Dahlia & Lance's Travels: September 2007

Europe Trip - Sep 15-29, 2007

We’ve slowed down our touring pace these last couple of weeks, and spent more time reading, relaxing and solving Sudoku puzzles. We feel a bit saturated with sightseeing and are quite ready to return home.

We did take a three day trip northwest of Nantes in Brittany to see the “Savage coast” and some islands. We visited the very lovely town of Vannes, only an hour away, on a glorious sunny day, had lunch by the harbor and enjoyed the walk around the city wall surrounded by beautiful flowering gardens.

Nearby in the Carnac area we saw the remnants of the prehistoric megalithic culture, consisting of long (mile plus), alignments of large stones (4-12 ft tall), and various structures (“dolmens” and “tumuluses”) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_stones), established in pre-historic times (~4000 BC) by the same culture that built Stonehenge in the United Kingdom. It was a fascinating sight and the reasons for these structures is still a mystery. We actually crawled into one tumulus, which was apparently a grave constructed with very large flat stones for the walls and roof and an entrance tunnel. There are many of these scattered in this area of France, and have a very characteristic layout.

The next day we took a ferry from Quiberon to Belle-Ille where we spent half a day exploring the island in a rented old red Citron 2CV (What a piece of JUNK!!!—but a classic) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroen_2CV) Belle Ille, as the name suggests is cute and laid back with tiny vacation villages, steep Atlantic Ocean cliffs and pretty, undeveloped scenery (it is referred to as the “Cote Sauvage” or wild coast). We took short walks around the cliffs and some of the beaches.

On the third day we took a cruise from Vannes through the Gulf of Morbihan, an inside sea, with dozens of very small islands, some inhabited and many privately owned. It was pretty but not a show stopper. We did pass by Orange II, a 100 foot catamaran sailboat that holds the round the world speed record of just over 50 days and was manufactured and is stored in Vannes.

The rest of the time we stayed near Nantes where took some walks, shopped, got desperately needed hair cuts and explored the art museum (disppointing!).
We enjoyed the nearby town of Clisson where we took a walk through a park and along a river with old water mills a 12th century bridges and an a picturesque ruined chateau overlooking the town. At the end we had a great lunch overlooking the river. Fun day!!

In the final couple of days we cleaned the house and packed before taking the TGV train to Paris on Saturday (29 Sep) where we plan to stay for two nights before catching our flights. Dahlia flies to Israel for two week and Lance to Baltimore for a week before heading home.

Travels for Last Two Weeks: A-Quinberon, B-Vannes, D-Chinnon, E-Nantes, F-Ancenis and on to Paris

More Autumn Leaves

Clisson Chateau

Autumn Leaves in Clisson

River in Clisson

100 Foot Orange II Sailing Catamaran (Notice People in Front for Scale)

Boats in Gulf of Morbihan

Chapel in the Gulf of Morbihan

Fishing Boat at Sauzon Harbor

Houses at Sauzon on Belle-Ille

Lighthouse on Belle-Ille

Lance in Citroën in front of Megalith on Belle-Ille

More Cliffs on Belle-Ille

Aiguilles (Needles) de Port-Coton on Belle-Ille

Ferry at Quiberon for Belle-Ille

Fishing Boat at Quiberon

Colorful Hotel and Café at Quiberon

Fishing Nets at Quiberon

Quiberon Harbor near Vannes

Dolmen near Carnac

Alignments near Carnac

Old Washhouse on River in Vannes

Garden at Vannes

Bretons in Costume at Festival in Nantes

Europe Travels – 1-14 Sep

1 September, we left St-Cyprien on our way to Nantes (G on map). On a casual recommendation at lunch one day in Sarlat, we stopped for coffee at Brantome, a cute village on a river complete with an abbey backed up to a cliff, honeycombed with caves and a part of the old city wall. After a quick walk around the town we continued to Nantes where we arrived late in the afternoon.

We spent the next couple of days settling into our pleasant new exchange home and orienting ourselves about Nantes by taking a long walk around the town center, the impressive Chateau and back to the house. The St. Pierre and St-Paul Cathedral and the Chateau of the dukes of Brittany form the town center piece and are beautifully restored.
On the way home, we walked threw a beautiful large park and along the Erdre river we came upon a colorful end of summer celebration which drew a huge crowd of all ages with music river boats and local food. It was a great way to get a feel for the town and discover the river, the trams and the nearby boulangerie. Monday was a day of rest, reading and stocking up with food.

On Sept 4th we started our exploration of the province of Brittany by driving to the coast northwest of Nantes. Our first stop was St-Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire River. It has a massive old German U-boat bomb shelter left over from World War II, it is very ugly, but impressive. There was an interesting display describing the development of the town from a fishing village to a ship building center. There are several huge ship and cruise ship building facilities as well as an Airbus plant which we as Americans were not allowed to visit.

La Baule, just north of St.Nazair (A on map) is a wonderful seaside resort with miles of sandy beaches. Sumer was over, the town was very quiet and the beaches empty and beautiful. We had a nice seafood lunch at a café on the beach and continued to the little fishing village of La Croisic surrounded by salt marshes used to produce table salt. When we arrived at low tide the boats in the harbor were sitting on their keels like discarded toys. It is a view that is repeated along the Brittany and Normandy coast because of the huge tides. It is hard to believe that just a short time later these vessels flat up in water like nothing ever happened. We finished the day at the walled city of Guerande, filled with art galleries, food shops and, of course, t-shirt and post card shops.

