September 2, 2024
Day 0 - Limoux to Poitiers by Car
It’s time to go! We had spent most of the past two days packing and checking items off our checklists. This morning only the final things were left. Close the shutters, make sure all the lights were off, and roll out of the garage.
Due to a bunch of random reasons, we were moving slow this morning. We were late to wake up and slow on execution. As a result, we rolled out of the garage around 1100 - about an hour later than planned.
After jockeying through Monday morning Limoux traffic, we hit the autoroute at Bram, circled around Toulouse, and headed for Bordeaux. We stopped at the roadside stop « Aire de Agen Porte d'Aquitaine » near Agen for a sandwich at Marie Blanchard and filled our tank while we were at i.
We circled around the east side of Bordeaux and headed north. A quick stop at another roadside « aire », and we were soon off the autoroute and heading into the center of Poitiers. We arrived about 1730.
We had programmed the address of the « Best Western Poitiers Centre Le Grand Hôtel » into our GPS and it led us flawlessly to the hotel garage entrance. We announced ourselves at the speakerphone and were let into the garage beneath the hotel, where the car is going to spend the next 13 days.
After checking in to a nice room with a private sun-deck, we set out to explore Poitier a bit. The neighborhood around the hotel is very lively with lots of cafes, restaurants, and shops. Above the city hall, the city looks a bit less prosperous. But the streets were still full of people, including lots of young people. Poitiers is a university town.
We poked around the spooky 11th century Église Notre-Dame-la-Grande, then walked down the long hill to the Poitiers Cathedral.
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On the way, we noted a building where Joan of Arc slept when she was last in town. Thanks to the local history association for the informative tablet on the front of the house.
The cathedral was beautiful, but too clean and too big, we thought. Not as evocative as the older, smaller, musty Notre-Dame-la-Grande.
Rich had a particular interest in the nearby 5th century Baptistère Saint-Jean, but alas, it closed at 1800 and we were too late. We’ll try to see it when we come back in 2 weeks.
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By this time it was 1900 and we were getting peckish. So we hiked back up the hill to the place adjoining Notre-Dame-la-Grande. The pizzeria « La Petite Roquette » looked good, so we ordered and sat on the street to watch the world go by. Food was just OK, but serviceable. We waddled happily back to our room to rest up for tomorrow’s adventure.
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