House-warming(s) in Nantes

Friday morning, after bidding farewell to Joel and Francoise, we headed down to Nantes for the culmination of our trip, a couple of house-warming parties.

We started at Aude and Magaye’s, good friends of ours we’ve not seen for a while. Aude and Magaye went all out in their property ambitions, buying a nice old town house, but one in serious need of an overhaul. So that’s pretty much kept them busy since the start of the year, then… (our little bathroom project we’ve just started seems somehow insignificant in comparison). Magaye’s actually an architect, which helps. In fact, the house warming is perhaps a bit premature, since a bit of work remains. But hey, any excuse for a party, right?

We were also joined by another couple of good friends – Sarah and Bruno (and of course Ulysse, the newly arrived family member we’ve not yet had the pleasure of meeting!), who happened to be visiting Nantes (they live in Paris). We started off with some crepes for lunch at Trentemoult, a nice little part of Nantes (it used to be a fishing village, but is now a pretty trendy place to live). For the evening festivities, we were joined by a few friends of Aude and Magaye, and it was all good fun! All in all, great to catch up with Aude and Magaye, it really was too long since the last time…

The next day, we had another house warming to attend to, Nathalie’s and Patrick’s – good friends of ours from our years in England. A good bunch of the old group from England made the effort as well, so it was all a bit of a reunion for us! We met up in Nantes, and made the best of the sunny weather to explore Nantes (taking in the famous Sultan’s elephant, the cathedral and the castle). Pretty much everybody from the “good old days” were there: Flore, Christian, Nick, Philippe, Aniko, Olivier, Raphaelle, Manue and of our hosts Nathalie and Patrick, of course!

Having gotten the mandatory touristy stuff out of the way, we made our way down to Suce-sur-Erbe (naughty plays on words possible here….), where the Rabu clan has settled. They have gone all out with their house – having built an ecological “Maison de Basse consummation” all by themselves (well, I suppose they had a bit of help – but very impressive nonetheless). To keep with the ecological theme, we had bought a solar BBQ as a gift (hopefully it’s usable “up north” in Nantes ;)). We had a great time, as always when we get together – the neighbors livened things up as well. Unfortunately, our reunion was a bit short this time… (thankfully Nick’s 50th birthday party is just a couple of months away, eh?).

After chilling out a bit, and having a late lunch, it was unfortunately time to bid farewell again, and hit the road. But we did have time for a quick stop-over in the Sarthe, where our good friend Stephane was spending a couple of days at his parents place (Stephane immigrated to sunny San Diego a couple of years ago). Great to catch up with him as well, even if it was just for a quick beer.

We then sped onwards to Bourges, where we were staying the night. We arrived too late to visit the town; but decided to do quick tour of the town the next day. Bourges is the capital of the Berry region, and there is actually a fair bit to visit. The old town is very picturesque, with quite a few impressive half-timber houses on display (not entirely unlike Le Mans). The main sights are the imposing Gothic cathedral (unfortunately covered in scaffolding), Jaques Coeur’s palace (also in the Gothic style) and, perhaps most interestingly a marsh area, where we walked around for a good hour or so (an area of 135 acres, basically covering some marshlands, just next to the town centre, which are now cultivated). All in all, a pretty interesting city – unfortunately our short visit really didn’t do it justice. Perhaps another time.

That brought an end to our last week of holidays… Snif. At least it’s certainly been an active and eventful summer!

Angers and Le Mans

So on we carried towards Angers, where Mathilde’s dad lives. We made a lunch stop at Saint-Aignan, located slam-bang in the middle of the Loire valley, famed for its renaissance-era castles. This particular town is not one of the more famous ones, but is still well worth a short stop-over. The streets of the town centre are typical for its region, and rather nice to stroll down, but the absolute highlights are the Romanesque church (with its crypt, with frescos dating back to the 10th century) and the castle (which goes back even further, having elements dating back to the 9th century). We only checked out the castle from the outside, and took in the rather splendid view over the Loire River, and then carried on towards Angers.

We arrived in the afternoon, and started preparing for dinner – we had been invited to dine at Herve’s and Nathalie’s place (Nathalie is Francoise’s sun). After a tour around the place (they have done significant extensions work since I went there last time, around 6 years ago), we got down to business. The food was typically delicious home-cooked fare, followed by a rather delicious cognac for digestif (I am normally not a big fan of cognac – but this one was just SOOOO smooth…). As the case normally is in France, we ate well, drank well, and just generally had a great time.

