Sunday 17th May
Casual start today, traveling along the Vienne River to
Portiers, through La Rochelle and to overnight in Bordeaux. Portiers has a population of 90,000, 1 in 3
are students and are under 30yrs…sounds like a party town to me!!! Stopped for a toilet stop along the way…and
in this modern country…they were squat toilets…very….um…primitive!!! There are many 12th and 15th
century buildings, maybe the toilet are due for an upgrade??
La Rochelle was a highlight, the first time we get up close
to the Atlantic Ocean. Of course we had
to put our feet in the water in this harbour city. This city was and is still a prosperous port
city which accepts lots of imports and sends exports from many central French
manufacturing and farming areas. La
Rochelle was the last city liberated after WW2, probably in part due to its’
excellent defensive position on the harbour.
Had lunch here then head towards Bordeaux.
Stopped at Hennessy Cognac Distillery. The distillery is on the La Charente River, to
get there we got a ferry across to the office and had a tour through the
distillery. Very informative with a
complete history and explanation about the process to make a good cognac. Some of the barrels of product date back to
the late 1800s….a bottle of this vintage costs about 6700 euro!!! Had a couple of tastings, neither of us are
big fans of cognac, but if someone wants to give me a 1893 Hennessy cognac
bottle for Christmas…well…I think I’ll have to accept it.
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