Seafood, cognac, more wine.

Wednesday 16th May

A fairly quiet day today starting with the washing. We then decided to visit Portes des Barques which is the town on the opposite side of the mouth of the Charente river, opposite the town of Fouras that we visited our first day in the area. Rochefort is on the river also, but a couple of bends upriver from the mouth. It must have been quite a feat sailing those huge ships up the river to the docks as the tides in the river seemed to be very low.

Looking from Porte des Barques across to the town of Fouras
on the opposite side of the river mouth.

We arrived in Porte des Barques to find that it was market day and they were just packing up.  We had enough time to buy some more oysters and prawns and spring rolls for lunch. Beautiful day weather wise so it was nice to sit out and eat lunch in the sun.

These fishing shacks were all along the shore.
There didn't seem to be anyone there and
I'm not sure what they would be catching.
We would have liked to see them operating.

 Just off the end of the point was an island called Ile Madame. This was joined to the land by a causeway at low tide. We were able to drive out and around the island. We had a good view across to Fouras. Don't know that I'd be too keen to swim in the area because at low tide the mud flats seemed to go for miles.

Yes, she goes everywhere we want,
even when Dora says there is no road
and has us parked in the middle of the ocean.

The fort on Ile Madame -
there are fortifications all around the bays
and river mouths in the area.

We then visited the Citadelle Brouage. This is a walled town built in the 1600s and was a salt trade port. It is set in the middle of marsh land so there is quite a bit of bird life around - we have remarked on previous visits to France how little bird life there appeared to be but we might just have been in the wrong place. From this town over 70,000 French set off to emigrate to Quebec in Canada and there appear to have been quite strong links between Brouage and Quebec. The town was lovely and quiet - apart from the historical buildings to visit there were quite a few artisan shops with some beautiful jewellery. I resisted!

This window was given to the church in Brouage by the people of Quebec. 

The main road into the town of Brouage through the fortified walls.
There were very few tourists here but I can imagine a different story in summer.

Thursday 17th May

Moving day. We have travelled further south to the town of Bergerac which is on the Dordogne River - we love the Dordogne region of France. As we travelled we first passed through mostly wheat growing areas, then moved into a grape growing region where they produce cognac. We didn't stop for a tasting but it's on the list.

Cognac country - spotted this on a roundabout
and had to go around twice for a photo.

Even on a day where nothing much is happening we still find things of interest. First was the town of Pons that had an amazing castle/keep perched on the top of the hill.

Castle in the town of Pons - the big square building on the right
is the donjon, or heavily fortified keep.

This was a feature of the town - the grand escalier - built in the 1600s, there were 147 steps to take people from the river valley farming land to the castle. We originally parked at the bottom of the steps thinking we had to climb them to the castle, but when we asked Dora, she found us a way up by car. On you Dora!

We stopped in a small town for lunch where we watched as they rounded up an alpaca that had escaped from the circus. There we also learnt about a sport called horse ball. The restaurant owner likened it to rugby on horseback.

We are staying here for 2 nights in a hotel before moving on to another gite on Saturday.

Seafood diet!!

Monday 14th May

Headed off today to visit the Ile de Re which is an island just off the coast (joined by a bridge to the mainland) about 30k north from here. Funnily enough we saw a program on tv here (in french) about this island. There were 2 villages on the island that we wanted to visit, listed in our '100 beautiful villages in France' book. Dora couldn't work out how to get to either of them so we just followed our noses.

This was the bridge across to the island
- you couldn't really see anything from the bridge
- a rail at exactly the wrong height.

The first village, La Flotte, was centred around a small harbour. Very neat and clean town. We visited the market here and just wandered the streets.

Annie - one for you.

A Cisterciane abbey, Notre Dame de Re,
dating back to 12th century.

Seafood - yummo!

The second was the town of Ars-en-Re. Again a very clean and tidy town. We enjoyed lunch at the boulangerie - some of the restaurants by the harbour looked interesting but like all tourist towns the prices were quite a bit higher.

This tapestry is actually a modern one.
Made in 10 parts - one by each community on the island.
It is hanging in the church which is undergoing major renovations.

I made a friend at lunch.
We practised our french with the dogs owners,
talking about our old dog.

It isn't high season here yet but I can imagine what this place would be like in a few months. The island is around 30k long and covered with cycling tracks. If you loved bike riding this would be a great place to explore. And seemingly hundreds of caravan parks. We drove to the tip of the island and back. By the time we headed off the island the sea breeze was now a gusting wind and threw the car around as we crossed the bridge back to the mainland.

Tuesday 15th May

Today we decided to stick around town. It was market day so that was the first stop. The town has a parking area with 1000 free parks - it was full, presumably with workers and market goers. Fortunately we only had to do a short lap before we caught someone leaving.

The market was all food - we enjoy looking at the different fruit and veges and comparing prices. We visited the fish, meat and cheese market where we bought oysters, mussels and prawns for dinner. Rob said they were the sweetest mussels he'd ever had - in the past I haven't liked mussels but I had some of these tonight and they were delicious. Now Rob will have to share!

We see some interesting parking in France.
The road left and right is actually closed because of the market
- but parking on the roundabout???

One of the original entrances to the town of Rochefort.

Visited the corderie in town which used to make hemp rope for the sailing ships. This place was built in 1666 under the reign of Louis X1V. We found this place to be really fascinating, to see how the rope is made, and twisted together. I told Rob, this is how I make my twisted cords out of embroidery thread. The factory was mostly destroyed during WWII - a tug of war between the town planner and the politician saw the factory rebuilt, rather than eradicated and a road built.

This 'boat' is actually not for sea
- it is a replica designed to give kids the experience
of climbing the rigging of a sailing ship.

