We made a hasty exit from Biarritz in the gale headed north on the Autoroute. As I have said this is not our normal route, but I figured driving the slow road in hurricane like conditions would not add much to the trip. The weather report had said there was sun north of Bordeaux and that was direction of the next stop anyway. Two hours into the trip we turned off the wipers and three and half hours the sun broke through.
We had a quick lunch at Chez Vicki in Blaye on the banks of the Gironde river.
At about 3pm we pulled into our destination Hotel le Trident Thrsye (www.letridentthyrse.fr) in Royan on the coast north of Bordeaux. We where glad to find that it was still open for the season, but there was no one in attendance and the sign had a telephone number and said they would be back at 6pm. Having washed my cellphone with the last load of laundry we where with out mobile communications so we headed for the tourist office. The lady kindly called for us and I talked to Francois. He told me what the door code was and the we would be in the "Radoub Theleme" room and just get the key from behind the desk and he would see that night or the next day. That is why we liked staying here before.
The plan had been to spend a week in the Liore valley, but François had a nice waterfront apartment available at a good price, so we decided to just stay here. The view of the ocean and off season feel of the town kept us here.
The town of Royan is probably the only town in Europe without an old church. The place was "bombed flat" in WW II, almost everything was re-built in the 1950's so the architecture is much different than the other towns. The Hotel Trident, built in the early '50's is a very funky art deco interior and the church is a modern design. Before the bombing François's grandparents, MM. Louston, had a grand villa on the location much like some of those still on the street and the one next door. Most of villa's have been "condoized" now.
They do, however, have a church just for us aviators.
Just a few kilometers north of Royan is the oyster growing district. There are thousand and thousands of salt water ponds where they farm them. They are first grown on steel structures in the water and then harvested and put in baskets to mature. We thought we would find lots of oyster eating places but there really where none. In the small village of Mornac we found a restaurant, Le Petit Phare (www.leptitphare.com) open, the only one open we had seen all day. It was a little more upscale then our normal lunch locations but we decided to splurge. The only oysters on the menu where raw. They are served in their juices, i.e. salty water, and not a saltine or bottle Tabasco to be seen, a little dish of dried pressed tuna and butter.
You have to love a people who set a formal table at low tide and dispense wine out of a gas meter by the liter.
I think there is a French law that says there has to be a "round about" (traffic circle to you) every 300 meters, as there are a lot of them. But they work. Many towns decorate them with themes representing the town.
And if you are tired of that old horse that you never ride....crank up the barbeque baby!
(cheval=horse)
