TT Best of France – Part 2
15 September, Mercure, Porte de la Cité, Carcassone
Day started abruptly. I thought I’d set phone alarm for 6:20am as cases to be out at 7am. Alarm rings at 6:50am! Wot a scramble!! Good thing we had showered last night.!
We got underway. Travel mainly by motorway so not all that interesting. Stopped at a truck stop after about 1.5hrs for drinks and stretch of legs. I hadn’t had a coffee for breakfast so I got one from an automatic machine, and very nice it was too! Then we were off again – passed Aix-en-Provence – Mistral wind again – towards Arles. Then we got into a traffic jam! And we had a couple of near misses with stupid car drivers performing sudden lane changes right in front of our bus! Daniel had to have his wits about him today!
We were about 45 minutes late for our arrival in Arles. Very busy, noisy and dirty when we got there – Market Day. Public toilets were disgusting so we tried to find an eating place with customer toilets. Most of the cafes were really full and busy. Found one, and while we were waiting for our order, I went to find the toilet. One toilet for both men and women in such a busy place! Three people were in line ahead of me and then we had to let a pregnant woman in before us. Two others from our group were waiting too.
Our order had arrived when I got back to our table. Very tasty salad, omelette and French (!) fries!! Also a nice apple juice.
By the time we were finished the Market stalls had closed or were closing, so it was not so crowded when we went on our tour with Jacqueline (pronounced the French way – zhak-a –leen) a lovely woman who was an expert on Van Gogh as well as some of the old roman remains such as the Theatre and arena. 
The latter is still used today for both Spanish bullfighting and the ‘game’ the French have, using smaller bulls with upright horns that have ribbons etc tied to them. The young men then have to run around trying to get these ‘trophies’ off the horns. The bulls are not harmed in this version. She told us that when it is advertised the bulls have their names in big letters and the ‘players’ only small – the bulls are the Stars. They do this until they are 11-12yrs old then they go to a retirement farm to live out their days in peace. ’Ferdinand’ would have liked to be this kind of bull!
We only had an hour with her because we were late, which was a shame as it was very interesting. Her knowledge of the life, times and personality of Van Gogh was absorbing and she was so passionate about him and his works.
The Market stalls had completely gone when we got back to the meeting point but they leave their rubbish everywhere! It was a mess!! A watering truck came along and cleaned the road but that just squirted the rubbish into long piles. We assume this was picked up later by council workers?!
In the Place de la République we saw a civil ceremony for a wedding taking place – the French have to have both a church and a civil service. Everyone looked festive in their finery and, what I thought unusual they had an ‘Oompah Band’ there playing jaunty tunes while the guests waited for the couple. I took a couple of photos but admonished myself later – I keep forgetting my camera can also take video and I wish I had taken a video of it.
Then it was back on the bus and on to Carcassone, a beautiful walled castle/Citie. Parts have been there since Roman times. They filmed “Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves” in which I really enjoyed Alan Rickman as the Sheriff. This was his town and castle. We didn’t have much time again because of the traffic delay so no time for any shopping.
Dinner was at the Hotel – salad, then Cassolet and pears poached in red wine. We sat with an Aussie couple who have also been married 40 years, and her 60th was last year too! Also at the table was ‘Big Coat’, Kay & Ray, plus the woman who got lost, and her husband. While I was talking with the Aussies, Eddie must have got onto talking about his job with the others when suddenly he was auctioneering! ‘Big Coat’ thought it fantastic!! A good evening and a nice meal. The bed had a special Reading Light but I was tired so couldn’t make use
of it for long.
Before dinner the little American-Italian fell in the shower and had to go to hospital, but he was back as we were leaving the dining room with a bandage around his head and full of jokes!
On our way the next morning Daniel stopped the Bus in a park area the overlooked Carcassone and we could take photos. it was a misty morning which made the castle town looke quite ethereal and magical. I must say that the TD and bus drivers on all the tours really do give us opportunities for great photos for memories of our travel.
16 September, Novotel Anglet, Biarritz
This morning we didn’t have to leave until 8:30am, which was good. I had a nice hot shower and we didn’t have to rush breakfast. Sat with a couple that the wife thought Eddie looked like Bill Clinton! (He definitely doesn’t) - she must need glasses desperately!!
