{"id":4114,"date":"2015-07-07T13:27:40","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T13:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mochiloesemochilinhas.com\/?p=4114"},"modified":"2024-04-19T14:32:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T14:32:05","slug":"9-dias-pelo-interior-da-franca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mochiloesemochilinhas.com\/en\/9-dias-pelo-interior-da-franca\/","title":{"rendered":"9 days in the French countryside (Loire Valley, P\u00e9rigord and Bordeaux)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We just returned from a delightful 9-day trip through the regions of Loire Valley<\/strong>, Perigord, Quercy<\/strong> and Bordeaux<\/strong>. We took the flight from Dublin to Beauvais (always Ryanair!) and from there we set off to explore the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drove around 2,000 km with the rental car, mainly traveling this route and following the itinerary below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"rota\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\"roteiro\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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On the way to the Loire Valley, we decided to stop to see the cathedrals of Beauvais<\/strong> and Chartres<\/strong>, both beautiful, free and without huge groups of tourists, fortunately. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Node Loire Valley<\/strong>, we stayed almost 3 whole days and chose the city of Amboise<\/strong> to stay, as it was very central to the castles we wanted to visit and was more welcoming than Tours or Blois. We visited the castles of Chambord, Chenonceau, Amboise, Villandry, Cheverny and Le Clos Luc\u00e9 (where Da Vinci lived in his later years), the famous Sunday market in Amboise and some wineries along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Amboise, we set off for the region of Perigord<\/strong>, famous for its fois grois and its beautiful medieval towns. (By far, it was my favorite region of the trip.) We stayed for 3 nights in the charming Sarlat-la-Can\u00e9da<\/strong> and from there we set off on day trips to other cities in the region, which are also wonderful: La Roque Gageac<\/strong>, Domme<\/strong>, Rocamadour<\/strong> and Beynac and Cazenac<\/strong>. Of course we took the opportunity to visit the most visited cave in Europe, the Padirac Gouffre <\/strong> and we left there amazed by so much beauty. No wonder it is so popular!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the 3 days, we continued our journey to<\/span> Saint Emilion<\/strong>, a city famous for its wonderful wines that made us laugh a lot. We only stayed there one night, but if I had more time, I would have stayed for 2 or 3 nights easily. There are so many wineries to visit\u2026lol.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday at the end of the day, we left for the city of the last hotel on the trip, <\/span>Chartre-sur-le-Loir<\/strong>, which is in the Loire Valley region, just above Tours. Again, we chose <\/span>this city <\/span>because it is smaller and calmer, and we were very lucky with the hotel we chose. It was the best of the whole trip and it was perfect to end with a flourish! \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last day of the trip, Sunday, we left at lunchtime <\/span>Chartre-sur-le-Loir <\/strong>towards Beauvais, but we stopped for a while in <\/span>Giverny<\/strong> to visit Monet's famous garden. I thought it was beautiful, but I confess that I expected more and I was really irritated by the amount of tourists there. I can't relax when I see those huge groups of rude people. =\/<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took advantage of the duty free shop<\/em> from Beauvais airport to buy wines and typical French food and around 10pm, we caught our flight back home. We arrived in Dublin as the sun was setting, around 11pm. How nice it is to live so close!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more details about the regions visited, click on the links below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n