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France
and Andorra
(June 2003) We arrive at our hotel, the Kyriad, at Saran, near Orléans, at 7pm. Our room is comfortable and quiet. The hotel is located on a small industrial estate and is the only available place to eat; the only alternative to a £10 meal at the hotel is a taxi ride into Orléans, famously liberated from the English in 1429 by Joan of Arc who thence gained the nickname of Maid of Orléans. Sunday (Day 2). We head south on the motorway network. The mid morning temperature is 32°C and is rising quickly. The landscape gradually becomes hilly and more forested, with also a few chateaux. We enter the region known as Languedoc (Language of Oc), so called from the ancient language spoken here, where instead of saying ‘oui’ for yes, they say ‘oc’. Our overnight hotel is in Limoges, where we will arrive late afternoon. We reach the city before lunch and our first stop is at a porcelain factory, the Haviland in the Avenue du Pres Kennedy, founded in 1842. Porcelain manufacture dates from the discovery of kaolin near the city in 1768. The factory’s museum contains some of its early works. It was visited by Hillary Clinton in 1998. The factory produced a dinner service in 1879 for US President Hayes; works have also been commissioned by the King of Siam, Emperor of Japan, Brazil, and Presidents of France including Charles de Gaulle. It still produces very high quality - and very expensive - wares. Afterwards we have three hours at leisure in Limoges. It’s not a touristic place, and shops are not open on Sundays, just two or three bars. We head for the old town, where there are several half-timbered buildings. The scorching heat (38°C in the shade) drives us into a bar, where just a fruit juice or an ice cream costs £2 or 3 Euros. The prettiest part of Limoges is probably the park of the Bishop’s Palace, with its welcome shade, fountains, trees and Japanese-style gardens. We sit here for a while, then visit the nearby 16-19th century St Stephen's cathedral, rather more austere than British cathedrals. Our hotel, again called Kyriad, is in the suburb of Feyttat. There is no air-conditioning and the temperature in our rooms remains at a minimum of 30°C all night, so sleep is virtually impossible. Monday (Day 3). A fresh start to the day and steely skies soon turn to rain as we head south from Limoges towards higher land. We leave the motorway and drive on winding mountain roads as far as Rocamadour, an ancient place of pilgrimage, built on a cliff. According to legend, the husband of Veronica, who wiped Jesus’ brow on his way to his crucifixion, fled Israel and lived as a hermit here, and his body was found in 1166 perfectly preserved in a cave in the rock. Further miracles followed so it became a place of pilgrimage. The town is built on three levels. The bottom level, on the valley floor, has houses and shops. Steps lead up to the higher levels, and lifts were added in 1988, with return journeys costing €7/£5. There are sanctuaries and chapels on the second level, where the body was found, marked by an inscription; beside it is the Notre Dame chapel with an ancient wooden Madonna. On the top level (also accessible to road traffic) is a 13th century castle from where there are fine views over the town and valley. Around midday we return to the motorway network and travel via Toulouse where there is a monument to Space City, as Toulouse is home to France’s participation in space research. Many of the fields now are of sunflowers. Not long afterwards the foothills of the Pyrenees come into view. We pass through the town of Foix with its impressive ancient castle dominating the town, and climb higher. The mountains become increasingly spectacular and there is still plenty of snow on the higher mountains. We enter the tiny country of Andorra, area 453 sq km / 175 sq ml, population 64000. There are Customs booths, but they are unoccupied and transit into and out of Andorra is free. The gearbox of the coach starts to play a major role, causing the engine to stall and struggle. We hope it can be fixed quickly; one of our drivers is a mechanic. We soon notice many large hotels and shops along the roads of Andorra, to cater for the huge numbers of visitors, and there is a massive amount of building work in progress too. There are numerous fields of tobacco all over Andorra; in fact it is the only crop grown here: as a 'favour' for allowing the US tobacco companies to sell their tobacco in Andorra, the government forces the US to buy all the Andorran tobacco, but it is of such inferior quality that only 10% of it is used, the rest being destroyed. Our hotel, the Husa Xalet Verdu, is located at the far end of the village of Arinsal, at the top of a steep hill. Arinsal has several hotels, a few bars, a disco and a couple of shops. It can be a base for several pleasant walks in the mountains, There is a cable lift but it is not in operation. Our hotel is comfortable, but stands beside a noisy torrent of a stream. Our room catches the sun all day long, so serious heat builds up during the day and again there is no air-conditioning so sleep is a problem, increased by fireworks celebrating the eve of the Festival of St John. We are here for four nights. Tuesday (Day 4). We have a lazy morning exploring the village, which is situated at an altitude of 1450m/4500 ft. After lunch we have a Three Valleys excursion. Fortunately repairs have been made to the coach’s gearbox, which although not perfect is greatly improved. First we travel down the Arinsal valley, then turn up the Pal valley to the village of Pal, where we stop to see the ancient Romanesque church of St Clement. After a steep and dangerous climb we are disappointed to find the church closed. We then climb to the country's highest pass, Coll de la Botella at 2000m, from where there are breathtaking views over Pal and several surrounding ski slopes. Another valley leads us to our final stop at the popular resort area of Arcalis at 2300 m. Wednesday (Day 5). We take a local bus (€1.50/£1) to the capital of Andorra, Andorra La Vella, which takes about 30 minutes. The local buses don’t run strictly to time, one has to be patient! We have a quick look inside St Stephen’s Church, partly Romanesque but mainly 20th century. Then we go from shop to shop; there are several department stores and a few souvenir shops. The temperature before lunch is at least 44°C in the sun, so we try to find some