Before we had to board our ship to Ireland, we had time to visit the Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg, which is situated next to Europe’s last remaining Art Deco Transatlantic Maritime Station, where travellers would have arrived by train, to continue their journey by ship, for example the Queen Mary, which first docked […]
We just had missed the event of this year, with the 24h of Le Mans taking place on 14–15 June 2025, but of course we had to go there and visit the museum at least. These endurance races take place at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans since its inception in 1923, making it the
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Built between 1518 and 1527, Château d’Azay-le-Rideau is considered one of the finest examples of early French renaissance architecture. Set on an island in the middle of the Indre river, this picturesque château reflects in the water, while inside the rooms are lovely decorated. For solid foundations in the damp ground of the island, the château had to
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We had found a camping at the river Cher, just above the Castle of Chenonceau. (Camping le Moulin Fort) We could go for a swim in the river and in the evening, we took the bikes to get a first glimpse of the famous castle. Thomas Bohier, Chamberlain to King Charles VIII of France and his wife Katherine
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Our first destination in the Loire valley was the Château de Chambord, constructed by the king of France, Francis I. (1494 – 1547) as a hunting lodge! Its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture blends traditional French medieval forms with classical Renaissance structures. The layout is reminiscent of a typical castle with a keep, corner towers, and defended by
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On the way to the Loire valley, we stopped along the A36 after Dole where we could go for a swim and spend the night for 5,- Euros at a great natural lake which we had to ourselves as soon as the day visitors had left (47.053501, 5.23822). The next morning, we decided to do
Our navigation was so nice to take us through this amazing aqueduct, which was built between 1841 and 1847. It is the largest stone aqueduct in the world with 83m height. But finally we reached Les Baux de Provence, which not only has a castle and a lovely village below it, but also is the
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On the way to the Verdon gorge, we came through another fascinating gorge: Gorges de l’Esteron just before Saint-Auban, where we stopped for the night. The next morning we continued, heading to the D71 or Corniche Sublime, which goes along the southern side of the gorge. The gorge is about 25 km long and was formed
Before we tackled the mountains, we made a brief stop at Cuneo, a lovely city with a special bridge and a historic centre of beautiful houses with arcades, that you can walk along the shops protected from sun, rain and snow. We were quite sure that the Col de Tende, an important pass to France,
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Camembert is a dreamy little village with no big cheese factory in sight. There is a museum about the history of Camembert cheese, which included a visit to a production site and a tasting at the shop. Camembert was first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, following advice from a priest who came from Brie, therefore the
