Visiting the Abbeye Royale de Fontevraud

Part of the courtyard seen from one of the bedrooms at La Closerie Saint Martin in Ligre

After a great breakfast at the B&B, half of our group left to go to Charles deGaule Airport, where they would return the rental car, spend the night at a nearby hotel, and fly out tomorrow. They had originally planned to drive to Tours, after doing a bit more sightseeing, and take the train into Paris and then on to CDG. But the French rail train strike threw a monkey-wrench in that plan. We had been lucky that the rolling train strikes in both Italy and France hadn't impacted us up until now. Strikes there aren't spontaneous, but planned ahead. For instance, we would see in the news that the trains would be on strike on Tuesday and Friday this week. Then the next week it might be those same two days, or maybe other days. This would go on until a settlement had been agreed upon by the government and the train workers. It would have complicated our trip greatly if the strikes happened on our long travel days, so we were lucky up until this last train trip!

We already had the rental cars, and theirs was booked through the 20th anyway, due to the planned late return time on the 19th. The only casualty was that they missed part of a day of sightseeing.

The drive was not without stress for Il Padrino, their fearless driver, but it all worked out. Luckily, he and Ricardo had spent some time the day before figuring out the GPS, and switching the GPS language to English. Il Padrino said it saved their bacon driving to the airport. Apparently the main ring road around Paris didn't have very good signage to the airport.

Il Padrino, fearless driver, finally done with the car and able to relax.

Meanwhile, back in the bucolic village of Ligre, the remaining 4 were planning another leisurely day of local sightseeing. Marcel, our host, suggested a nearby abbey, the Abbeye Royale de Fontevraud, and we headed out after breakfast. Fado, the resident dog, was just waking up at 9:30, which is his usual schedule. Ricardo and I were quite jealous, as our dogs usually start fussing at 6, if not earlier.

The weather was beautiful, and off we went.

Fontevraud Abbey has a long history. It was founded in 1101, and was a double monastery, where both men and women lived, separately, within the abbey walls. They didn’t mingle. It was the burial place of Eleanor of Aquitane, Henry II (king of England), Richard the Lionheart (their son), and his sister-in-law. 

The chapel at the abbey

Inside the chapel

The cloister at the abbey

The tops of the sarcophagi belonging to the 4 royals. The resting place of their actual bodies is unknown

Eleanor of Aquitane

We had lunch at Auberge de la Route d’Or, in a little village near there, Candes-Saint-Martin, and climbed to the top of the hill behind the church for a panoramic view of the area. It's at the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne rivers.

How could we resist this place?

A great lunch at Auberge de la Route d-Or

Fish, served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Nothing like our lunches of pb&j at home.

At the top of the hill above Candes-Saint-Martin, a great map of the area

Since our B&B didn't offer dinner tonight, Marcel recommended a place in Chinon, just a few minutes away. We had dinner at Au Chapeau Rouge, and sat out on the square. I had a catfish cake, and the others had guinea hen. The hen was dry. The catfish cake was delicious, but more of a mousse, rather than the piece of fish I expected. 

The amuse bouche served at Au Chapeau Rouge

Paté with toasts. I love the little hills of salt and pepper on the plate

We saw a chocolate dessert being delivered to others around us, and it had a dramatic plume of spun sugar coming out of it. Motorbikes were racing around the surrounding streets making lots of noise during our dinner. Otherwise, it was a lovely setting, out on the square, and a delicious dinner.

Back at the B&B, it was pretty quiet with 4 of our group gone. The final 4 had lots more of France to see!