France -Chalmazel

21/03/15
When I was first planning a stopover night on the way from St Martin de Belleville to Duras I was weighing up whether to take the easy option - a night somewhere near a centre (maybe Clemont-Ferrand) in a place something like a Travelodge, against something more adventurous in the countryside which would require quite a bit more effort and time to get to. The direct trip St Martin de Belleville to Duras was estimated at 7:46hr , a bit long in one go. So in a yet unexhausted state I opted for the more tricky option. There were a couple of incredible looking castle options in the French countryside. I struck off the non-wifi option, which left Chalmazel (reviews had noted it as an experience).
We initially drove straight past it , the castle (where we were to stay), originally thinking it was a tourist attraction (situated dramatically in the centre of the small town). After another half an hour we returned and apprehensively ventured into the seemly abandoned castle, to see if it could possibly be where we were to send the night.




East Front



 

Once inside the castle's courtyard my spirits rose when Isabelle came to greet me - yes this was Chateau Marcilly Talaru.
I had spoken to Isabelle on the mobile in the car on the trip there and confirmed(as well as I could in my French-English mix) that we were to arrive and 'Yes please', we would love dinner to be cooked for us(but I only eat white meat - how odd this must seem to the French, I think?).
So Isabelle and her dog(whose name I could not master) greeted us, and took us up the most amazing stone spiral stairwell to our room - the sort of stone stairwell I have only ever seen in a castle(or tower) for sightseeing only.

The stone spiral stairwell.

We realised that our bags could not possibly follow us up these stairs. So back to the car we went to minimise our requirements for the night - it was cold and wet too.
While doing this we accidentally let the dog out the gates and it was off - Isabelle after it. Later it was confirmed that the dog wasn't the cleverest but he provided great entertainment for the boys.
Our room was gorgeous - two rooms with a four poster bed in each + an extra single for Ollie. Lovely and warm, it was bitterly cold outside. Views outside over the countryside with a  stream babbling down the hill outside.
 

Suite - Lachlan's and Jarvis's Bed

Dinner time arrived and Isabelle welcomed us into her lounge - we realised that we were the only guests for the night and that Isabelle had travelled from Burgundy that day. The boys played with a toy castle inside the castle (kind of funny), the dog tried to join in. We had an aperitif medieval drink - red wine and berry, the boys had grenadine, plus olives and cured meats. We discovered Isabelle was an architect who owned several castles + a church, her husband was the mayor of Bonne. She had a passion for the middle ages, it was amazing talking to her (so knowledgeable and so modest).



Then it was time for dinner in what had once been the castle's kitchen. Isabelle had cooked a medieval dinner. Firstly we had pumpkin and chestnut soup, followed by chicken cooked in dates, prunes and grapes (accompanied by couscous)  it seemed very Morrocan . The boys were finding it a little hard to remain 'controlled', it didn't seem to matter.

Everything was very funny for the boys!

We then had cheeses - all local and non pasteurised - this was obviously one of Isabelle's passions. And for dessert , a delicious blueberry cake whose intense yellow colour came only from the outside chicken's eggs. We got to see some great photos of Chalmazel only 15 days ago, when the snow was so heavy that you could ski on the rooftops of the houses - it looked like a Christmas wonderland.
We all sleep like logs - so dark(with the addition of wooden shutters) and peaceful (no-one around at all).
After breakfast in the morning Isabelle gave us a tour around the castle. Some rooms had been restored to show tourists - the main dining hall, the chapel and the upper defensive areas.
Construction of the fortress began in 1231.  The site was covered by forest and almost inaccessible. Initially, it functioned rather as a fortified house, but it was transformed into a genuine medieval fortress, intended to counteract the ambitions of the powerful neighbours
The castle, with its medieval aspect, had kept the elements of a fortified house from the year 1231, but with later modifications and additions by the Talarus over the centuries: murder-holes, walls, keep (fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages, used as a refuge of last resort.), round walk with  machicolations (floor opening between the supporting corbels, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of the defensive wall(angled to reflect the stones))-The boys peered through these with great excitement(Jarvis was desperate to throw something out).  It also has Renaissance elements: the facade, the inner courtyard, galleries and chapel.


Leaving here, I couldn't help but be amazed at the experience that we could have in one night. I tried to convey my appreciation to Isabelle wondering if she could comprehend that something she experiences day-to-day was such an unusual and memorable experience for us.
It was -2C when we left, the coldest we had been.

Inner Courtyard.