The next day, the plan was to head to Le Mans, where Mathilde’s aunt Danielle lives with her husband Francis, together with granddad Robert. Things kicked off with another great family lunch (Dani had cooked a rather delicious chicken for us), followed by an art demonstration (since retiring, Dani has picked up painting – and very well so I must say!) and some chilling out in the garden (this involved tasting granddad Robert’s eau de vie – which culminated in them giving me a rather impressive pot of eau de vie – apparently I’m about the only one in the family drinking any of it, sadly enough!? Well, good for me, anyway ;-) ).

We then headed to the old town of Le Mans to burn off some of them calories we’d acquired during the meal. The old town is a rather stunning ensemble of half-timbered houses – it is not surprising it is used as shooting location for a lot of movies. The highlight of Old Le Mans is the stunning cathedral – a real masterpiece of Gothic Architecture. We’d visited it a couple of years ago on our way to Paris, but were happy to reacquaint ourselves with it.

After another very nice meal at Dani’s and Francis’ place, we headed back into town for a spectacle of the night – “Les Nuits de Chimere”. It’s basically a pretty cool little event that happens all evenings during the summer. The concept is basically that they project some scenes / light spectacles on some of the more famous historic monuments of Le Mans – namely the cathedral and the city walls. The effects vary from little mini-plays to just giving the cathedral walls some new colours. Really good fun, altogether! That brought an end to our brief sejour in Anjou, as it was time to head on to Nantes.

Exploring Auvergne

Time to head for holidays to the west of France again! One of the places sort of half-way between Nice and Angers, which we’ve wanted to explore for some time, is Auvergne. It’s a part of France that more or less matches that of the Massif Central – a mountain massif of extinct volcanoes. The plan was for us to stay in Mont-Dore, located just next Puy Sancy, the highest point of the Massif Central (at a not-to-be-frowned-upon altitude of 1886 metres).

The drive to Mont-Dore was a pretty nice one, taking us past Montpellier, and past the Gorges de Tarn. We stopped by at a real gem of modern architecture, the Viaduct de Millau (designed by Norman Foster and Michel Virlogeux, it’s the tallest bridge in the world with one mast’s summit at 340 metes).

We arrived at Mont-Dore in the afternoon, giving us a bit of time to explore town before dinner. Mont-Dore is one of Auvergne’s numerous spa town (Vichy, for example, is also located in Auvergne). It’s not the prettiest town in France, but the spa complex looks rather opulent, and there are a few nice Belle Epoque-era hotels to feast one’s eyes on, too. And the location, in the midst of some of Auvergne’s highest peaks (including Puy Sancy, the highest of them all), is rather stunning.

For dinner, we opted for some real Auvergnat cuisine – meaning a Truffade for me, and some “raclettes Auvergne style” for Mathilde. Truffade is deliciously simple, basically some shredded and fried potatoes mixed with some Tomme cheese from Cantal, with a bit of Auvergne ham to go with it. Simple, yet so delicious (not what I would call a light meal, though).

The next day, we got up really early for a bit of hiking. Auvergne is, after all, one of France’s primary regions for hiking. Today’s hike took us up from the bottom of the valley (at just above 900 meters) up to Puy Gros, at the lofty altitude of 1400 meters. We started off early, hoping to avoid the expected 30+ degrees temperatures. It was rather pleasant hike, gently climbing up through the green scenery (that’s one thing that hit us straight away – Auvergne is much greener than the Mediterranean, craggy mountains we have in the south of France). Wildlife-wise we ran into a couple of horses and a fair few cows (again different from the South of France, were we mostly see sheep during our hikes). The hike up to Mont-Dore was certainly worth the effort, the views over Mont-Dore and the surrounding volcanoes was rather stunning.

After a quick pizza for lunch, we jumped in the car to explore the surrounding area. Our first stop was at the nearby lake of Lac de Guery. It was getting pretty hot, so we were hoping for a bit of a dip – but unfortunately swimming was banned. So we continued to Lac d’Aydat instead, where swimming was thankfully allowed. ‘twas very refreshing, and very well deserved indeed.

