Sunday in Saintes. I forgot that the Atrium would be closed, so C will have to experience that dainty teashop another time; instead we had pizzas in the café on the corner. Very pleasant place and Italian-style pizzas, none of that delivery-chain pap. It was hot and sunny, too hot for exploring the Roman ruins, so we looked at them briefly and listened to a rather good band doing a sound-check, and then drive slowly along the Charente.
On Monday morning we went to the beach at Meschers. It's very helpful that there are blue parking spaces next to the sand, but the sand itself is very fine and the Plage des Nonnes doesn't have the plastic mesh track. Chariot sank rapidly. There were a few people around, but now that school term has started everything is quiet and many of the seaside cafes have closed; it's a perfect time for a late holiday and still very warm (around 30C this week). The beaches here are very clean, and we saw a beach-sweeping machine in action. The only odd thing is that, at the end of each run, it's emptied into the sea. Surely the stuff washes back?
After rushing back in time for the bread and croissants delivery, we went to the Château de Beaulon in St Dizant du Gua. It was my first visit there, and not quite what I expected. The grounds are enormous and one wonders how they fit into the town; the fontaines bleues are very beautiful and very peaceful. A fontaine is a spring; the water bubbles up into pools from which flows the river which runs to Port Maubert. They really are startlingly blue, the effect of algae which is unexplained because the water comes from the mountains about 50 miles away and the algae doesn't appear there. There are several springs, some of them very deep (up to 18 metres). The water comes out of the rock at a constant temperature of 13C, which is much cooler than the spa waters of Jonzac. It quickly warms in the sunlight, so that the pools would be perfect for swimming: shaded by trees, clear, and quiet. Don't worry, I resisted the temptation to jump in. It is a wonderful place for thinking about life and people, and for imagining history; so easy to understand why Celts and Romans believed such sites had spirits.
Seeing the plants in the upper garden, I realised where previous-owners got their ideas for the garden here. One plant which grows quite profusely in the château gardens, but hasn't been planted here, is bamboo. I'd rather have bamboo than salt-cedar and some of the other plants in the Secret Garden; perhaps I'll investigate it for next year, as well as replacing the passionflower with an edible variety.
After wandering around the pools and woods, past a vast, tall old tree (Faraway Tree, possibly?) the path leads up around the side of the château to where the tasting of pineau and cognac is presided over by the lady of the mansion. C sampled several and decided that the 10-year-old white pineau was the best.
In the evening we had dinner at Le Cheval Blanc in St Ciers du Taillon. I had gorgeous salmon in lemon mayonnaise, and C had steak with the frites maison (you'd think this meant chips in the style of the house, but they appear to be chips in the style of A house). For dessert, of course, it had to be the celebrated crème brûlée. (NB: photos from last visit - this time the edible decoration was a pink flower.) The waiter demonstrated his celebrated flounce, too. There was no milk for coffee because they unexpectedly had 16 people in for dinner after only two at lunchtime, and having decided not to re-stock in the afternoon had run out. It was fortunate that we were first to order the crème brûlée.
No comments:
Post a Comment