 

France - St Martin de Belleville

18/03/2015


Took the bus for a trip to Val Thorens and Les Menuires today(both resorts in the three valleys).
Pretty scenic drive.




X Country Skiing on the way to Val Thorens
 

Unfortunately Val Thorens, which was once a small mountain village, has suffered from a lack of architectural guidelines in its early development - leading to a lot of concrete.
On the positive side, Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Europe, boosting good snow conditions,  it is the most visited international ski resort in France.

The concept of the funitel was developed in Val Thorens. It is a cable car that hangs from twin cables, its key feature is its wind resistance. There are 4 funitels in Val Thorens.






Val Thorens

I was even more underwhelmed by Les Menuires - probably because I didn't ski - architecturally horrible(widely held opinion). But a good spot to meet Chris and the boys for lunch in the sun. Both of these resorts are great for skiing but I think we were fortunate to be staying in St Martin de Belleville - despite being in the Three Valleys it has managed to keep its traditional French character - lots of beautiful historic alpine chalets with a lovely church tower in its centre.

Les Menuires

Boys playing on the 'melting' castle at Les Menuires.

19/03/2015
Walked up to see the 'Notre Dame' today. Couldn't bring myself to walk on the snowy steep pedestrian path so I took the road - possibly not a great idea - a little bit 'hairy' at times (pretty blind, fast and skinny road).

Notre Dame

Looking down on St Martin de Belleville

Joss and Gaston invited us for an early evening chat and drink. Great experience for Chris and I to socialise with a local French couple (Joss was very patient with me and luckily had a little English language up her sleeve). We were the second New Zealanders to stay in their apartment. Chris was amazing at keeping the conversation afloat - not surprisingly.

Lachlan washing ski socks.

20/03/2015
Last day of skiing for the boys, another beautiful day.
The Navette failed to arrive this morning, so we made a mad dash up the hill in the car to get Lachlan to his ski lesson on time - just made it.
I picked up Lachey,  he  had just 'discovered' an English speaking boy on the final day of his lessons - they were busy having a snowball fight when I arrived.
Chris, Ollie and Jarvis then meet us for a lunch in St Martin.


Ollie and Jarvis on Mt Valon.

Can't quite believe that you can get such a good meal in such a perfect spot. Funny to find that a glass of wine is half the price of a cup of coffee. Happily enjoyed the complimentary 'Genepi' (regional digestive liqueur) - yum.


Last lunch at St Martin de Belleville

Chris took Lachey off on a final one-on-one ski, these have been great for Lachlan.


21/03/2015
Left  Martin de Belleville this morning. The first rain for the last two weeks had arrived. I can't believe how fortunate we have been with the weather. Blue sky days for all but two out of the fourteen days in the mountains.
Overall Chris declares that this has been the best skiing he has ever experienced.
Said our goodbyes to Joss and Gaston, we have had a lovely stay in their house.

 



St Martin de Belleville



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

France - St Martin de Belleville

14/03/15

Was a bit of adventure driving from Briançon to St Martin de Belleville. Started snowing just as we left , was 11C. Had very little visibility when we reached the Frejus Tunnel (Italian Side), it was 0C, but on the other side, France, we were in 14C and perfect visibility - quite strange.
Pretty awesome driving into the French Alps - amazing scenery. Villages doted in the most unusual and dramatic terrains. In the distance I could see steep zig-zag roads in the snow that seemed to zig-zag forever to reach what looked like only one or two houses at the top. We spotted a fox in the snow, it seemed to spot us too. Found St Martin de Belleville to be very much a beautiful town. We meet 'Gaston', the owner of the apartment who invited us all into his house ( the level below the apartment we are in) for drinks and a chat(in French). I don't think he could quite understand why I would be here and not ski? We unpacked into a lovely apartment - very French mountain décor. It was spotlessly clean and very well equipped and very French. Lots of red, white and brown fabrics with deer, snow-flakes, and hearts on them. Lots of Xmas decorations which I notice the whole town still had on display(I wonder if they ever get taken down). Lovely old wooden furniture, wooden ceiling and beams.


Jarvis at the window.

Apartment  View

 

15/03/15

Caught the free Navette(little bus) up to the start of the chair lifts nice and early this morning. Got Lachlan started on his first ski-school lesson. I was a little worried watching him go off with about 8 other children, all French-speaking(I think). But off he went and so did the big boys(up on the very impressive looking gondolas).

Brave Lachlan - ski school bib on.

