Paris to Bordeaux via Chateau Chambord and Bordeaux to Carcassone

On Thursday our group left early for the long drive to Bordeaux. Our first stop was in the Loire Valley, an area well known for the chateaus. We visited the beautiful Chateau Chambord, after which the sweet blackberry liquer was named. It was built as a magnificent hunting lodge for a French king. It was great but I liked Arundel Castle better. We had lunch in the local town and then continued on to Bordeaux.


One of the things I loved about the scenery was the fields and fields of sunflowers. I couldn’t get a photo, but Raini I thought of you. In the evening we checked in to Hotel de la Faisan and had dinner at a local restaurant. Afterwards we hung out with some people from the tour which was really nice. The city of Bordeaux is far more built up than I expected, and pretty, though not as beautiful as Paris!


On Friday we headed into wine country. We went to an amazing vineyard dating back to the 1600’s. They believe that the main winemaking building and its cellars were built and manned by monks making wine for mass in a local abbey. The chateau has been on the property since the 1700’s and the family that now owns the land and makes the wines has been living in it since the 1800’s. There are 35 hectares of vines, 100 hectares of land. We got to taste three different wines and were shown around the property by a very informative and charming guide. The winery is run by a woman, very unusual for France apparently. This was such a highlight for me – we really love wine (as is obvious considering we were married in a winery!), and this section of the tour was really the final deciding factor in choosing how to get from Paris to Barcelona.


Onwards to Caracassone and its amazing medieval walled city. Our hotel was outside the city walls, but the nicest we had stayed in so far. It was very old and a little spooky but also quite grand. It had stone staircases and very artsy décor. For dinner we had what we agreed was the best buffet we have ever had which included various seafoods, duck al’orange, great salads and a variety of fresh and yummy desserts. Afterwards we went in to the walled city of Carcassone. It was stunning. The place feels surreal, almost like a movie set. It is all little cobblestone alleys, old pubs, turrets and towers, enclosed gardens and yet amongst it all are fantastic little jewellery boutiques, clothing shops, cocktail bars and so on. We didn’t want to leave. As the sun went down the walls and turrets lit up. It was absolutely glorious.