shade. Unusually there are separate post offices for French and for Spanish speakers. Unlike France, Andorra has a long after-lunch siesta, so we return to the hotel around 2pm rather than wait another three or four hours for the next bus. At 1.30 am there is a tremendous storm, with thunder, lightning, gales and heavy rain, but it evaporates before breakfast. Thursday (Day 6). We return to Andorra La Vella for our last chance to shop and post our cards. This time we walk past Andorra's radio station, where the presenter in his studio is visible from the pavement outside. We walk to the mediaeval Casa de la Vall, the government building, which has the appearance of a solid castle. Visitors are not allowed in without appointments, so we have to leave. Friday (Day 7). We have a long drive back into France. Before we reach the motorway we make a comfort stop in a village, Mont Louis. There is just enough time to run as far as the town gate, part of the 17th century fortifications which we had noticed on entering the village, and take a few photographs. The village was also the scene of the world’s first solar power source, in 1953. This region has a tourist train called Le Petit Train Jaune, which travels on a route passing through spectacular scenery, gorges, valleys and mediaeval towns. Catalan flags and language are also very common in this area. The landscape becomes flatter as we head towards the Mediterranean. Again the landscape is varied and spectacular with several gorges. Chateaux and mediaeval towns are often visible from the road. 100km south of Clermont-Ferrand we enter the national volcano park, an area of extinct volcanoes, known locally as Puys, now mostly rolling hills although some are steep and high. We are now in the Massif Central, geologically the oldest part of France. Clermond-Ferrand, originally two separate towns, was united in 1630. It is an industrial city and home to Michelin tyres. We arrive late evening at our hotel, another Kyriad, close to the city centre, where we spend two nights. Saturday (Day 8). We have a day excursion. Our first stop is at Vulcania, carved out of an extinct volcano. This is a visitor centre which gives a fascinating insight into the origins and effects of volcanoes worldwide, with sights, sounds, even the rumbles of volcanoes. There are films, interactive displays etc. Its president is former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who had the centre built and opened early in 2002. However, there are several dark rooms where the large French inscriptions are reasonably easy to read but the small English translations are too dark to decipher. After four hours at Vulcania we travel the short distance to the Puy de Dome, 1465 m high, the highest of the extinct volcanoes, which gives the Department its name. There is a television mast on top, a small military base and several paragliders flying around the peak, as well as the ruins of the Roman Temple of Mercury. Back at the hotel we are met at 6 p.m. by a Mensan friend, Chantal, and her husband Jean, who live in the city. Jean speaks no English and Chantal speaks very little English so the talking and translating are left to me. We have a brief tour of the city centre, which had three famous residents: 17th century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal; Pope Urban II who preached the first Crusade here in 1095; and Vercingetorix, leader of a Gaulish tribe against the Romans, whose defeat and execution in 46 BC ended Gaul's resistance to the Romans. The cartoon character Asterix was modelled on Vercingetorix, whose statue stands in the city centre. After a meal at our friends’ house, from where both the cathedral and the Puy de Dome are visible, we go to a suburb and spa resort; Royat, where a fireworks competition called Volcadiva is taking place. Held over two nights, teams from five countries stage elaborate 15-minute displays (possibly representing volcanic eruptions) of sights and sounds against the background of classical music. Each display involves about 5000 rockets. The fireworks continue until after midnight and at the same time as Volcadiva, the Portuguese workers in the city, many at the Michelin factory, are holding their own fireworks festival in Clermont-Ferrand. Sunday (Day 9). After a relatively short drive along motorways we reach our final overnight hotel, the Hotel Campanile, in Chaville, a suburb south-west of Paris. At 9 p.m. we embark on an evening tour of Paris. Our route passes the Paris copy of the Statue of Liberty, the original of which was a gift from France to the then newly Independent USA; the Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Paris Exposition and originally intended to stand for only three years; the Louvre, the Rue de Rivoli and the Jardin des Tuileries, now home to a great fairground which was not there before; the Place de la Concorde with its Egyptian obelisk and along the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile, commissioned to commemorate the victories of Napoleon’s armies, where we have our final stop of the tour, leaving about 11pm. Monday (Day 10). We have an official morning tour of Paris. After the Eiffel Tower we pass the Hotel des Invalides, still home to injured war veterans and the monumental tomb of Napoleon. Next to it is the Rodin Museum; his sculpture The Thinker in the garden is clearly visible from the road outside. Afterwards we pass the Palais de l’Elysee, residence of the French President, in the Rue du Faubourg St-Honore. Just around the corner is the Eglise de la Madeleine, built in the style of a Greek temple, but without windows. After a circuit of the Opera, built in 1860, we pass along Rue de la Paix (in French Monopoly it is the equivalent to Mayfair) leading to the Place Vendome where a statue of Napoleon shows him dressed as Julius Caesar. Then we head into the heart of Paris, around the Conciergerie, Notre-Dame Cathedral and Hotel de Ville, then the Latin Quarter, so called because it is the area around the Sorbonne University where originally education was carried out in Latin. We finally travel out of Paris along the Champs Elysées, past the Arc de Triomphe, towards La Defense, a modern business district, and so to the motorway. We have a late afternoon crossing from Calais to Dover, eventually reaching home about 10pmu First published in VISA issue 54 (Jan 2004) Return to the Archive homepage for several other articles with a French connection More on Andorra |