Our next stop was the pretty town of Saint-Saturnin. It’s a typically cute little medieval French town, with the cobble-stoned streets and picturesque little houses (I feel like I’ve written that sentence before on this blog?). The main reason, perhaps, to visit Saint-Saturnin is the Romanesque church – known as one of the “five major Romanesque” churches of Auvergne. There is also a castle to round off the attractions. After a brief walk around town, we carried on our exploration – ending up at the Plateau de Gergovie - a major historic site in France. This is where the Gallic king Vercingétorix successfully pushed back Caesar’s Roman legions 52 BC. There’s not actually much to see, apart from a monument to commemorate the event, and some quite nice views over the surrounding areas.

That brought an end to our mini-road trip, as it was getting dark, so we made our way back to Mont-Dore, just in time for dinner ;-). We dined at the nice-looking restaurant next doors to our hotel (and it was indeed a nice little eatery, serving typical, not-so-light, Auvergnat cuisine!).

We started the next day with yet another hike. This time the plan was to conquer the mother of all Auvergnat mountains, the Puy Sancy, located just down the road from Mont-Dore. The hike started at the bottom of the Puy, which is actually a ski station. The hike up towards the summit wasn’t perhaps the most spectacular of hikes we’ve done, as the view was slightly marred by the ski lifts… But the views from the summit were absolutely stunning, a vast panorama over the surrounding scenery opening up before our eyes. There were quite a few people apart from us enjoying the view, as it’s actually possible to make it almost all the way up with one of the ski lifts.

We were also treated to the charming sight of two marmots some distance away (I needed my 300mm lens to make out anything – so quite far away), making their charming “marmotty” sound. A first one for me! The walk back was much nicer than the walk up to the summit, snaking its way along the back of the mountains (hence, no ski lifts to mar the view). The walk took us down a lush, green valley with a stream and a few cows to pose in my photos. So, pretty much the perfect hike, then! The nicest one we’ve done for quite a while, it must be said…

It was still too early for lunch, so we jumped in our car and made our way towards Saint-Nectaire, another famous Auvergnat village. On the way there, we stopped by for yet another rather “solid” auvergnat lunch (Truffade, yihaa!) in a most charming country inn.

Saint-Nectaire is a small village, and again, the church is what it’s all about. It is, like the one in Saint-Saturnin, Romanesque, and is indeed very similar from the outside. What makes this church special, though, is the capitol, with its evocative wooden carvings. There are so many nice churches in Italy and France, and we’ve visited quite a few over the last couple of years, so we get a bit saturated… But these wooden carvings were quite intriguing, and evocative. I especially liked the ones with the damned ones, and the horseman of the apocalypse (he was representing all four of them, apparently). So, a church well worth visiting then!

After Saint-Nectaire, the heat was picking up again, so it was time to find a lake again. We found quite a nice one on the way back towards Mont-Dore, Lac Chambon. We decided to walk around the lake, and stop half-way for a refreshing swim. Before heading back to Mont-Dore, we decided to make one more stop, at Orcival, another little cute village with a famous Romanesque church. To be sure, it was a nice little church (famous for its statue of a virgin – apparently sculped by one Saint-Luc – whoever that is !?), but I guess church saturation was settling in by now.

So we decided to push on – instead of heading straight back to Mont-Dore we made our way to nearby La Bourboule. La Bourboule is a spa town like Mont-Dore. The town is perhaps in slightly less dramatically situated than Mont-Dore, but is perhaps a bit more charming, with its faded Belle Epoque era glamour and old hotels. We finished our stay at Mont-Dore with a very nice dinner at “Le bouef dans l’assiette” – very promisingly named restaurant indeed. And we did indeed eat very well!

That brought an end to our very pleasant stay at Auvergne, as it was time to head down to Angers. About time too, as the great weather we’d been enjoying was giving way to rain and clouds… We did decide to make a short stop at Riom, since it was conveniently on the way to Anjou. Riom was the capital of Auvergne until the French revolution, and it did indeed strike us as a prosperous town, with architecture reminiscent of Clermont-Ferrand (the current capital of Auvergne). After a quick visit of the cathedral, and the Tour d’Horloge (from where we had some nice views over the town and the surrounding countryside), it was time to carry on towards Anjou.

Aleksi's baptism

Our dear friend Mikko and Marianne had a little boy, Aleksi, a while back (don’t ask me when exactly – to me little kids look the same between the ages of 0 – 7 years!). We were very happy to accept the invitation for his baptism, up in the hinterlands of Nice at l’Abadie.