We had a four-hour drive with a comfort stop mid-way, before we arrived in Lourdes. What a place! People everywhere, many obviously quite devout. We did not line up with a candle to see the grotto, but I took a photos later from across the river. We filled up our water bottle with ‘Holy water’ – I’m sure it helped whatever ailed us?! I enjoyed all the mosaic artwork on the walls from traditional to modern.
Then it was another 2hrs to Biarritz. Vanessa told us 1.5hrs – she lied! I felt rather tired and a bit fed up, so did not want to spend time wandering around Biarritz township. We and two other couples came to the Hotel with Daniel. Very pleasant. Time to re-charge batteries – camera, phone and ours! Also checked emails which worked perfectly this time, and loaded my photos onto the tablet also. So I’m now all up-to-date.
Land quite different here. Still lots of cropping, but also acres of maize. Outside Arles was lots of rice. Oh, also around here and Lourdes, lots of sunflowers – most dying or dead now.
One thing I didn’t like hearing – Vanessa told us there was a local speciality at Lourdes, a type of sausage/salami that is made from donkeys!! Mean people!!!!
17 September, Pullman Hotel, Bordeaux
Left Hotel this morning at 8:15am to go up La Rhune, a high Peak of the Pyrenees and a special spot for the Basque people. We were told that this was a high mountain - 905m, but when I looked online later found out that Mt Te Aroha (local NZ hill) is 952m, so La Rhune not that tall at all.
Before going up the ‘mountain’ we went into Biarritz to drop a few people off who did not take this option, then it was about 45 minutes to the parking area where we boarded the Cog Train that trundled up the hill. The wooded slopes around were very pretty and the little steep-roofed houses looked like little Swiss Chalets.
There were many people going and it was a mad scramble to get a seat. It was cloudy and when we started, there was cloud below the peak but it was above the cloud. However, by the time we got up to the top (30mins) it was foggy everywhere! Couldn’t see a thing! Took photos going up where it was clear. Very steep with sheer drops on either side in some places. Very rocky too, but high up we saw wild ponies and on the way down, goats with very large horns!
I bought a size XL T-shirt as I like them loose. Loved the design and I could do with a new, clean T-shirt, but when I got back to the Hotel and tried it on it barely fits! Damn!! I guess I can give it to one of the grandkids, or smaller (than me) daughter?!
Anyway, the experience was fun.
Then we went back to Biarritz. Got there about 12:15pm and had until 2pm to look around and have lunch. We found a cafe that the Affable Texan (if you older people remember Burl Ives, then you now know what he looks like) and his partner also found, so we decided to all eat there. We shared a pizza and had a juice each. Then we walked along the waterfront and took photos of the waves, surfers and rocks of the Atlantic.
It was then a 3-hour drive to Bordeaux. Eddie fell asleep as soon as we started off. I tried to play some games on the tablet but the sun made too much glare on the screen, so I read for a bit but got sleepy and I too had a snooze – bus was very quiet. I think most of us were snoozing!
We had a relief driver today – Damian, as it was Daniel’s day off. Not as good. Back wheels (we are now sitting near the back) kept jumping the kerb when he went round corners and once he missed a street direction sign by a mere millimetre! He did improve as the day progressed and he was good on the motorway.
We passed through an area called Les Landes. A reclaimed, sandy salt marsh area, now pine plantations and some cropping. Vey flat and very different from where we were this morning. We didn’t see them, but near the area we were passing through, Vanessa told us there are large sand dunes, just like the Sahara desert. Reclamation of the land was to slow down/prevent further inland incursion of these large dunes. You could see where there were roadworks in progress that the soil was really just sand!
Once again she was going to drop everyone off in town, take the bus to the Hotel to unload, then come back to pick us up. This time she gave everyone the option of going straight to the Hotel. This time, a third of us did. Much better. We drove through the main part of town 18th Century edifices, like parts of Paris, that did not appeal to me.
We had time at the Hotel to unpack, showered, do some washing all before dinner. This we had in a conference area of the Hotel. A nice meal but the room was Spartan. No windows and the air conditioning, like our room, was set quite cool.
