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FRANCE 2013: BEDENAC
At the end of news broadcasts there’s usually a lighter item preceded with the words “and finally..” and I suppose this is it for our holiday in France 2013 (although we still have the 8 hour drive to Roscoff tomorrow and the sailing). We rented a gite in Bedénac in Charente owned by Sue and Paul Wright in 2011 and again in 2013 for three weeks each time. The village itself is very pretty and to a great extent typical of villages all across France. It’s a 30 minute drive north of Bordeaux and 55 minutes or so south of Cognac. The gite itself is lovely and big enough for the two of us. I really like the layout of the converted space – it was originally three tiny cottages. Sue and Paul have plans to move…
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FRANCE 2013: ARCACHON
In my mind there are Beach People and for the record I’m not one of them. Beach People thrive on finding a spot amongst hordes of other sun, sea and sand worshippers and laying out between swims like seals basking in the sunshine. They have mastered the knack of dressing and undressing under a multicoloured towel slightly larger than a facecloth, while standing on one leg and watching the world around them, meerkat style. The very word ‘holiday’ can be found in their personal dictionary under ‘seaside’ and they eat food surrounded by sand and without complaint for God’s sake! The only thing I like about being on the coast is the freshness of the sea air and you can get that in a harbour town, so I’m afraid a trip to the seaside is never…
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FISH & CHIPS – FRENCH STYLE
Fish and chips are, well, fish and chips, but if you’re in France and cooking an evening meal why not put a spin on the traditional and try them with La Difference. We used Ray for the fish, bought frozen and quite inexpensive in the local Auchan supermarket. The chips were in fact chunky cut from locally grown potatoes – scrubbed and the skin left on – and of course green ‘French’ beans instead of the baked beans normally provided by Heinz &Co. The fish was, as I said, the ‘wings’ of the ray baked slowly in the oven in olive oil and a little butter. Butter and oil is the only way to bake or fry fish properly. The chunky chips were cooked in the same oil and butter mix and were coated in garlic salt…
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BASTILLE DAY 2013 (BORDEAUX, FRANCE)
Just in case you weren’t already aware Bastille Day is the French national holiday when the storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789, which resulted in the French Revolution and the birth of the Republic, is celebrated across France and in French communities across the world. For The Ban Chéile* and I, it has become a bit of a tradition to try to get to Bordeaux on Bastille Day (July 14th). The reason for the effort on our part is because of the reaction we had to discovering, quite by accident, the terrific atmosphere generated by the events in Bordeaux on Bastille Day when we first visited the city a number of years ago. At this stage I have to admit I have an ongoing love affair with Bordeaux and so this post will without a…
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FRANCE 2013: LA ROCHELLE
I have to admit I have a soft spot for La Rochelle despite its typical touristy feel and constant throng of people. We have stopped off in La Rochelle on almost everyone of our 5 trips to France, sometimes just for a few hours and on one occasion staying for a few days. The winding streets and always upbeat atmosphere guarantees an interesting visit. Rambling through the streets and dipping in and out of the many shops is a very pleasant way to spend some time. The cafes and restaurants are all well used to tourists from near and far and the range of food on offer includes the expected French fair and the usual burgers and kebabs for those visitors who don’t like to stray too far from their comfort zone. We developed the habit…
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FRANCE 2013: ROCHEFORT
The Square (Rochefort, France) I have to admit Rochefort on the west coast of France had little to show for the two hour drive from our rented gite in Bedenac just north of Bordeaux. The main attraction is an exhibition based around what appears to be a very slow restoration of an old fashioned sailing vessel and the old rope making factory. Neither of these appealed to me I’m afraid and the National Maritime Museum next door was a bit of a damp squib too. The architecture in Rochefort was notable alright and the grid system layout of the town, a familiar landscape to New Yorkers, made it easy to navigate the bright streets. As with most of France on-street restaurants were the order of the day and the fair on offer was varied. Don’t get me…
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FRANCE 2013: BLAYE MARKET DAY
Wednesday and Saturday are the big market days in France – although there are various types of market held on other days during the summer months but they’re specific to certain towns and villages. We decided it was time to have that market experience once again and so The Ban Chéile (henceforth TBC) and I set out on a 30 minute drive to Blaye to reacquaint ourselves with the delights of the morning market and maybe another visit to the Blaye Citadel (a beautifully maintained fortification right beside the market – more info). The last time we’d been to Blaye it rained quite a bit and we eventually gave up and went back to our rented refuge in Bédenac, but today we were treated to 31°C with a royal blue sky bereft of even a…
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FRANCE 2013 – COGNAC BLUES
My Ban-Cheile* and I took a trip into Cognac to catch some of the ambiance of the Blues Festival. The festival runs from July 2nd -July 7th and attracts people from all over the world and not just France. The one hour drive north from Bédenac took us through undulating vineyards as far as the eye could see, interspersed with the red-roofed houses that created a panorama that might have been unchanged for centuries. The festival itself comprises of a headline act in the Centre Ville and a scattering of other performance in a variety of locations from public parks to bars and on the doorstep of restaurants. The crowd consisted of all age groups from children, through teenagers, to young parents herding their over-excited children, but if pushed I’d have to admit there were more…
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FRANCE 2013 – ANGOULEME
Captain Haddock: I thought you were an optimist. Tintin: You were wrong, weren’t you? I’m a realist. Captain Haddock: Ah, it’s just another name for a quitter. Tintin: You can call me what you like. Don’t you get it? We failed. Captain Haddock: Failed. There are plenty of others willing to call you a failure. A fool. A loser. A hopeless souse. Don’t you ever say it of yourself. You send out the wrong signal, that is what people pick up. Don’t you understand? You care about something, you fight for it. You hit a wall, you push through it. There’s something you need to know about failure, Tintin. You can never let it defeat you. Angouleme the municipal capital of the Charente is famous for many things including its stunning architecture and winding cobblestone streets, but…
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9 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT FERRIES
I must admit I was never particularly enamored with flying and only ever saw it as a means to an end, so making a list of things I like about ferry crossings could easily be renamed “why I prefer a boat to a plane”. After an almost 10 year hiatus from starting every holiday with the drudgery that is plane hopping, I bit the bullet and last year together with my Ban-Cheile, Marian, my youngest child and her boyfriend, I embarked on a two week trip to Thailand with the very nice people from Etihad Airlines. I can’t in any way fault the Etihad people, they were everything I didn’t remember from previous holidays – friendly, courteous and most importantly on time and the planes themselves were about as comfortable as an economy class flight…