The church was a typically Cote d’Azur Baroque affair. After the service, quite traditional in nature, we made our way back to Marianne’s parents, for the important part of the proceedings (the food and the drink of course!).

They have a rather magnificent little villa, overlooking Nice, literally next doors to Marianne’s and Mikko’s also very impressive digs (many I time we have had dinner at their place – and many a time have I enjoyed that most Finnish of pleasures – the Sauna – with Mikko there).

As we rather expected, we were treated to an amazing feast. I don’t know which traiteur they were using - but if I ever organize a big party like this these guys would definitely be high on the list of candidates (if I can afford it, that is!).

Everything, from the amuse-bouches, to the macarons, to the desert cakes, was absolutely delicious. And of course there was the delicious cake made by Marianne’s grannie to enjoy as well. To wash down all this delicious food, there was of course plenty of rose, champagne, beer, and so forth. But what impressed me the most in that department was the 6 litre bottle of rose passed around!

I spent quite a while chatting to Mikko’s parents – them being pretty much the only non-French at the party (apart from a Serbian lady, I believe?). Very pleasant people indeed. All in all, it’s fair to say we had a great time, then!

Chez Simon

A while back, Marie told us about a rather nice-sounding restaurant called Chez Simon. Not only do they have good food, but they also offer their customers the option to play Petanque while waiting for their food. Sounded like a cool concept to try out.

Since Olivier was still on the Cote d’Azur, this also gave us the opportunity to meet up with him before he headed off. So we booked the restaurant for Friday evening. We were also treated to the company of Maite, JayJay and Marie.

As custom was, we ordered our dishes, and then made our way to play Petanque. I teamed up with Olivier, who seemed pretty confident about his skills, we played against Maite, Marie and JayJay. Alas, our glorious victory was not to be though, as Olivier messed up our certain-looking victory by pushing our boule away from the Jack. Darn. We were saved from humiliation by the fact that our food was ready.

And how was the food then? It certainly lived up to expectations; I had a very nice and tender lamb shank, if memory serves me. And of course it was very nice to catch up with everybody again. This is one restaurant we will grace with another visit, methinks!

How NOT to drive in Haut-de-Cagnes

It’s been a while since we saw our good friends JayJay and Marie last time. Since they had been using our “trusty Polo” (I’m being highly ironic here), we thought it would be a good opportunity to show Marie and JayJay Haut-de-Cagnes, as they returned their car.

After a quick aperitif, we jumped in our trusty Beamer (I’m not being ironic now), and headed up to Haut-de-Cagnes. And the nightmare began… First of all, I wasn’t able to find any parking at the super-high-tech-car-park, so I blindly followed a car down a small alley. The road got narrower and narrower, and at some point the other car stopped. Turns out they were policemen, and they kindly told me the road ahead was even narrower, advising me to reverse back the way I came. So I did just that – with catastrophic consequences – my left wheel slid off what looked like normal road, but turned out to be a kind of a wall actually. The end result – I was stuck (with the left wheel in the air – and remember beamers are real-wheel driven). And in about the worst imaginable place too – and with an old chap impatiently waiting behind me in his Clio. There was no other way to his house, apparently. The helpful coppers agreed that there was no way to dislodge the car, and called somebody to tow my car (I was looking forward to the bill – this was after all a public holiday!).

Anyway, we waited and waited, until a helpful motorcyclist showed up behind us, and reckoned he could dislodge the car. And alas, we succeeded – and thankfully there was even another helpful copper to call off the towing company. I was in no mood to continue reversing, so we ended up driving down the absolutely, ridiculously narrow roads through the old town – thankfully JayJay was there to guide me. Eventually, we made it…

Our plan to dine in Haut-de-Cagnes was kind of ruined due to my dodgy driving, so we ended up having dinner in one of the seaside restaurants in Cagnes. Not a bad choice as it turned out, I rather enjoyed my fondue bourguignonne (the concept is basically to dip pieces of beef into a pot of boiling oil). I rather thought I deserved it after the traumatic events of the evening….