On Wednesday, we decided to explore to the east of Nantes along the Loire River and visited several small, but interesting chateaus including Chateau Oudon, the ruins of Champtoceaux, the chapel at La Bourgonniere, the village of St-Florent-le-Vieil and saw the outside of the large chateau at Serrant. The Chateau Oudon was particularly interesting with a series of slide shows (in English) about the bloody history of the Loire and Vendee regions and what life in the castle along the river 300-500 years ago looked like.

Thu we took the tram to the local Talensac market and bought some wonderful goodies for the next few days. Later in the day our friends Nira and Danni, arrived from Israel.
On Friday, we took a day trip southwest from Nantes, to Pornic (C on map), a quaint fishing village with its chateau on the harbor and continued to the Island of Noirmoutier on the Atlantic Ocean and l’Herbaudiere with its large marina.

On Saturday we started on a three day driving trip north toward the English Channel. We stopped at the interesting chateau at Chateaubriant, visited the old section of Rennes which has a large number of old beautiful half-timbered houses, and then on to the walled city of Dinan where we spent the night (Ibis). Here we saw a wonderful Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit, and walked along the city wall high on a cliff overlooking the Rance River. Dinan is a drop dead gorgeous medieval city with steep cobble stone streets, well preserved and restored half-timbered houses and a nice little port on the river where we had dinner.

Sunday morning we drove to Cap Frehel a wonderfully wild and peaceful peninsula that juts out into the English Channel with steep rocky cliffs in an area referred to as the Emerald Coast. After a hike along the top of the cliff we drove a few miles to Fort la Latte (but no coffee), a pretty castle on a rocky point complete with a drawbridge. Then along the coast to the seaside resort of Dinard and walked along the picturesque Promenade du Clair de Lune, with a view across the river of the walled city of St-Malo. And then on to Mont Saint-Michel (http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/accueil_gb.htm) where we marveled at rapid incoming tide (as much as 50 feet) and the spectacular cathedral perched high above a medieval village on the island cliff. It is a sight that is hard to describe.. We checked into our hotel which had a view of Mont Saint-Michel which allowed us to see it in all it’s moods, of mist, fog and illuminated by flood lights at night. (Had an expensive but mediocre dinner with lousy service at the hotel Dighe)

On Monday we returned to Mont St Michel and had breakfast there ahead of the crowds and took the walk through the narrow medieval streets and up to the cathedral and abbey at the top. Although we had visited here two years ago we still felt awe struck at the sight of this incredible structure and the rapidly changing tides. Later in the day we spent a couple of hours walking around St-Malo before driving back to Nantes.

After a days rest we packed up for a three day trip to see the chateaus of the Loire Rive Valley that we had heard so much about. After a four hour trip to the east from Nantes we came to Chateau Chenonceau, a beautiful chateau surrounded by gardens and built on a bridge across the Cher River. (http://www.chenonceau.com/media/gb/index_gb.php) This chateau was very beautiful on the outside but the furnishing inside were somewhat limited. We then went to see the smaller Château Cheverny, not far away, which has many of its original furnishings intact and is still occupied by decedents of the original family, who are living on the upper floor of the chateau. Château Cheverny was indeed stately and beautiful, with lovely period furniture and gorgeous vibrant tapestries. We happened to arrive just in time for the feeding of the 75 hunting dogs they have, as the owners are avid hunters. The dogs are highly disciplined and beautiful. The feeding frenzy when the dogs were finally allowed to approach the troughs of food they have been staring at for an hour in advance was an interesting but somewhat unpleasant sight.

We spent the night at “chateau” Ibis, an inexpensive hotel, as all our attempts to find an available room in one of the real chateaus were in vein. The next morning, we sadly dropped Nira and Dani off and the train station in Amboise on their way to Paris. We continued to the center of Amboise which is a really quaint town, with of course, you guessed it, a big chateau in the center with huge walls, and dwellings built directly into cliffs. We came back to Amboise the following day to see the Chateau Clos Luce, Leonardo DaVinc’s last residence, the home where he spent his final three years. It again made us realize what an incredible thinker he was on top of being a genius painter. Many of the inventions he designed have been recently built and were on display here. (http://www.vinci-closluce.com/doc/communique/commgeneralanglais.pdf/)

Although we were getting saturated with chateaus, we decided to see the largest one of the lot, Chateau Chambord. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Chambord) It is way over the top and gigantic with 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces (it was easy to see why you’d need them, with all the heavy cold stone) with dozens of Renaissance and gothic towers in a big jumble on the roof.. It was an old hunting lodge, and sits in the middle of a large forest that is said to still abound with wild boar and deer. That night we stayed at the lovely Hotel La Roseraie near Chateau Chenonceau (http://www.charmingroseraie.com/).

On the way back home after seeing the Da Vinci home in Amboise, we saw what we think is our favorite chateau, primarily because of its garden. The gardens of Chateau de Villandry (http://www.chateauvillandry.com/) west of Tour are better seen than described. It is a formal garden and magnificent, like a tapestry with a beautiful design and endless color, with boxwood hedges, flowers and beautiful leafy vegetables.

The rest of the dozens of chateaus of the Loire will have to wait for another visit some day. We did however get a glimpse and a better understanding of the level of excess the nobility in France enjoyed during the feudal system and the rage that was released during the French Revolution

Map of Travels 1-16 Sep: A - St-Nazaire, La Baule, La Croisic, Guerande; C – Pornic and Noirmoutier; D – Dinan; F – St-Malo, Cap Frehel, Fort la Latte, Dinard; E – Mont St-Michel; H – Chateau Chambord and Chateaux of the Loire