This was my 3rd WHS on the day: after having visited Provins and Fontainebleau I had a couple of hours left before it would get dark. So I drove on to Chartres to see its famous cathedral, knowing that I would not easily go there on a separate visit. I think I have seen enough Gothic cathedrals for the rest of my life.

Both Provins and Fontainebleau were almost deserted when I visited earlier this day, but that, unfortunately, wasn't the case for Chartres. It took me over half an hour to find a parking spot in the city center, which was overrun with Christmas shoppers.

Fortunately, the Cathedral is not hard to find. It's a big church in a city of 40,000 inhabitants. But just like Ian Cade states in his review below, I was not really impressed. It is large, but so are most of the other European cathedrals on the List. The facade is undergoing restorations at the moment, as is part of the interior.

The cathedral is best known for its stained glass windows. As it was already late in the afternoon when I visited, there was not enough light left to let these windows really shine. The rest of the cathedral is, well, .. a cathedral with cathedral things.

P.S.: Outside I noticed a sign that Chartres also is a station on the Road of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. However, it is not one of the elements of the French Route WHS (that holds so many other sites already WHS in their own rights).