Greolieres hiking with Olivier and Raphaelle

It’s been a while since we’ve seen our good friends Ollie and Raphaelle. Ollie and Rafa are Paris based, but Ollie’s parents have a very nice house in Greolieres, a pretty village (the prettiest in France, if we are to believe Ollie) not too far away from Cagnes. So when we learnt that they would be in the South this weekend, we decided to meet up with them on this sunny Sunday.

Greolieres is rather dramatically located in the Loup valley, so there are plenty of nice hiking trails in the surrounding area – so we decided it would be a good time to dig out them dusty hiking boots and do a bit of walking – something we’ve been a bit lazy about lately. We opted upon a walk called “le traversee des mirroirs” – a walk from Greolieres, along the Loup valley, finishing in the tiny hamlet of Saint-Pons. We even told ourselves we could perhaps continue to Coursegoules (a nice village a few kilometres further) for a nice relaxing lunch, if we were quick enough.

The walk first took us up to the ruins of“ Haut Greolieres” (the “old village” located a bit higher than “Basse Greolieres”, which is the “new village”). Having checked out the old monastery and the other ruined buildings, we carried on climbing towards the top of the valley. Climbed and climbed… Until one of us thought we ought to double check where we were supposed to turn off. I double-checked the instructions for the walk – and noted a comment about a stream – which we’d actually passed about 200 meters lower. So we decided to walk back down to the stream, only to realize there was no path there. So I checked the walking instructions – and suddenly realized we were supposed to start the walk at Saint-Pons – not Greolieres! (note for the future – check at which end of the walk the written instructions start the next time you do a one-way walk – or simply look at where the letter “D “ for departure is on the map).

Turns out the turning point for the path was about 20 meters from where we decided to head back down the path. Argh! Oh well, just meant we got a bit more exercise then, I suppose (always look on the bright side of life, as the Pythons used to say!)

After finding the correct path, the foot path levelled off, and the hiking got easier. Well on the right course now, we made our way to Saint-Pons (after missing another turning on the path – thankfully quickly spotted by Mathilde). Unfortunately, due to our little detour, it was way too late to continue to Coursegoules as we had originally (rather optimistically) hoped. So, we decided to call Ollie’s dad instead, who came and picked us up. We ended up having a delicious BBQ lunch at Olivier’s uncle’s Alain’s house – so things turned out pretty well in the end then! (I even got to try horse meat – a first one for me. Tastes a bit like beef, actually).

All in all, a brilliant day out in the countryside, then!

Night out in Nice

It’s been quite a busy summer for us on the Cote d’Azur, and we haven’t had a chance to meet up much with our “local friends”. So this particular Friday, we decided it’d be a good idea to meet up for dinner in Nice, to catch up on the latest news. We got quite a decent turnup, with Aki, Henna, Mikko, Marianne, Youcef and Naim all coming along. We booked a table at Boscolo Plaza for the occasion – a roof-top restaurant in one of the swishiest hotels in Nice, with a stunning view over Place Massena. We decided to drive down to Nice, rather than taking the train as usual - bad idea. The prom’ was closed, so it took us about 1 hour to get into Nice… Affirmed our faith in public transport – even if it is a bit unreliable at times…

Our stomachs were well grumbling by the time we made it up to the restaurant. The view was still great, but I have to say the food and service left a lot to be desired. I think they pretty much got something wrong in everybody’s order, apart from mine. Wrong garniture, cold food, you name it… At least they were graceful enough to give us a discount on the meal. But anyway, we had a good time, and it was great catching up with everybody again.

We skipped the dessert, and opted for a very tasty ice cream (nice recommendation from Naim) at Place de Palais de Justice. We wrapped up a very nice evening with a couple of drinks at Akathor pub (the terrace at Ma Nolan’s was full, as always, so we ended up going for Plan B – which is good ol’ Akathor…).

Back home via the Bordelais

We had quite a drive ahead of us to get back to Cagnes-sur-Mer from the Vendee. To make matters worse, today was a really bad day on the roads, since half of France is either driving home from holidays, or starting their holidays. And apparently the route we were taking (passing via Bordeaux, Toulouse and Montpellier) would be one of the most heavily trafficked bits of motorway…

We were planning to stay the night at the tiny hamlet of Ruffiac, near Casteljaloux near the vineyards of Bordeaux. It was quite a drive, and things started badly, as we got stuck in traffic before we even reached the motorway. So we decided to make our way towards Bordeaux on small country roads instead. A good choice, I reckon. Not only did we save a fair bit of time, we were also treated to some pretty decent scenery, as we crossed the Marais Poitevin. The marshland zone is divided roughly into two parts – the dry marshlands, and the wet marshlands, also known as the Green Venice. This is where we headed, in search of a place to have lunch. We ended up in a nice small village (the name of which escapes me), where we did indeed find a nice little restaurant where we filled our stomachs (some more Vendean ham and white beans, yummie!).

