Thursday 14 July 2916
A perfect day to visit a traditional little village and see the local Bastille Day parade. Bourge en Bresse is a little town/area with multiple villages on the outskirts. The main industry is horticulture. It's typical rural French countryside, just everyday folks, little town squares, wiggly roads, fantastic boulangerie and not much else.....we loved it!
We drove into Chalamont quite by chance and just in time to see the town Bastille Day parade. We grabbed a coffee and a little local torte and sat and watched the village life for a bit.The local gendarmes were there watching the parade and doing traffic patrol and it was interesting to see they had pistols AND great big assault rifles/AK47 type guns. I couldn't imagine seeing a NZ policman in Cuba mall during a parade patrol being so obviously armed, interesting to see and all the locals didn't bat an eyelid.
Then on to an ancient walled town called Perouges, if you have seen the movie The Three Musketeers you may recognise the village. This little village is surrounded by fields, not on any major main road or tourist route and it is still relatively unspoiled as you have to make an effort to go there or be like us and happen to be staying in the middle of nowhere because we wanted to explore back roads and traditional French countryside.
We also visited Bourge en Bresse cathedral, another beauty. No matter what your view of religion, the design, artistry and crafmanship we have seen to date in the churches and cathedrals is incredible and presents history in such an accessible format.
The Tour de France is coming past here in two or three days!
A perfect day to visit a traditional little village and see the local Bastille Day parade. Bourge en Bresse is a little town/area with multiple villages on the outskirts. The main industry is horticulture. It's typical rural French countryside, just everyday folks, little town squares, wiggly roads, fantastic boulangerie and not much else.....we loved it!
We passed this amazingly detailed high wall around a property and being ever curious we took a left turn to see what was behind the high wall. A château and gate house were tucked on the side of a field, noone about......you could write a great tale about it....who lived there once, what intrigue and goings on have happened over the years... The stone work was incredible.
We drove into Chalamont quite by chance and just in time to see the town Bastille Day parade. We grabbed a coffee and a little local torte and sat and watched the village life for a bit.The local gendarmes were there watching the parade and doing traffic patrol and it was interesting to see they had pistols AND great big assault rifles/AK47 type guns. I couldn't imagine seeing a NZ policman in Cuba mall during a parade patrol being so obviously armed, interesting to see and all the locals didn't bat an eyelid.
Then on to an ancient walled town called Perouges, if you have seen the movie The Three Musketeers you may recognise the village. This little village is surrounded by fields, not on any major main road or tourist route and it is still relatively unspoiled as you have to make an effort to go there or be like us and happen to be staying in the middle of nowhere because we wanted to explore back roads and traditional French countryside.
We also visited Bourge en Bresse cathedral, another beauty. No matter what your view of religion, the design, artistry and crafmanship we have seen to date in the churches and cathedrals is incredible and presents history in such an accessible format.
The Tour de France is coming past here in two or three days!
No comments:
Post a Comment