It is now 9:45pm. We left the dining area just after 9pm. We sat with some people we hadn’t spoken with much before and a rather quiet group. Perhaps everyone at this stage was rather tired?! Mike the Aussie is on his own. His wife has back trouble and didn’t want to travel all that way in the plane. Val, (American) also on her own, lives in an area where she is near woods and showed me photos of deer and a fawn that come into her back yard. She also has chipmunks that sit on her windowsill and chatter to her through the window!
18 September, Hotel Pullman, Bordeaux
Really nice day today except for Vanessa’s ‘Hidden treasure’. We left at 8:00am – overcast and threatening showers, but we didn’t take any rainwear.
She said we would go about an hour to a ‘special place’. It was a town called Libourne beside the muddy river Garrone that runs passed here too. Market day but rather lacklustre and the buildings around were sad and neglected.
Eddie and I followed the sign to the Church and Synagogue. We found the church and took a couple of photos but although we walked right down the street where the sign was pointing, we did not find the Synagogue.
We decided to go back to the bus meeting point and look at the river as we still had 20 minutes before we were due to leave. Atul and his wife Sheela, Indian couple were there too so we sat and talked about the swift, muddy waters and the vagarities of Public Toilets. They too did not like the town – very dirty and unkempt. We decided that only ‘Hidden treasure’ we’d get would be on our shoe! (Dog poo!!)
However, the next place, St Emilion, was gorgeous! Lovely old 11-12th century village, although it began way back in the 8th century when Emilion settled there in his cave. We had a local guide, a young man with very arched black eye-brows, who told us the story of St Emilion. We saw his cave and the underground Church carved out of the limestone. Fascinating and beautiful. I would have liked more time to walk around the town,but only had time to buy a packet of postcards and a pen as a momento, like the one I bought in Mijas last year, before we went to the restaurant for a very nice lunch and the best red wine I’ve tasted this tour.
We had individual soufflés plus salad first, followed by duck in wine sauce and chocolate soufflé for dessert. This was thicker/stiffer than how I like it so only had about half. Vanessa remembered that Eddie cannot have chocolate and they brought him a nice plate of grilled pineapple. We sat at a small table with Ray & Kay again. They seem to like our company. At one stage Ray got someone to take a photos of us four and he’ll email us a copy!
Then Vanessa was endeavouring to get all back to the bus for our next destination. Many were milling around, having a last shop etc. Up to now, Vanessa has been a rather quiet, gentle TD and is patient with stragglers. This time she was getting concerned as we had an appointment at a winery. She suddenly clapped her hands and said loudly “MOVE IT!” everyone burst out laughing, and with a lot of ‘yes, Miss, right away, Miss’ we all scampered up the lane to the bus.
The bus ride took only 10 minutes and we arrived at Chateau Soutard. A winery can only be called Chateau if all the wine they bottle is grapes from their own property. A fascinating talk/lecture by the young woman, where we saw the vines, then the vat and barrel rooms before the tasting. Two of the wines I quite liked but not enough to buy any. However, they did have the little circles of foil that you curl into a pourer on top of the bottle. At the previous wine tasting these were used also, so we bought a couple.
Then it was back here, dropping off some people in Bordeaux who wanted to look at the shops. We did not, and it was now raining. Its now 6:30pm we have to find our own dinner and we’re trying to decide what to do. Don’t feel that hungry after that nice lunch but could do with a ‘little something’.
We had put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on our door (it actually said ‘I’m Sleeping’) but they took no notice and came in anyway, so we have clean towels and a made bed.
Later: we asked to see the menu from the Hotel, but not what we wanted, so went across the road. Guess who was there? – Ray & Kay, plus Aussie Mike. We had a ‘hamburger’ patty on toast with fries, then went back to the Hotel. A couple from the tour were sitting having a drink and they told us they were celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary! They are from Chicago. After congratulating them, another American came, so we told him. Daniel, the driver heard us, came over, and gave her a kiss on each cheek, French style. She said afterwards she always wanted a kiss like that! We had a juice with them and when we were heading off they said they would pay for all the drinks! Very nice of them.