From the Marais Poitevan, we got back on the motorway for a while, only to get off again before Bordeaux (didn’t fancy taking our chances there). We then drove across all the way to Ruffiac, where we were staying the night. It was a very scenic drive indeed, taking us through some classic Bordeaux vineyards (the prosperity of the area is just plainly visible everywhere) – we passed not far from Saint-Emillion. We eventually arrived at Ruffiac, which, it turns out, really is a tiny hamlet. Believe it or not, but we were actually staying the night at a proper French Chateau – that’s a first one for me. Pretty cool experience, even if we didn’t stay in the Royal Suite or anything like that.

Actually, our good friends Gilles, Valerie and their lovely kids (who as you may realize, should you be a frequent reader of my blog, are moving to San Francisco) were staying not too far away from our little chateau. And since they are indeed flying off “across the pond”, we definitely wanted to meet up with them one more time. Valerie’s sister (where they are staying) kindly invited us over for dinner… Before making our way there, we took the opportunity to visit nearby Cadillac (yes, the Cadillac car making company is named by one Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, who was sieur de Cadillac), another one rather pretty, well-preserved French village. The place has rather a medieval feel to it, with its cobble-stoned streets, well-preserved city walls (with a few gate towers intact), and a proper, impressive castle as well.

We then made our way to Cerons, just across the Garonne river, for apero and dinner. Fantastic to meet Gilles, Valerie and of course Hector and Celian one last time (until we visit them in the US, of course!). And great to meet Valerie’s family as well (her sister with husband, as well as her dad, were there). The dinner was nice and convivial, as dinners tend to be in France. Must be quite a relief for Gilles and Valerie to finally be off, it’s been a few trying months for them, sorting out all the formalities and practicalities. They will be sorely missed, that’s for sure.

We still had a fair bit of driving to do on Sunday, so got up pretty early and hit the road. The road took us past Toulouse towards Montpellier. We left early enough in the morning, so managed to avoid traffic jams, thankfully. We made a lunch stop at another nice French town we found in our road atlas, Pézenas. It’s a pretty little town just north of Montpellier, a good place for a short stopover. Having walked around its pretty streets for a bit, we found a nice little bistro for lunching, and hit the road again. From there it was straight on to Cagnes-sur-Mer (well, apart from a short detour through the Camargue during which we picked up some fruit and vedge).

So that brought end to our camping holiday, then! All in all, a great and relaxing week, I could well consider doing it again!

Camping in the Vendee

The next stop on our trip was, as mentioned previously, the Vendee department, more specifically Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez. The plan was to spend a week there camping with Joel and Francoise, and other various other members of the family.

The Vendee is known as a rather traditionalist part of France, with a lot of Royalist ties (in fact, nearly 200,000 Vendeans were killed during a peasant revolt against the revolutionary government in 1793). These days it’s also very popular with tourists, due to the fact that the Vendean coastline is blessed with 200km of sandy beaches, all within easy striking distance from Paris. The Vendee is very much oriented towards camping, so the tourism is pretty different here compared to say our dear Cote d’Azur.

Saint-Hilaire is a typical example of this – basically the entire coastline is covered by camping grounds. The one we were staying at is conveniently located near the sea, by a nice forested area. Me and Mathilde were roughing it out in a tent, behind Joel’s and Francoise’s camping trailer (the neighbouring ones were occupied by Francoise’s son Marc and his family, and Marc’s in-laws on the other side). Mathilde’s nieces and nephews Alix, Paul and Lucas were also camping with us.

We took it pretty easy the first couple of days, doing what people do on campings (chill out on the beach, eat well, drink well, chill out and so forth). French campings are a bit different from Finnish ones – definitely better equipped. More like holiday camps, if you ask me. I like the comfort, but miss the touch of wilderness you get in Finland. All in all, it was all very relaxing.

