There are hundreds of monasteries and abbeys in France.  We've visited many of them, including the Abbaye de Pontigny, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1114 as the second of four 'daughter houses' of Cîteaux Abbey.  It is in the commune of Pontigny, département of the Yonne, in Burgundy on the River Serein.  Beyond their religious duties, the monks of Pontigny were occupied cultivating their vineyards, and theirs was the original vineyard which evolved into the region that gives us today's Chablis wine.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Another, this one is the Benedictine Prieuré Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Souvigny, in the Middle Ages was one of the five 'daughters' of the powerful Cluny Abbey.  The priory was a place of pilgrimage, and Hugh Capet, King of France, came here in 994, and Souvigny owned many smaller parishes and priories, which made it very wealthy.  The Dukes of Bourbon chose the priory as their burial place, as did several abbots, but many of those tombs were destroyed in the French Revolution.

You will find many monasteries and abbeys in ruins such as the Abbey de Cormery in the Loire Valley.  Although it is no longer used for its original intent, it is the center of the charming small village of Cormery and serves as a gathering place for concerts and other neighborhood events. 

We hope that, no matter what your religious affiliation, you will take time to visit abbeys and monasteries, in tact or in ruins, the next time you are in France.  They are amazing for their architecture, for the fact that so many are still standing after a thousand or more years, and each has its own unique history and contributions. 

For those who want to experience a monastery as a guest, there are several convents and monasteries in France that offer accommodations for travelers.  One that welcomed Robert Louis Stevenson at the time he was writing Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes is Abbaye Notre Dame des Neiges, a Trappist monastery in Saint Laurent-les-Bains in the Ardèche.   Their web site states:

La participation financière est libre. Chacun donne selon son coeur.

(Financial participation is free.  Each gives according to his heart.) 

. . . and, we understand you can participate in some of the daily tasks in exchange for your accommodations.

SPONSORING THIS ISSUE



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TOUR DE FRANCE ROUTE -  July 2 to 24, 2016  - Share the Passion

The Tour de France in 2016 will begin in le Mont St-Michel in Normandy, proceed south through the western Loire (Stage 4 from Saumur to Limoges is 232 kilometers and the longest leg of the Tour) into Aquitaine and cross the Pyrénées into Andorra ~ about the halfway mark ~ where there is a rest stop.  Riders will return to the Tarn département, go on through Languedoc and into the Vaucluse département of Provence.  From there, it's north through the Rhône-Alpes, and the cyclists will head for Switzerland where they will have a break from the Tour in Berne.  The next three stages will be in the Alps to Mt Blanc, Albertville and Megève, then turning north to end in Morzine on July 23.  The cyclists will be flown to Chantilly, north of Paris, for their final ride on the 24th to Paris and the Champs Elysées.

For those of you planning to be in France next July, there are many quality places to spend a few days where you can also watch the riders come through the villages on various stages of the Tour.  Why not skip the hotels and cottages, and stay in an authentic and historic French château?

In Normandy you can choose between two château bed and breakfasts, Château de Canisy and Château de la Roque both near St-Lô.  Near Cherbourg/Octeville, Le Pavillon at Château de Tocqueville is an elegant weekly rental with 5 spacious en suite bedrooms, or bring your group of friends and family to the larger Château de Servigny with 8 en suite guest rooms, a swimming pool and a tennis court.

Near Saumur and Angers, two bed and breakfasts are Château de Bournand and Château de Cheman for a night or two.  Or, if you want to rent a self-catering gîte, consider the fine Medieval Château de Chanzé for a unique and historic French experience.  On the way to Limoges, you would enjoy Château du Fraisse, in the same family for 800 years come 2020!  Charming hosts make it perfect. 

As the Tour heads for the southwest, a magnificent weekly rental is Château Robert near Pau and Montauban.  Another historic property in the area is Château de Barthas offering 6 guest rooms and not far from Toulouse for those flying into southern France from the UK.   After crossing the Pyrénées and a rest day in Andorra, the Tour returns to France and into Revel.  Really close by is Château de Garrevaques, which has a self-catering apartment at the top of the château with 5 bedrooms.

Carcassonne is the next destination on the Tour, and we can suggest four wonderful places to stay in the region:  La Terrasse de Lautrec, Domaine de Biar, Domaine des Castelles or Château de Saint-Michel de Lanès.  Or, if you are interested in a longer stay, two weekly rentals are Château Rhodes and Château d'Agel.  Any of these will be only a short car ride to see the cyclists.

In Provence, three charming châteaus in wine country (two producing their own wine) are worth considering:  Château Juvenal and Château Talaud offer bed and breakfast accommodations as well as apartments to rent, and Domaine le Vallon has an apartment for rent by the week.

Finally, the Tour heads north again, and in the Rhône Alpes there are two places offering bed and breakfast lodging, both very near France's gastronomic capital, Lyon:  Château de Chambost and Château de Longsard.  And, as the Tour heads for Albertville about July 22, two wonderful châteaus ~ the bed and breakfast Château des Allues which also offers a gîte to rent for a week, and Château St-Philippe, a self-catering weekly rental just down the road.

We hope that you will be able to experience the excitement of the Tour de France yourself while taking advantage of some very special places to stay along the route.  The châteaus are not only historic properties, but they are authentic residences in bucolic country settings, each offering their own unique charm and ambiance.  There is a wide range of prices, so there is something affordable whatever your budget.

If you want to search for château accommodations in other locations in France, please visit www.au-chateau.com.

                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                             

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