The Corderie - rebuilt after being destroyed.
Note the tower out the front - it still has the same lean on it
as after the bombing in 1944.

Final visit for the day was to the aeronautical naval museum. It seemed to be staffed by volunteers who were tinkering around the planes - Rob said the
 equivalent of men's shed, but these guys all had an interest in planes. We got a guided tour from one of the volunteers who used to be a pilot in the navy, and then a commercial pilot. He was obviously very passionate about planes and flying as he gave the tour, so passionate that the tour ran over by one hour.

Yep - lots of knobs and dials.

A bombette - is that a baby bomb?

This chopper was a rescue helicopter
and had 12 female pilots over its service life.

Known as the flying banana.

Yes - just had to know all about the planes.

A table for 6

Sunday 13th May

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums out there. I get to do this again here on 27th May.

Today we went for a short drive up the coast to the town of Fouras. This is a little beach town I guess sort of like Lorne, but without the crowds. In fact most of the people around in the streets seemed to be older adults (over 30s I'd guess). It was quite surprising to find the markets and most of the shops open on a Sunday, though they appeared to be shutting up shop around 1pm. The fish market and the fruit, vege and meat markets were open till 1pm. We bought paella and cous cous for the next 2 nights dinner.

Our accommodation here in Rochefort is only 500m from the centre of town and in a fairly typical french building. Comfortable and quiet. Last night we had dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant - we found these last time in France. As well as all the buffet items you can pick your meat and veg to have cooked with the sauce of your choice. We weren't as happy with this one as those of the past, partly because the buffet items weren't overly hot, but now we know there is a microwave we'll heat our selections next time we try another one.

The fish market - very clean and no wet floors.

He finally got a feed of oysters - 4 euro dozen (about $6).

Cous cous - with chicken, sausage, lamb and veges.

And the paella with chicken, chorizo, prawns,
mussels and langoustines (like mini crayfish).

We stopped at a lovely restaurant on the beach front for lunch. Moules (mussels) and frites for Rob, and I had a lovely lasagne. Now you ask why I titled this 'a table for 6'. Well the table next to us sat 6 but between them they had 14 legs. I dont think I'll get used to the dog sitting up on a chair next to me for lunch. We had a lovely waitress and she was keen to speak her small amount of English. We find the French always guess us to be English, and are very surprised and happy when we say Australian.

The Fort de Vauban and Chateau de Fouras.
We had a lovely conversation here with a french lady
who was prepared to listen to our attempts at French
and to help us when we fumbled.

Fort Boyard in the water off Fouras.
Built under Napoleon Bonaparte.

A fishing trap/hut.

Looking back to Fort Vauban.

One of the channels in Rochefort where boats are moored.

Wine-ding our way through Anjou

Friday 11th May

Today was our last day in this gite and we decided on a laid back day because tomorrow was an on-the-road day. We headed to the village of Brissac-Quince to have lunch and visit the chateau. Not a lot happening in this town but we did find a lovely creperie where we had lunch.

Question for the farmers - what is this crop?

Our next accommodation is in an apartment and the owner speaks no English - she tried to call me on the phone with instructions on access to the gite but I wasn't able to understand the whole conversation so we asked at the tourist information if they could help us out by phoning her, and they willingly did this for us while we wandered off to have lunch. We have found the French people to be friendly, polite and helpful. It probably helps that we are making a real effort to converse with them in our limited French.

The chateau Brissac - this was another beautiful chateau that is still lived in by the 5th, or thereabouts, Count de Brissac and his family. One of the bedrooms there is where one of the Louis (13th) reconciled with his mother - his father had died while he was too young to take the throne, so his mother took over but things were really run by her chief minister. Louis eventually had him assassinated and took over the throne himself.

Chateau de Brissac

The two round towers are the only original part of the castle
from 11th century and the newer (but still old) part of the castle,
15th century, is built behind the original towers.
In the photo you can see the gap between the old and the new.

The kitchen - wonder what they used to polish the copper?

Just one of the many magnificent tapestries in the chateau.

The room where King Louis 13th and his mother Marie de Medici
met to discuss their differences. Apparently the truce did not last long
and she was eventually banished.

The marble in this table top had amazing colouring.

The dining room - notice the raised area at the rear
where the musicians played during dinner.

Beautiful dinner set - but not for the dishwasher.

This photo and the next should be in reverse order.

In the photo below you can see the windows all along the room. 

Each window shutter was painted like this, inside and out.

A bit of wear now but would have been great in its time.

This room is the grand salon.
How many long-arm quilting machines could I get in this room?

The owner of the chateau at some point in its life was an opera performer
and decided to build her own theatre as part of the chateau.
How the other half live!

The sitting room. Scattered around were family photos
and we found that the queen mother had also stayed here at some time.
In this room there was also a bust of Veuve Cliquot
- did you know that Veuve Cliquot was a woman
and after the death of her husband she made the name what it is today.

Matthew - one for you. All four walls were covered in deer heads.

Wound our way home through the vineyards.

Saturday 12th May

It rained during the night and was still raining as we hit the road. Roughly 200k to travel to the town of Rochefort on the coast north of Bordeaux.  It rained all the way so no sightseeing along the way, just lunch at a little bakery. The roads were very quiet, especially for the first half of the trip along some lesser roads, and even when we hit the motorway it was still quiet. It has been sort of a long weekend in France after a public holiday on Thursday (and one on Tuesday also). There was quite a bit of traffic heading away from Rochefort as we got closer - maybe they were abandoning camp due to the rain. We are amazed at just how many motor homes are on the road everywhere we go - its tempting,  but when i think about navigating one of those through the middle of some of these tiny towns it makes me shudder!