Still struggling to keep up with the blog writing. Since I’m not sitting in a truck travelling through Africa for hours at a time I don’t have the copious amounts of time to sit and write. So many other distractions! Now leaving France* so will cover quite a few days of French adventures. [Also having real problems finding good internet recently - nearly been African standards when trying to upload photos so no photos this blog unfortunately]
Saumur
Was picked up with no problems after getting out of the TGV train at Angers. I’ve joined some friends and their parents as they travel around Europe and it was quite a task fitting in the luggage into the people mover. Bit like a puzzle, making sure the bags fit but the convenience of having our own car to go where we want is a pleasant change from Africa. Another improvement has been the accommodation – all of the places have been incredibly researched and booked over a year ago so we’ve been staying in some pretty fantastic hotels and apartments/houses. The first night in Saumur was a great introduction to the new style of holidaying as the house was situated above the river Loire next to a chateau.
Next day we headed to a tank museum which was pretty cool. Was getting antsy since couldn’t climb onto to these behemoths of machinery but luckily found a kids section where you climb through some of them. One thing that is becoming evident is that it’s definitely not peak travel time – and there are hardly any crowds anywhere. Unfortunately quite a few attractions close over this time as we found out later – the curse of November.
Vilandry Gardens
We re-joined the rest of the group (since amazingly not everyone was interested in tanks…) and visited this nice garden and chateau complex. Some crazy carp in the water as well as meticulously trimmed hedges and gardens were the highlights. There was also a maze which seemed very exciting until we arrived and completed the maze in about 5 seconds. You weren’t supposed to race through but enjoy the serenity of the passageways. Still don’t get it…
Chataeu d’Azay Le Rideau
This blog could have easily included 30+ photos but since I couldn’t be bothered to upload them all and one chateau begins to look like another one had to cull the photos. One of my favourite photos was this chateau – all the places we’ve visited have been very well restored and maintained.
(chateau reflection)
It’s just been such a change of scenery and attractions from Africa - it’s all very exciting. The rest of the group have been in Europe for nearly 2 months so have been a bit more exposed to cathedrals and castles so it’s a bit like I was with game drives at the end of Africa.
Chateau Chambourd
Another day, another couple of chateaus. Chambourd was massive with some impressive architecture and incredible number of rooms. One of the best staircases wound like a double helix through the main keep and the warm fireplaces inside were fantastic.
(Chambourd with its numerous turrets)
The weather has been incredible for this time of year in Europe. Don’t want to jinx it too much but it’s making me believe more and more in global warming.
Chateau Cheverny
2nd chateau for the day and famous for its link with Tin-Tin. Don’t know enough about that comic but will watch the movie and see if I can recognise anything. Even more fascinating were the hounds that we saw being fed. Talk about madness with so many dogs fighting for food.
Le Puy-en-Velay
Next day we headed to another quaint French village and had accommodation on the edge of the old city. Unfortunately the curse of November hit and all the attractions we were excited to see were closed – some by only a day. There was a massive statue on the top of a hill you could supposedly climb into and look out the eyes/head (much like the Statue of Liberty) and another chapel perched on the top of the rock mountain. The chapel reminded me of Meteora cathedrals. Got a photo of the monastery lit up at night – had to spend a fair amount of time getting the camera to take a somewhat decent photo.
(night photo of monastery after many attempts)
Driving Day through Mountains
After 2 nights in Le Puy we continued heading towards Spain by driving through some mountain passes. One of these was used in the most recent Tour de France and it’s amazing to see the roads the cyclists had to race up. Seeing the race on the TV gives you no idea how steep the roads are. The pass we crossed was supposedly infamous this year since a French TV car took out some racers. After driving to the top of a 2nd pass we rashly decided to climb a mountain peak called Puy-Mary. Wasn’t a very long climb but I wasn’t at all prepared and with the steps being a bit tricky and slippery I was very glad to get to the top.
(view from the top)
Just as we were beginning the climb two fighter jets roared through the valley. Didn’t know what the sound was until we saw these planes banking through the pass and flying off into the distance. Shame we weren’t at the top and been above the jets – no chance of me being quick enough and getting a photo of them unfortunately.
Sarlat
I’d been fighting a bit of a cold after leaving London (always get sick when I transit through London… or maybe when I have a long flight which always seems to end up in the UK) and it eventually knocked me out in another nice village called Sarlat. Managed to visit some great places like Domme, Beynac and Rocamadour which were all a bit similar in that they were built into the side of a mountain. The most exciting was Rocamadour where we spent a fair amount of time – luckily there were funiculars that saved a lot of stair climbing.
(top of Castle at Rocamadour)
Drive to Carcassonne
Continuing on with the trend of castles and cathedrals we headed to one of the best known French villages of Carcassonne which has its old city completely enclosed in fantastic walls. Along the way we stopped at Cahores which had an impressive medieval bridge and then had lunch at Albi. Albi’s claim to fame is a combination of a cathedral and a castle – it’s a hugely fortified brick church. It has the doubly French declaration in that it is the biggest brick building in France as well as having the largest organ in France. Listened to some Bach organ music in the car after visiting here.
(Albi’s Cathedral and Ruined archway)
We arrived at our amazing accommodation - a fantastic villa just outside the walled city of Carcassonne. One of the rooms in the triple level building had views towards the castle. Problem was however the heating had been set for sub-arctic conditions and the house was like an oven. After opening doors and windows and turning some of the heaters off we managed to somewhat reduce the sweating.
Carcassonne
The problem with travelling at this time of year is a lot of the villages are fairly shut up after dark. We had to find dinner and thought we’d save eating in the walled town on the top of the hill for a later night so headed down to the city by the river. The city was in a complete grid of really dark streets – and with a bit of rain falling had quite a spooky feel. The trip advisor recommended restaurants were all shut so we wandered the streets a bit and eventually found a really up-market French restaurant situated in some old stables. Bit of a bizarre experience but the food was pretty good.
We had a full day free to wander the town of Carcassonne. Quite an amazing walled town that you can walk around very quickly. Went to the proper castle and strolled around the ramparts taking lots of photos.
(Walls and Gates – yet another photo folder full)
Left the castle and began my Carcassonne mission. The mission was to find the game of Carcassonne – thought it would be a great souvenir to buy the game from Carcassonne (and honestly didn’t think it would be Mission Impossible). After asking pretty much everyone in the walled section and being sent all over the town we stumbled upon a shop that was selling the game and its 6 expansions. Unfortunately the closest I got to those games was looking at them longingly through the window since the November curse had descended on that shop. It didn’t open at all that day or by 10:30 the following morning when we had to leave.
So we headed down to the river part of town and eventually (after asking at the tourist information desk) found a bookshop that sold the game. Even got to play it that night. Took this photo looking back up at the walled part of town. Some fantastic photo opportunities or vistas to paint/draw if you’re into artistic things.
(Full view of Old City of Carcassonne)
Now heading to Barcelona before ducking back into France for our final 2 nights of French accommodation this trip. [Wasted so many days waiting for decent internet - eventually given up with photos...]