Europe 2023

  A day trip today to the island of Île de Ré and the lovely little fishing village of St. Martin de Ré   From La Rochelle it’s possible to get a bus to the island, over a 3km bridge, but being a little more adventurous we decided to go by boat, a much nicer (and noisier! 😊 ) option.   The village of St. Martin, although a little touristy, really is very nice.   Reminiscent of some ‘olde worlde’ fishing villages in Cornwall, it’s got a quite unusual circular dock that’s used for the many working and pleasure craft that are moored here.   There’s also a lot of heavy battlements around town and along the village’s coastline.  These  are results of the island’s many changing of hands during the England/ France wars and the Huguenot/ Catholic issue in the 1600’s.   One of the many reasons for visiting the Île de Ré was for JEM to go for a swim in the Bay of Biscay.  So, after spending a few hours in town, we took off for the beach where, despite the cold water and the jellyfish, she got h

With the town’s art museum closed for renovations (since 2018 apparently!) we decided we’d go for a walk along the coast to a nearby…ish beach, ‘Les Minimes’.   The walk was actually a little bit of a surprise as, up until we reached the beach, the entire 3.5 km pathway was alongside the port with its thousands of moored boats, not something we were expecting.   It would seem that the port can berth up to 4000 of them, and up to 50 mts in length as well, it’s enormous!  Once we’d got there though the area in and around the beach turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment.  Surrounded by ‘holiday resort’ style accommodation and the French equivalent of ‘kiss me quick’ type shops and bars, we’d been hoping for something a bit more ‘natural’.   Still, jumping on the ‘Bus de Mer’ 😀 , the local water taxi, we were soon back in La Rochelle proper.   Before going out walking this morning we’d been given some ‘blurb’ from the tourist office regarding self guided walks in the old port,

  Travel day A longer than normal travel day today as we’re ‘doubling-back’ on ourselves having to go back to Bordeaux before heading off to La Rochelle.  Must admit though doing that first leg again was no issue as following and crossing the Dordogne (must have been about 10 times!) makes for a very pleasant train journey.  On arrival La Rochelle, known locally for its three historic medieval towers and its deep water port, seems like quite a nice place but, as we only got here late, we didn’t have much of a chance to look around. 

  As we’re without car, and trains and buses around here are practically non-existent (apart from school services), we decided to do a mini-tour today taking in the Dordogne river and a few of the local villages.   Our first stop was to the beautiful village of Domme, set on the top of a hill overlooking the Dordogne river and known as one of the many ‘bastides’ in the area.  These ‘bastides’, built in the 1200’s, are fortified towns that were built in a strict grid layout and centred on a main square, and were used as defensive positions during the 100 years war between the French and English.  Apart from the beautiful village itself the views of the Dordogne from the ramparts were just spectacular and we both decided that they alone were worth the cost of the trip! Our next stop was to La Roque-Gageac.  This is another lovely medieval village and situated at the foot of, and built into, limestone cliffs overlooking the Dordogne. It was here that we took off on our journey up and dow

  Market day today in the old town. Very vaguely split into two parts, clothes and farmers, we set off for the local produce first.   Not hugely dissimilar from some of the other food markets we’ve been to recently it’s the setting of the ancient laneways and courtyards that make the difference.   Of course there’s still loads of beautiful food to choose from and taste, and, with foie gras, canard, loads of olives, local wines, cheeses, salamis, and much more, we were spoilt for choice.   Having been given a sample, and a lesson on the various types, of foie gras we were talked into buying some. Outrageously extravagant for what is, in essence, liver pate, it was delicious on a warm baguette. Was it worth the expense though? Probably not! After our ‘lavish’ lunch 😆 we took off again to explore more of Sarlat.  With its cobbled streets, narrow lanes, tiny inner courtyards, and picturesque squares, this really is a beautiful town.  Perigord is well known for its foie gras and the statu

  Travel day Off to Sarlat-la-Canéda today, a beautiful little town 50kms east…..ish of Bordeaux, and located in an area known as ‘Périgord Noir’, Black Perigord, which is named for the truffles that can be found here.  It was a really nice train journey, through the Dordogne and across its famous river a number of times, and it wasn’t long before we were wandering around town taking in the sights.  ‘Sarlat’, which was developed around a large Benedictine Abbey in the Middle Ages, is famous for its magnificently preserved Medieval and Renaissance architecture and is built largely from golden coloured limestone and timber.  I must admit that, not like the old towns we’ve seen recently that were all known for their ‘pink’ brickwork, I prefer this ‘type’ of construction as it feels so much older than the more ‘modern’ looking bricks. 

  Day 1 of the ‘Bordeaux Fête le Vin’ today (the Bordeaux Wine Festival), and, although we were definitely not going to give it it a miss, we decided that maybe getting there at 10:00am might not be the most prudent of starts to the day! So, doing the sensible thing, we took off to the ‘Musée de Beaux Arts’, the Fine Arts Museum.  Spread over 2 wings, and separated by a very nice garden, this houses a collection of mostly French paintings and largely from the 15th to 20th centuries.  There are, however, a number of ‘standouts’ by non locals as well, including the likes of Brueghel, Reynolds, Picasso, and others.   Not a large museum but it was definitely worth a visit.  Off to the Wine Festival this afternoon, a yearly celebration to showcase the local produce from all the local district’s vineyards.  It’s held in a great location, alongside the water’s edge of the River Garonne, and stretches for nearly 1.5 kilometres (known as the ‘Wine Road’ apparently! 🤔😋 ).  It was all very int

Today we took a winery tour to the area of St Emilion.   Still part of the Bordeaux region but about 40kms east…..ish of the city.   We lucked in a bit as there were only four of us on the tour plus our guide, a vigneron from the region who supplements her wine making activities with tour guiding.   She was really knowledgeable about the area, wine, and St Emilion and so it made for an interesting day.   The first winery visited was Château Balestard La Tonnell, a winery which has existed since about 1300 which still has a tower on site that was built by the English (to help defend themselves against the French!).  We were shown around the winery and the process for making the wine was explained.  All the equipment and buildings had recently been renovated, with everything sparkling in new stainless steel, but it was just a little sterile which was probably the purpose! 🙄 .  However, it would have been nice to see some of the old underground cellars, which are still in use, but unfor