Travel review: Le Mans, France
Le Clos du Pavilion, Le Mans, France. picture: Carly Lewthwaite/Peterborough ET
WHEN I was offered a four-day trip to Le Mans in north-west France, I had no idea what was in store.
My partner and I had both been abroad before, but our experiences of tourist hotspots had left us with little idea of what it was like to really get to know a country.
Known the world over for hosting Le Mans 24 Hour Race, the city is hailed as a wonderful mix of old and new, with plenty to see and do, so we were in for a real taste of France.
We had two ways to get there - drive our own car to the coast, get a ferry across and continue to Le Mans or catch Eurostar from St Pancras and continue by train to Le Mans. With an elderly lady of a car and the cost of fuel, we decided that taking the train would be more cost effective and more of an adventure!
Leaving from Peterborough early on a Saturday morning we headed straight down to Kings Cross and over the road to St Pancras, home of Eurostar, where we caught an early train, arriving just a little over two hours later in Paris Nord. Our final train to Le Man left from Paris Montparnasse, just twelve stops across the Paris Metro which, as a fan of the Underground, was a real experience! With 245 stops and 14 lines we congratulated ourselves on a safe crossing as we boarded our double-decker train for the last leg to Le Mans.
We collected our hire car, a new Renault Clio, from Ada car rentals and took to the right-hand side of the road for the first time.
Although a confident driver of ten years, I decided to leave the important job of driving to my partner who, after repeatedly hitting his hand against the door in search of the gears and handbrake, started to get the hang of it! I’ll happily admit that I can’t read a map for toffee, but luckily we had an English-speaking TomTom built into the car which made the driving a little less stressful. One thing we did learn about the city was that the local trams can appear from anywhere at any time at great speed, leaving me on ‘tram watch’ whilst Paul drove.
After parking in the main city car park under the shadow of the magnificent Saint Julien Cathedral, we headed up through the ancient cobbled streets to Le Plongeoir (translated as ‘The Diving’), located at 55 Grand Rue, or ‘Main Street’. The polished wood floors and clean white walls were accentuated with animal prints, large mirrors and a mixture of lighting and decadent fabrics to give it a luxurious feel.
The menu was certainly varied, offering the diner a range of mains, from a house beefburger and chunky chips to the more exotic veal, shark, antelope and kangaroo. I opted for the beefburger whilst my partner tried the veal. Although very different dishes they were both presented beautifully and finished with a chocolate cake for Paul and a selection of fruit sorbets for myself.
As we finished our meals and darkness fell across the city, we continued our walk around the old town, taking in a fantastic free sound and light display called ‘La Nuit des Chimeres’.
The show takes you back in time to bring to life medieval myths, tales of kings and queens and battles and romances. A local project to bring history to life, the incredible show runs every evening from Tuesday to Saturday every July, August and December from 9.30pm. Located across seven sites, ranging from the front of Saint Julien Cathedral to the side streets and the wonderfully preserved Roman city wall, the shows are powered by projectors stored inside large grey boxes a short distance away.
From a banquet attended by French royalty, mystical beasts fighting to the death and singing angels to Queen Berengaria, the deserted wife of Richard the Lionheart, taking a turn around the courtyard of the museum that bears her name, the show really is magical, innovative and a beautiful and engaging way to bring history to life - a must see for all.
After taking in the sights we headed back to our accommodation, Le Clos du Pavillon which was just outside the city in Chemin des Oiselieres. Owned by Jacky and Annie Sentis, this beautiful 18th Century house is set in large gardens with spacious, homely rooms which were clean and beautifully furnished. Despite not speaking any English, Jacky was a real gentleman, serving a delicious continental breakfast of fresh croissants, homemade bread, preserves, juices and hot drinks with a sunny disposition and great patience when we were trying to communicate!
The following day we headed back to the city centre to meet our tour guide for the morning, Natalie Jupin. Before she arrived we took the chance to have a wander around the local market, located under the imposing cathedral. Held three times a week, the market was bustling and filled with unusual fresh fruit and vegetables, cheeses, freshly baked bread and chilled containers of huge Japanese spider crabs crawling over each other. There were also a range of stalls cooking fresh food to order, from paella and crepes to Chinese rice and noodles.
