Sunday 21 October 2012
Day 2 Intrepid Tour – Tours
My mistake, the previous post had this day as Day 1 of
our tour; in fact Day 1 was the Saturday, when we met our group at 6pm. So now
I am up to Day 2. So, moving on.
We arrived in the town of Tours, in the Loire Valley, in the late afternoon. Our hotel, Hotel l’Europe, was across from the station, and it was much nicer than expected. My room had a bath, which won me over straight away. Sonja the tour leader led us around the town centre, past the old Tours Cathedral and down a little street with some pretty cool bars and restaurants, across a very modern main street, through to the old town, which had a lot of pubs, bars and restaurants with indoor and outdoor seating around a big square, called la Place Plumereau.
The town dates back to the Middle Ages, which is apparent
in the old town area. It is also known as the place where the most pure,
“perfect” French is spoken. I couldn’t tell the difference myself... Kim,
Kirsten, Sonja and I had a late dinner at a restaurant at the square, while
Chris and Jane did their own thing.
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| Tours Cathedral |
Monday 22 October 2012
Day 3 Intrepid Tour – Tours
We were in Tours because of the number of châteaux or castles in the area. We bought some food for a picnic, and set out in
the morning on hired bicycles to the countryside in search of a large château called Villandry. Only 25km each way. On a bicycle. I had not been on a bike
for many years, but it was a mostly very flat track and once we got out of
town, it was actually fairly pleasant. The sky was overcast most of the day,
but at least we didn't get rained on.
Once we made it to Villandry, which dates back to the
1530s, we parked the bikes, wandered around the château checking out the furnishings
and artworks, and looking out the windows at the beautiful gardens. Once
outside, we walked around these gardens, which covered a big area. Ornamental
gardens, a maze, a big pond, a herb garden and a vegetable garden, all huge and
all really lovely. We had lunch in the main courtyard and then....we had to get
on our bikes and head back. Only another 25km. My derrière was a bit sore for a
few days as a result of the cycling, I have to say.
Gardens at Château Villandry
The traffic once we got back to town was really busy, with
a lot of roadwork. Even though there were bike paths most of the way, in some
parts of the town we had to walk the bikes on the road, on the footpath around
pedestrians, trying to dodge buses and cars – although drivers in Tours were
much more tolerant of bike riders than those in Brisbane.
That night Kim & I walked back to the Old City and
had a most delicious meal at a restaurant called Cafe Gerard – I had the
Escalope au Marsala (Veal Marsala) and Kim had Soupe a l’Oignon (French Onion
Soup).
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| So athletic and so happy to be cycling 50km through the Loire Valley |
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Day 4 Intrepid Tour – Tours to Sarlat
Today we caught the train from Tours to Sarlat, via a
town called Liborne. We had to change trains here, and the connecting train was
an hour late. So Sonja sat with our bags at a train station bar, and the other
5 of us went into town about 3 blocks away... we had the first below average,
lukewarm coffee of the trip so far, and took about 5 minutes to check out the
immediate area, before deciding it was more interesting to sit at the train
station...
We got to Sarlat a bit over 2 hours later, after passing
lovely wine-regiony stops like Saint Emilion and Castillon along the way.
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| Luxury - having your own space on the train |
We walked downhill from Sarlat train station for about 15
minutes and arrived at our accommodation, the Hotel Montaigne, which was quite
charming. In the evening we did our walk, around fantastic medieval buildings,
lit so they looked quite spooky in the night. We had dinner at a place where
nobody spoke English, but we muddled through with our order; they also had a
man playing the keyboards, and when he found out we were from Australia, he
played us Waltzing Matilda, which was nice of him! Sarlat is well-known for
cooked duck and foie gras – not to my liking, but the others had a try.
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Intrepid Tour Day 5 Sarlat
The town is in the Dordogne or Perigord region. This
means that we had to hire kayaks and row our way down the Dordogne River on Day
5. We didn’t get picked up by the kayak company until 10:30 due to fog covering
the area, so that gave me a chance to call Mum & Dad first.
I shared a kayak with Kirsten, who happens to be a surf
lifesaver and therefore an expert rower! She was very patient with my
nerves/fear of falling out/crashing the kayak, and my lack of knowledge of how
to steer etc. However, she directed the kayak straight for a flock of geese -
to get a photo - that just a minute earlier, had been stirred up and
antagonised by Chris in his & Jane’s boat, and were fairly peeved, and went
for us!
Other than that – the river was very pretty, quite calm
and shallow, and the weather that day was perfect for us. There are many
chateaux in this area as well. We stopped at a very pretty town called La
Roque-Gageac, just as 2 hot air balloons took off in front of us, rising and
falling over the river. Then I nearly fell out of the kayak as I lost my
balance trying to get out – Sonja to my rescue! (I still got my shoes wet
though, boo). There was also an impressive old chateau built into a cliff-face.
