Author: marionvermazen

We didn’t have breakfast at the place we stayed in Saintes. Instead we went to a nearby Boulangerie and bought pastries which we picnicked on down the road a bit.

We were heading towards the town of Rochefort which isn’t very far from Saintes. But first we decided to explore the island of Ile d’Oléron. Based on the amount of parking we saw it must be a very busy place in the summer. We parked first on the west side of the island and walked along the coast.

Ile d’Oléron is famous for its mussel and oyster farming. We saw farms everywhere. We drove over to the east coast and walked down to the water to see some of the mussel farms. Mussels grow on ropes attached to piling.

After leaving Ile d’Oléron we drove about half an hour to the Pont Transbordeur in Rochefort. It’s very near where we are staying. The Pont Transbordeur is a massive structure that was built around 1900. It allows a gondola suspended from a trolley to ferry people across the estuary of the river without hindering shipping.

For dinner we went to o small local restaurant in Rochefort, Les Béatilles. It felt like a quintessential French experience. The two waiters were very friendly and helpful and the food was wonderful.

We woke up this morning to the slight smell of smoke. The temperature was 28 degrees Fahrenheit and we had been warned that there would be smoke among the vines to protect them from the freezing temperature. We also saw and heard helicopters flying over the vineyards stirring up the air.

The breakfast at Chsteau Fombrauge where we were staying was wonderful.

The Bed and Breakfasts that we stay at in rural France don’t usually allow check in until 4 or 5pm. So although we had a relatively short drive today we took a circuitous route. We stopped for a picnic lunch.

The park had a pizza machine that could provide a cold pizza in 30 seconds or a hot pizza in 3 minutes.

France has the first round of their presidential elections this Sunday. It is interesting to see the election signs. As I understand it, there are strict rules to ensure fairnes, so all the signs are the same size.

We still had time to kill when we got to our B and B so we saw an abbey not too far away and parked there to read and nap while we waited for our check in time.

Our Landlady where we are staying, Les Cuves, gave us a list of nearby restaurants. We chose one and drove into Saintes for dinner. It was a small restaurant called Les Repaire des Artistes. We had an excellent meal and there was no problem corking the leftover wine to take with us.

Sunday morning we walked around Bordeaux a bit to find some breakfast pastries. Later we walked to a bus stop and took a bus to the airport where we picked up the rental car that we will drive to Paris.

We drove to Saint-Emilion. Duke and I stayed in Saint-Emilion last year. On that trip we stayed above a wine shop and regretted the fact that they were closed when we left so we weren’t able to buy wine. This time we went straight to the wine shop we visited last time, tasted some wine and ordered some to ship home. It makes a perfect souvenir.

We are staying a couple of miles outside of Saint-Emilion at a chateau surrounded by vineyards. It’s called Château Fombrauge.

For dinner we went to Camille & Soufiane the Michelin restaurant we ate at last year. It was a wonderful dining experience. The flavors and presentation of the food were perfect.

Today was a bit of a rest day. It snowed last night in the mountains we came through yesterday.

Today we spent a lot of time exploring between and during the rain squalls. At times the sun was shining and at other times it was raining or hailing.

Our room was on the top floor in the picture below. It was a nice place to take a bit of a rest and watch the weather change.

For dinner we went out to have pintxos again. There are so many places that are full in spite of the winter weather. We went to 3 places tonight. We started with the place we really enjoyed last night and had the grilled goat cheese again.