutes. Another hike near Salins covers 11.5 kilometres and passes through green landscapes and golden fields. The distances offer a direct comparison: 17 kilometres for walking trail no. 09 and 11.5 kilometres for the other hike. The description of the shorter route’s scenery adds another point of interest. When planning your trip, you can therefore consider architectural history and walking as separate interests and compare the routes by distance.
For a stay focused on history, the points of interest lie in the different buildings and their particular features: church architecture, the château’s history, the former function of the Maison des Dîmes and the dovecote’s building materials. For walking, the distances listed—and the duration for trail no. 09—are the main considerations. These specific differences can help you decide what to focus on in Salins, without presenting the two hikes as one combined route.
Discover more destinations: Mouroux, Maison-Rouge, Champs-Sur-Marne, Vert-Saint-Denis, Mauregard, Saint-Germain-Sur-Ecole, Courtry, Paley
For the regional travel overview: Seine-Et-Marne.
