Necropolis

The Charente to the Seine via the Loire

A long, but very fascinating drive, from Saintes to Rouen. We broke the journey with a good bit of 'tourism'.

Just south of the Loire lies Fontevraud, the site of an outstanding abbey where some of the early Plantagenet monarchs have their resting place.

Our photograph shows the effigies of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine (Aliénor d'Aquitaine). Their son Richard the Lionheart is represented just beyond their feet, together with Isabelle d'Angoulème, the wife of John Lackland (Richard's brother).

This is an outstandingly fine abbey site, although perhaps a little too cleaned up for our taste. There is a monastic Kitchen, which looks well as though it could be the model for our (Victorian Gothic) 'Abbott's Kitchen' that houses some of the Inorganic Chemists at Oxford! The chimney inside is pretty impressive, too.

The Kitchen had its own garden, and here you may see a photograph of a resplendent flower-head growing in it.

The monks ate in a refectory that looks much like an Oxbridge Hall (of course, the colleges were often originally monastic institutions, and the idea of commonality was (and is) an important one). Fontevraud has rather nicely allowed its refectory to be used for selling sustenance to tourists in the form of 'Holy Food'!

At night, the monks retired to one of several dormitories, presumably to sleep or pray. What a fine beamed roof to look up at!

The whole town has a mediæval aspect, and interesting corners abound. Here we found a 'Lutherie' tucked away.

Just a couple of kilometres north, one comes upon the Loire, here a broad and sandy precursor of the estuary that leads to the Atlantic. I took this photograph from one of the supports of the bridge we had crossed. We had an excellent picquenique sitting by the river. Now we are in Northern Europe! Another couple of kilometres north, and we enter the village of Bourgeuil, renowned for its wine.

Now, with more hours of driving, follow Alençon and Le Mans, and finally Rouen, where we cross the Seine. Somehow, we got within a few tens of metres of our hotel (according to our handheld GPS and reality), but then managed to go on a detour of about 5 km. Very tiring after that kind of day!