The water is a bit chillier than on the Mediterranean, that’s for sure, but on the other hand the beaches are a lot less crowded, as well. It was fun watching the kids in action as well; Paul and Lucas wreaking their mayhem, Alix hanging out with Marc’s daughter Emma. And great to meat little Iloh as well, finally!

On Tuesday we decided it was time to do something else than lie on the beach and “hang out at the camping ground”, so we decided to visit the Salt evaporation ponds for which the Vendee used to be very famous for. We were treated to a pretty interesting guided visit – a pretty successful mixture of history, theory, practical demonstration, with a bit of “fun for kids” thrown in for good measure. The guide was pretty enthusiastic, and the old salt worker looked authentic enough, with a suitably difficult accent to decipher (well, for me at least). And what’s most important, the kids had a great time!

The next day, we were meeting up with Delphine, Christophe, Servanne and Stephane (friends of Mathilde from her student days) as well as their kids. We headed out to a nice little picnic spot (arguably, as it was located by one of the busiest routes in the Vendee), where we had a nice little picnic lunch. Meanwhile, we observed the difference between how boys and girls play: the girls built a nice little hut, whereas the boys were bashing each other, trees and the girls’ hut with big wooden sticks. Anyway, everybody had a great time, that’s the most important thing! We then wrapped up the day by chilling out on the beach, and swimming among the huge Atlantic waves…

For the evening, Francoise had prepared a proper Vendean meal. Things kicked off with a Trouspinette, a Vendean aperitif, made from blackthorn, wine and some eau de vie. The main course was ham with mogettes (white beans), as Vendean as a meal can get, apparently. The high- or low-light (depends on how you want to interpret it) of the evening was the “44”, though. This rather magical brew is concocted, more or less, in the following manner: take a fair dose of (preferably home-distilled, naturally) Eau de Vie (such as Mathilde’s grand mum’s famous Calvados), put an orange in it, add 44 coffee beans, 44 sugar cubes add some clove, and let the mixture “marinate” for 44 days. The end result is rather delicious, but also deviously dangerous, as me and Marc found out after having a few glasses too many… After a friendly brawl in the hedge, we wisely decided to go to bed (as promised though, no headache the next morning!).


On Thursday, the bad weather forecast came true, unfortunately, and the rain started coming down. Good thing then that we got some tickets for the circus for the evening, then. Must be about 25 years since the last time I went to the circus, I reckon (well, apart from seeing Cirque du Soleil in London a few years back). In a way, I was kind of looking forward to rekindling those childhood memories. So how was it then, in the end? Well, I had a good time, which is most important, right? Some of the numbers could do with a bit of improvement, but it was kind of nice to take in a bit of good old fashioned entertainment, for a change. And it kind of fit in with the while camping spirit of our holiday, I suppose…

On Friday, we were meeting up with another friend of Mathilde’s, Elodie, at Noirmoutier. Noirmoutier is an island, located in the northern part of the Vendee. The island is blessed with a bit of a micro-climate, being blessed with as many hours of sun per year as Carcassone (located in the South of France). Hence, there are plenty of holiday homes on Noirmoutier, which are gradually replacing the traditional industries of salt making and fishing. We started out exploration of Noirmoutier at the main town of the island, called Noirmoutier-en-l'Île. It’s a charming enough town, with nice restaurants and cute little cobble-stoned streets – mass tourism hasn’t quite taken over yet. From there, we walked along the eastern coastline, taking in the Reserve Naturelle de Mullembourg (a protected piece of marshland) and the bois de la Chaize – a nice little woodland area with plenty of impressive villas.

We met up with Elodie after crossing the bois de la Chaize, and decided to have lunch at a nice seaside restaurant. Our stomachs filled, we carried on with our exploration (after all, now we had a local guide – Elodie used to live on the island). We particularly like an old fishing village called Le Vieil – it had a rather authentic touch to it.

We decided to drive back across a rather unique road called Le Passage du Gois. It connects the island to the mainland – but only during low tide. During high tide, the road is covered by water (so basically, twice a day, then). It is not the only road of its type – but what makes this particular road impressive is its length – it measures 4.5 kilometres. The crossing was definitely more interesting than driving across the bridge, so it’s something I would definitely recommend to anybody paying this island a visit.

That brought an end to our week in the Vendee, as it was time to pack up and leave Saturday morning. It was not the kind of holiday we would normally do, but we both enjoyed it. And great to see Muriel’s little kids growing up!