We had coffee here and moved on.
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| La Roque-Gageac |
I can’t remember the name of the town we stopped at for
lunch, but it was nice and relaxing. Even though we were sitting near a car
park and saw a poor American tourist reverse into the waiter’s car – twice.
They sorted it all out civilly though, and he & his wife were on their way
(we saw them again that night in Sarlat). Entertaining stuff. Back into our
kayaks for a little longer, ending up at Beynac – where another very impressive
chateau stood on top of a hill overlooking the town and river. From here the
kayak lady picked us up and took us back to our hotel in Sarlat. I was kind of
glad the kayaking was over, even though the scenery was truly beautiful all the
way.
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| No need to get in one of these again for a while |
Kim & I wandered around the town, and met up with
Kirsten, who took us up into an old church building where an English artist,
Adrian Kenyon, was working on his art. Some paintings around, but mostly
intricate collages which all included him, hidden in the piece much like
Where’s Wally... It was interesting, slightly cynical of the world (in my
opinion) and he was definitely up for a chat.
That evening, all of us except Sonja sat at an outside
bar in the town square, having a lovely glass of red wine. This was followed by
a very nice dinner at another restaurant where they spoke no English, but the
waitress and her mother both looked after us well and were very nice and
friendly. A pleasant evening in Sarlat.
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| The cool Intrepid kids |
Thursday 25 October 2012
Intrepid Tour Day 6 Sarlat to Bordeaux
This day did not go the way we would have liked. Instead
of catching our 9:07am, 2.5 hour train to Bordeaux, the public transport staff
throughout France decided to go on strike, leaving us with the option of a
2:30pm bus ride that would end up taking 4 hours 55 minutes and getting us to
Bordeaux in the early evening. Groan!
We left our bags at the train station, walked 15 minutes
back down the hill, and proceeded to try to fill in about 5 hours in the small
town of Sarlat. It is very small. We had seen it the previous day! This was one
of the drawbacks of not doing a tour with its own vehicle, and instead using
the local transport. But, who was to know the country would be crippled by a
public transport strike that day? Just bad timing.
Scenes from Sarlat
Anyway, the bus went to all the stops the train would normally use, so I recorded a few to fill in time and amuse myself while sitting there trying to not have to go to the toilet (not an option). Beynac – Buisson – Bergerac – Gardonne - Saint Foy la Grande – Velines – Castillon – Saint Emilion – our favourite town of Liborne (again!?) – Bordeaux. I just love the names of French towns, they all sound like charming, wonderful places – except Liborne, because I already know it is neither charming or wonderful.
Our hotel in Bordeaux, Hotel du Faisan, was at least
across from the train station where we gratefully got off the bus. The girl at
reception was so lovely - warm, welcoming and friendly, and with excellent
English – and she recommended a place in town for our dinner. We hopped on the
tram, again, right outside our hotel, and headed into the main town about 10
minutes away. The Arboursier Restaurant provided the best bargain meal of our
whole trip: 13 Euro for 3 courses and a glass of wine. Hard to beat, I say. I
had a yummy salad (not something I say very often), steak and frites and a
chocolate brownie with cream, and a really nice glass of red wine. Definitely
the highlight of Day 6.
Friday 26 October 2012
Intrepid Tour Day 7 Bordeaux
Today was my niece Katie’s birthday, so I gave her a call
via Face Time – I think I was slightly more excited about the call, somehow. Also
this morning, the washing really had to be done... Kim & I headed to the laundromat
and sat for a couple of hours while the clothes got cleaned. Not the most
exciting way to spend a morning, however, having clean clothes to wear is quite
a treat when travelling and living out of a suitcase.
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| Exciting stuff, right Kimmy? |
With that done, we caught the tram to a place called
Esplanade des Quinconces – no idea how to pronounce the Q word. It was meant to
be a very nice, large plaza, with trees lining each side – but on this day,
there was a fun fair/carnival taking up all the space. Trying to get a photo of
the huge fountain without the ferris wheel or dodgy food stands was not easy;
so Quinconces wasn’t as pleasant as we had hoped.
No matter – we got back on the tram and took it to the
Hotel de Ville (I think every town in France has a Hotel de Ville) and the
adjacent St Andrew’s Cathedral, in what was quite a nice part of town. Kim and
the others in the group took the train for an hour’s trip to the wineries
around Saint Emilion for the afternoon, but I just couldn’t face another train
or bus after the previous day’s effort; so instead, I walked down Rue St
Catherine, a very long pedestrian street, with shops ranging from expensive at
one end, to cheap and nasty at the far end – something for everyone! It was at
a shoe shop here that I bought a pair of Vans. These shoes were the saving
grace of my feet for the rest of the trip – sooo comfortable. I then wandered
to the Place de la Bourse, another large plaza with very grand old buildings –
and caught the tram back to our hotel, where I – relaxed for the afternoon!