When we met up with Natalie at the foot of Saint Julien, we were delighted to hear that she spoke better English than we did French!
A tour guide by profession, Natalie took us through the beautiful cobbled streets of the old town, pointing out fascinating landmarks. Nearly 1,000 years old, the old town looks like a film set, and it has been used many times as such, notably for the 1998 Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ and episodes of murder mystery series Poirot.
Although I am a fan of churches and architecture, I do struggle to enjoy history. However, Natalie’s tour was so interesting that you couldn’t help but gasp in amazement at the old buildings and ancient ways of living that are so totally alien to us here in 2011.
A red beamed house was painted as such because it used to belong to the local executioner. Natalie said: “It was painted red because, after a busy day it is believed he would wipe his hands on the large stone pillar outside the house, staining it red.”
Looking at the entire house painted red she added: “He must have been very busy!”
Only the very rich could read and write hundreds of years ago, so signs hanging outside of shops would have been no good for the townsfolk. Instead, etchings or carvings were made into the wood or stone outside, depicting a key for a locksmith, or a man with no clothes on followed by a clothed gent for a place to buy clothes and material and so on.
Despite the old town being fully functional to this day, with many buildings converted into space for shops, galleries and homes, the buildings themselves are still in perfect condition, testament to the old beamed buildings, even if some do look a little wobbly!
As we walked further through the tiny streets, taking in the history, we came across possibly the smallest house in the world. Accessed from the garden of another home, ‘Teddy Bear House’ as Natalie called it (they used to position a large teddy in the single window for all to see) perches precariously atop two walls, up for sale again after the previous owners left. Maybe they found it a bit of a squeeze?!
Our final view of the old town took place from what would have been the outside the city - the imposing Roman wall. One of the best preserved examples in Europe, this incredible structure would have been used to keep the city safe from harm many hundreds of years ago. Although no longer fully complete, some parts of the wall were built on to create more city homes (you’d need a brave window cleaner!) and parts are also home to stunning night displays during La Nuit de Chimeres as well. Taking the 100 stone steps back up to the city square, we thanked Natalie for her tour and headed off to find lunch before our next activity, a tour of Le Jardin Mosaiqe in the small village of Asnières sur Vègre.
Located a short drive from Le Mans, this large plot of land was bought by Philippe Grandry and his wife Khady back in 2004. With nothing more than bare land and condemned buildings on site, Philippe set to work, clearing, digging and planting to create one of the most stunning gardens I have ever seen.
His 2.4 acres are home to fragrant herbs, delicious fruits and vegetables alongside wild and rare plants and flowers and an abundance of wildlife.
Philippe explained: “We do everything naturally, with no pesticides or chemicals. We encourage visitors to come and visit our garden to see how we do things.”
He joked about the size of the plot, adding: “It’s a real pain when you get out there and realise you’ve forgotten your tools!”
The couple have a rather simple yet clever way of nourishing their plants. Rather than adding fertiliser or soil, they cut down any old plants and leave them, along with cuttings, on the soil. The cuttings then decompose straight into the soil where the plant continues to grow, giving them a constant source of nutrients.
Thanking Philippe and Khady we left their beautiful garden behind, heading just a few miles up the road to Abbey Du Soleme.
The tiny French village of Soleme had only a handful of shops, and was totally overshadowed by the stunning 15th Century monastery, still home to a small group of practising Gregorian Monks.
Perched on a rocky outcrop above the river Sarthe, the Monks still practice the ancient art of prayer and song seven times a day, starting at 5am.
We were lucky enough to catch the 5:30pm ‘Vespers’ service, taken in a small church beside the abbey. The 45-minute service was both read and sung by the Monks, an incredible sound that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!
Taking the calm and serenity of the Abbey with us, we headed back to Le Mans for dinner at Le Fou du Roy, located up an old cobbled hill called Impasse Sainte-Catherine. Small and cosy, the restaurant had a very intimate feel, and a delicious menu to match. I chose two cheeses on toast for starters followed by the unusual sounding but ultimately delicious salmon crepes with potatoes and summer vegetables. My hot chocolate pudding with ice cream was divine - a meal I could have eaten all over again.
