We put Cognac behind us and pointed the MG toward Saint Jean de Monts in the Vendee region of France. This small seaside town is about 40 miles southwest of Nantes and was a destination we’d been looking forward to. It came with a price though.
B23 MG HAVEN ON THE ATLANTIC COAST
Categories: Atalier des Angelaises, France, MG Club de France, Saint Jean de Monts
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B22 TASTING THE GRAPE FROM WHERE IT CAME
Our time in the Bordeaux regain was not totally spent at Beau-Sejour as compelling as that idea is. Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped at the Chateau Minvielle winery.
The winery dogs had just quit nipping at our tires when a young man, wearing knee high boots, appeared at the winery door. His name is Pierre and he and his wife represent the current generation turning grapes into wine from their own property. He gave us brief history. The winery was established by an Italian nobleman in the 1700’s who lost it during the French revolution. Pierre’s family picked up the property and has been making wine there ever since. Read more
B21 BORDEAUX – A LAND OF QUALITY VINES AND WINES
We left the land of rolling hills and limestone caves and slowly descended to the land of quality vines and wines…the Bordeaux region.
Before we share with you our wonderful time in this area we have a sad announcement. Somewhere between Blois and Limoges, our trusted guide, Mlle. Collette Recalulair went off to GPS heaven. Up until then she had been chatty if not always accurate in her directions, and suddenly she was there no more. It happened without fanfare and took quite a while for us to realize that we were rocketing through a foreign land completely unguided. We tried all things to revive her short of mouth to mouth, but to no avail. When we replaced the MG’s front wheel we discovered a solder joint had come apart, cutting off all electrical life support and causing Mlle. Recalculair to slowly starve to death right in front of us. “Great,” Louise said. “Problem solved.” If that was only so because the new jolt of electricity did nothing to bring her back. We now carry her lifeless body around with us, hoping for some electronic miracle.
The above paragraph is to explain why we got so hopelessly lost in the vine covered fields of St. Emilion. Our previous hotel gladly printed off a highly detailed Google map that took us right down to the graveled entry of a chateau that had never heard of us. Read more
B20 DOING THE DORDOGNE
From Limoges we moved on south to the village of Sarlat in the Dordogne Valley region and near the Dordogne river, very popular for canoeing, small boat trips and caving.
The old town of Sarlat is very charming and looks just like an antique village should; tight, narrow streets, lots of stone construction and lots of cars. We chose to visit this region because we’d never traveled here before. In a stroke of genius, we convinced our good friends, Beth and Terry Crofoot, to scout the area for us in the last days of May.
They brought back all sorts of reports on good things to do while here. Unfortunately, for us, they stayed for 5 days while we only had 2 1/2 to lavish on this area. Some things had to be left for our next visit. Read more
Categories: Beynac, Domme, Dordogne, France, Hotel Mounea, Lascaux caves, MG, Sarlat
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B19 LIMOGES: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ALL IN ONE PLACE
The terrain changed from gently rolling fields to hilly, forested landscape as we headed south. The city of Limoges is known for its beautiful china that graces tables world wide but scarcely sixteen miles away stands a crumbling reminder of man’s inhumantity to man…a remnant of World War Two.
The event occurred on 10 June, 1944, just four days after the Allies successful invasion of Europe on the beaches of Normandy. The German army, in a panic to control the conquered French population, decided something dramatic was needed to keep the French from assisting the Allies.
The SS troops went in to the small town of Oradour sur Glane with the pretext of searching for hidden weapons. The villagers, knowing they didn’t have any, were compliant. The Germans rounded up all the men in the village, some 200, and placed them in five different garages. They then herded all the women children into the church. There were 400 in there. Read more
Categories: Château de la Chabroulie, France, limoges, Oradour sur Glane
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