Boring but necessary, in my mind.
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| View from our hotel in Bordeaux |
Saturday 27 October 2012
Intrepid Tour Day 8 – Bordeaux to Bagneres-de-Luchon
A freezing cold wind blew the clouds away, leaving blue
skies over Bordeaux, but it was so, so windy that my ears were aching. Kim
& I walked down Rue St Catherine, and I bought a lovely warm scarf, as we
would be going to Luchon, a small town in the French Pyrenees Mountains, and it
was going to be -7 to 3 degrees the following day.
We all boarded the 1:40pm train to Toulouse – for once,
we were at the front of the crowd rush and managed to get some seats together.
We were just settling in, when we realised that for the first time so far, we
actually had reserved seats, and so we had taken other people’s reserved seats!
Our seats were in Carriage 16 and we were currently in Carriage 4. Hmmm. We
moved to some seats which were empty, and luckily the guard checking our group
ticket didn’t seem to care – or notice? Either way, we didn’t have to move.
The train arrived at Toulouse at 4pm, and we had an hour
to wait for the connection, so we all headed out of the station, across the
road to the Hotel Bristol for a coffee and the very popular free wi-fi. I saw
photos of my niece’s birthday, but could not seem to send emails back home,
which was a frustration for the rest of the trip – I could get internet, check
Twitter and emails, but not send any emails back. No biggie in the grand scheme
of things. Anyway, as we went back to the station, I saw the dodgiest looking
people I had encountered in France so far. I felt very uneasy aound them, just
drugged out guys in a big group across the road from the station, with dogs
barking at people walking around them. We gratefully left Toulouse at 5pm – I’m
sure there were some nice parts of the city, but we definitely had not been in
one.
Onto Montrejeau, where the train terminated and we caught
a 6:50pm bus to Luchon, under an ominous grey sky – we saw snow on a mountain
in the distance, while going through Labroquere. Once we arrived at Luchon, it
was really cold, as we walked about a kilometre to Hotel Panoramic, then
settled into our rooms. As we left a short time later to find somewhere for
dinner (a big Saturday night in Luchon –
nobody around, and not much open), there was much excitement as the first snow
of the season started to fall on us! Well, it was exciting for about 5 minutes
as I had no umbrella, beanie or gloves, so I was cold and fairly wet by the
time we arrived at the restaurant!
Sunday 28 October 2012
Intrepid Tour Day 9 – Bagneres-de-Luchon
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| Beautiful morning view from our room at Hotel Panoramic, Luchon |
Our hotel was across the road from a church, so I went
over and attended 11am Mass, all in French (of course). I couldn’t contribute
much, but was glad I went. It was very pretty inside, with a huge pipe organ
that sounded wonderful. After this, I wrote some postcards in my room, and set
out again to find a statue listed on a brochure, called Le Baiser a la Source (Kiss
at the Spring), made by Henri Coutheillas in 1949. I found it in a very cute
position, in a flower garden by a small pond in a small park. I loved it. There
was nobody else around and so I was happily taking photos and inspecting the
statue more closely, when really bad, loud music started up and spoiled my
serenity! I walked out of the park, and past – a fun fair setting up! It was
similar to the one seen at Bordeaux – were they following us around France? I
am not a fan – I feel that they cheapen nice places, as they just did with my
pretty park scene.
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| Hidden treasure in Luchon |
Anyway, I recovered fairly quickly, and went to one of
the few places open at 2pm (shops seem to open from 10am-1pm, then again from 3-5pm)
and had a lovely pizza with a small carafe of house white, then a cafe au lait.
I had a moment of contentment here, as I looked out the window across to the
Bar Le Bellevue, and... the Hotel Le Bellevue. It was a fairly small window.
While I was having a late lunch, the hikers had arrived
back and headed to the Spa down the other end of the street. The town has
natural springs and it would have felt good to soak after a hard day’s
trekking.
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| Cold but pretty stream |
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| Autumn leaves and the chairlift to the ski slopes |
That night, our last night in France, we all sat in the
lobby of our hotel, and shared a bottle of red wine that someone had purchased
from the winery near Bordeaux. Then we had dinner nearby, and when we came back
at about 9:30, Chris, Kim & I got stuck in the teeny tiny lift between the
ground and first floors. The sign said it took 3 people – maybe 3 child-sized
people! I immediately proceeded to freak out, as Kim stayed calm and Chris
tried pressing buttons to no avail... The alarm button had to be hit, and the
very nice manager came and helped us climb up and out to the first floor. Total
time stuck in lift: approximately 3 minutes. I’m sure I will be able to laugh
about it one day. There is a particular song that I will not be able to hear
again without remembering that lift and being stuck in it!!
The next day we moved on – TO SPAIN.
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