A Short Trip to France
Back in the middle of August we had a short but sweet stay in the the Dordogne region of France. We went with my mum and sister and stayed for four days in the Château Des Vigiers, which is close to the village of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande and about 25 minutes away from the city of Bergerac. We flew from Knock to Stanstead and then on to Bergerac, where we rented a car, so it was all very handy – both Knock and Bergerac airports are so quick and easy to get through that it made the traveling stress-free. We’ll definitely be checking out flights through the U.K. from Knock in the future.
We arrived on Wednesday evening and left on Sunday morning, and over the three days and four nights we spent our time eating, drinking and driving around sightseeing.
We had a day in St. Emilion, which is a lovely old town with narrow cobbled streets, steep hills and lots of vineyards. There we sampled some of the local vino, had a gorgeous meal in Les Giron’dines and generally had a nice time for ourselves. We visited one of the many wineries outside the town and discovered the tunnels that run under the entire area which were built by hand years ago, but which are now used for storing wine during the fermenting process.
Another day was spend in Bordeaux, shopping and strolling around. It’s a nice city, but I was glad we had based ourselves in the country instead as we saw a bit more of the region. On our third and final full day, the sun came out from behind the clouds so we spent the day by the pool. That evening we went into Bergerac for another lovely meal in L’Imparfait. Bergerac is a small and pretty city, close to many vineyards and perfect for a hassle-free weekend break.
Chateau de Vigiers is a golfers paradise, and I would recommend it to any non-fussy eaters with deep pockets and a love of golf, foie gras and French wine. It was definitely relaxing for us non-golfers also, but I’m not sure its worth the normal rates they charge – we availed of an offer of €100 per night per room, which was pretty good value. The main consideration is that you definitely need a car, as it’s in the middle of nowhere and the restaurants on site have limited menus and are on the expensive side. We ate there two nights out of four and the food was good, but the menu was definitely geared to local tastes which resulted in us eating foie gras, venison and rabbit.
Overall we had a lovely relaxing time in France, stuffing our faces with rich food and good wine and soaking up all that sunshine we have been deprived of this summer in dear old Ireland.
Tags: Bergerac, Bordeaux, Chateau des Vigiers, Dordogne, France
October 7th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Do you speak the lingo? I think france is overlooked a lot because it is so close. But there is loads to do there.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
My French isn’t too hot, but I love trying and the locals get a kick when you give it a lash instead of going straight into the English. I think France is one of the finest countries in Europe, they’ve got everything there; caves, mountains, sea, snow, wine, cheese. Love it.