I made tracks to the information centre to see what a non-skier could do in these parts. Actually quite a lot. Lots of walks, lots of walks with raquettes(snow shoes) in the snow, pedestrian ski lift passes to get to the other towns and admire all the views, free bus services to some of the other towns.
Here is were I really miss not having a non-ski buddy, we could bake bread in the local ovens or do silk painting ( I can see certain people shudder at the thought).




'Les 3 Vallées' comprise the resorts of Courchevel, La Tania, Méribel, Brides-les-Bains, Les Menuires , Saint Martin, Val Thorens and Orelle.
It is the world's largest ski area, linked together by ski runs and ski lifts, claiming to have 600 kms of interconnected slopes and 183 ski lifts which can transport 260,000 skiers per hour ( myself being the only person going downhill in a ski lift!). In addition, there are 120 km for cross-country skiing. Employees in the area include 424 ski patrollers and 1,500 ski instructors

Chris rang from the slopes and was literally speechless. He said he couldn't even begin to describe how amazing it was. It is huge with ski lifts as far as you could see.

Enjoyed talking to a few locals, lovely people with a huge amount of tolerance trying to decipher me.
One French man told me the story about Captain Cook naming the Southern Alps of NZ based on their similarity with the French Alps - I was embarrassed not to have known this.
I picked up Lachlan at midday, he had good reviews from his teacher. I was very proud.



16/03/15


Waiting for a lift to the ski field - rental on the right.

Ski lifted over the mountain to Méribel today. It took a surprisingly long time - about an hour on lifts. Pretty stunning scenery.

Arriving into Méribel, it was pretty interesting to see the scale of the skiing. There were ski lifts and skiers going in every direction as far as you could see.
In fact there are 46 ski lifts in Méribel which are a combination of button tow/drag, chair, télécabine(gondola) and téléphérique(cable car).
It was good to also see the setup for the 2015 Alpine Skiing World Cup starting in  Meribel in 2 days time.Supposedly you could watch the competitors training, but I didn't spot any.




Méribel race track


I had a good explore around the town while I waited to meet Chris and the boys for lunch. The town itself is much flatter and bigger than St Martin de Belleville. Not as pretty, but with a lot more facilities and accommodation.


They start them young in Méribel








Race track from the hills, Chris and the boys skied alongside
 it and through a tunnel underneath it.



Lunch at Meribel.

Finally Chris and the boys made it. Chris was drenched in sweat. In true form he had been overly optimistic about his ski plan. He was to pick up Lachlan from Ski school and chairlift up and then ski down into Méribel with all the boys. He was optimistic that Lachlan(with his two mornings of ski school) could manage the blue run. The blue run turned out to be not really blue(way too steep). So he ended up skiing down with Lachlan on his shoulders - well as Chris says, that's what adventures are made of.







 

 

France - Briançon

 

8/03/15
Started of our first day in Briançon with Chris, Ollie and Jarvis rushing off to the ski lifts as early as possible. Lachlan and I visited the market (Sunday and Wednesdays) on our doorstep - good timing considering we needed supplies. Was funny to see all the rotisserie chicken stalls - seems to be the speciality, along with regional produce, lots of fruit and vegetables, cheese and bread, saucisson etc. Mixed amongst this glorious food was a few odd things like a shoe stall and the NZ-style 'plastic fantastic' stall. Meet Chris, Ollie and Jarvis at the ski lifts with Lachlan, our baquette and rotisserie chicken, for some lunch. Did a swap of two boys for one, Chris then went back to the slopes with Lachlan. I think the boys were pretty thrilled by it all, but Jarvis had very sore feet.

 

9/03/15
A bit of a catch up day today.
Walked up to the upper town, or Vauban(famous French military architect) citadel this afternoon. Amazing! The highest city in Europe and on the UNESCO world Heritage List. Beautiful views over the rest of Briançon and itself overlooked by surrounding forts. Incredibly picturesque old town with old houses lining the steep narrow streets, colourful Provence-style facades, fountains and sundials. Plenty of beautiful shops selling regional specialities.

Chris skied again with the boys on the Serre Chevalier(ski area in the Haute-Alpes with 250 km of slopes and 300 days of sunshine a year) , he took Ollie this morning coming back down mid afternoon to return Ollie and take Lachlan up. Great one-on-one time for him with the boys. Jarvis rested his very sore feet today.  They are all pretty happy with the skiing - very high, very long runs with surrounding trees (a good difference for the boys from NZ skiing).



