France
France, the largest country in Europe,
is bordered to the north by the English Channel (La
Manche), the northeast by Belgium and Luxembourg,
the east by Germany, Switzerland and Italy, the south
by the Mediterranean (with Monaco as a coastal enclave
between Nice and the Italian frontier), the southwest
by Spain and Andorra, and the west by the Atlantic
Ocean. The island of Corsica, southeast of Nice, is
made up of two départements. The country offers a
spectacular variety of scenery, from the mountain
ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees to the attractive
river valleys of the Loire, Rhône and Dordogne and
the flatter countryside in Normandy and on the Atlantic
coast. The country has some 2,900km (1,800 miles)
of coastline.
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