                               




The Grande Gargouille,
 meaning the great water spouter - water stream flooding
 right in the middle of the street to provide water when there is a fire



 Coloured facades of Cite Vauban.

Ramparts of Briancon.

11/03/2015

 

Chris decided to have a day off from skiing today - he must have been really sore.

So we had a pretty 'cruisy' but great day - went for a picnic lunch at the park (not that they really seem to do picnics here). Was pretty amazing, the park being at the bottom of a very dramatic gauge. The boys were pretty interested in the ice on the lake and pretty amused watching the ducks on it.





Le parc de la Schappe

At the park was the first playground that I have seen in France that was really really good - quite artistic too, suitable for young and old and in a fabulous setting. We gobbled our baguette sandwiches(baguettes are another subject, you really need to know your baguette-type here, I have a lot to master - I still smile at the sight of people walking around with several baguettes under their arm) and pastries(that we purchased in our best French language from the nearest Boulanger & Patisserie  - they are really good) as the wind set in. After a bit more exploring(past a great tree-adventure style playground) the ice on the ground stopped us in our tracks so we headed back.

Le Parc de la Schappe.

Early evening we headed up to the old town - 'Cite Vauban '. I had previously raved to Chris about how incredible it was (covered on my walks when he was skiing), so it was gratifying to see how amazed he was. As he said 'It is like walking through the most amazing museum but even better'. We circumnavigated the fortified town(admittedly Lachlan spent a bit of time on Chris's shoulders - those days are limited - Lachlan is getting big) taking a side-step to see the famous 'Pont Asfeld' (Asfeld Bridge). It straddles the 'Durance Gorge', between the 'Fort des Tetes' and the old town, with a single arch over the river 55 metres below. The bridge was built between 1729-1731 to allow troops to move rapidly and safely between them. It remains one of the great technical engineering achievements of the "Ancien Regime" - awesome.

Cite Vauban - Old Town



Pont Asfeld.



The north gate - Porte Pigneral, complete with drawbridge and 'dry' moat.

Cite Vauban - Old Town

We moved on to dinner at 'La Gavorche', a traditional style restaurant in the main street of the old town. I had read that it was 'quirky', but fabulous - and 'Yes' it was. What a great place to dine if you are looking for a great 'traditionally-quirky' experience. Chris and I practised our best French language and weren't once interrupted by English. The interior of the restaurant was quite bizarre, they obviously had a liking for polar bears and took an oddly perverse interest  in 'hunting' - there were many extremely artificial animal heads on the walls + a bicycle hanging from the ceiling + a basket full of teddy bears ...

We decided to do the fondue thing. One oil(with meats) and one cheese(with bread), plus sides of salad and potato dauphinoise and fries and more bread. Was a lot of fun. We had pondered whether we should brave a raclette meal - all I knew was that it consisted of some sort of grilled cheese. Instead we took great interest in studying all the neighbouring tables' raclettes - seemed to be very popular. How on earth can people eat so much cheese - a huge wedge under a grill(heating from two side) where people scrape off the melted part. I could see couples sharing what I would think would be one between ten quantities - I assume there is a lot of wastage. Walked back down the hill to our apartment feeling pretty elevated and admiring the night views over an amazing town. Wondered when the fondue was going to take effect.



Dinner at 'La Gavroche' - Old Town

 

13/03/2015

 

More walking for me today, and more skiing for Chris and Lachlan.

Found that two things caused me anxiety in my walks - snakes(which make a lot of rustling noises on the banks and give me  the 'jeebies' ) and dog poo(which is all over the pathways and is hard to avoid). Also observed that there are a strangely large number of coiffures(hairdressers), multiple on each street. I have noticed that most peoples hair looks very well maintained - sadly not mine included. Not too much English heard on my walks, actually I've only overheard it spoken once. Sadly as soon as I say 'Bonjour' I am normally let of the hook and am spoken to in English(usually they can always speak better English then I can French, but I am trying).

 

 

More photos of the Old Town.

Amazing bread - but I have no idea how to choose.

 

Look at the bread I came across today.

 

 

Will be leaving Briançon tomorrow morning for St Martin de Belleville(a ski resort in 'Les Trois Vallées' ('The Three Valleys' - the largest ski area in the world)). We have had an amazing time in this beautiful town. A week of blue skies and friendly people.

 

I think I need to get Chris to blog on his and the boys ski adventures. But I will include a couple of photos.

 

 

 

 

BBQ area on the slopes of the Serre Chevalier.