All of the food was delicious and cooked to perfection, certainly somewhere I would make a detour to visit the next time I am in Le Mans .
The next day we were up early for an hour’s drive to Sable Sur Sarthe to enjoy a day on the river.
Anjou Navigation has a large base on the river Sarthe and hire out all manner of boats, from small two-seaters to large boats, capable of sleeping 12 people. Hire can run from a few hours into days. The only boating experience either of us have is of a dinghy at the seaside, so we were both crossing our fingers for the smallest boat possible. Sadly, our wishing didn’t work as we were lead down the gangway to a boat the sleeps six! I put my partner forward for the first go at the wheel and we sailed out of the harbour with a member of staff on board. After navigating under a bridge, turning around in the middle of the river and ‘parking’ the boat beside a test jetty, we were left to our own devices and set off down the river, neither of us having understood what the man had said!
The most important thing we did remember was that we had to check that water (that was pulled up from the river to cool the engine) was bubbling at the back of the boat each time we started the engine, to stay in the middle of the river and watch out for fishermen and reeds, which can tangle in the propeller (the reeds, not fishermen!).
We set off along the river at a leisurely pace, taking in the stunning scenery, including Abbey Du Soleme, which we had seen the day before and looked even more impressive from the river.
Taking it in turns, we meandered our way along the river, passing tiny French villages and enjoying the abundant wildlife, from diving herons to dazzling blue dragonflies. After our initial paralysing fear about being left in charge of a boat, we really began to enjoy ourselves. The boat went along so slowly that you had plenty of time to react to anything, and the river only narrowed in a few places. The locks turned out to be a doddle, with all four displaying a yellow sign on approach, meaning that they were manned by lock staff. A quick beep from our horn and a friendly local would come out and do both gates for us whilst we held on to ropes attached to the sides of the lock and held the boat steady. Our last calling point before heading back was a tiny village called Parce. We tied up the boat and headed up into tiny, picturesque streets that looked too small to be lived in! The tiny winding lanes gave way to a high street of sorts, with a newsagent and small pub. This really was rural France, and no-one spoken English, but we managed to get by with a few words and miming to buy some delicious cakes from the bakery and a beer from the pub for Paul.
With our cakes well and truly devoured we took once again to the helm and sailed back to Sable Sur Sarthe, making good time at two hours and forty minutes.
We felt a little sad when we handed over our keys and decided that we had to book a boating holiday when we returned home - we had been well and truly bitten by the boat bug!
Back in Le Mans that evening we went for our final meal out at Le Mans Legend Cafe, located at 9 Rue du Port, Le Mans. It was easy enough to find, located amongst busy bars and shops in the new part of town.
More a casual eaterie than a restaurant, the Legends cafe is crammed from floor to ceiling with racing memorabilia from the nearby circuit, home to the popular Le Mans 24-hour endurance race. After a starter of garlic bread I opted for a salmon and rice dish, while my partner chose a chilli con carne and rice, followed by ice cream. Although the food was more casual, it was well cooked and served in good time by friendly, enthusiastic staff.
On our final day we had another early start to visit Abbey L’Epau, just outside Le Mans. We were met once again by Natalie, who guided us round the old monastery, commissioned in 1229 by Queen Berengaria, consort of Richard the Lionheart, it is more or less unaltered since its fifteenth-century restoration after a fire. Unlike Abbey Du Solemes, there are no longer monks in residence, but their old way of life is still there for all to see. We were taken around inside the incredible church, now used as a space for exhibitions and displays. Outside we saw where the monks would have lined up to wash their hands before eating, and upstairs in a stunning room which almost looked like an upside down boat, we saw where they would have slept in a large dormitory, beside a vault protected by a thick steel door. Any treasures or money they would have owned would have been in this safe room, protected from intruders.
The church also contains a statue of Queen Berengaria that lies over her tomb. She died before the building was complete, so it seemed right that she was laid to rest within the grounds of the magnificent building she had wished for.
Before we left, Natalie took us to an outbuilding that looked almost like a fairytale cottage! Hundreds of years old, the beamed building would have been used to store grains and hay for the animals during the harsh winters. It may have looked a little wobbly but it has certainly weathered well and is still standing.
We thanked Natalie for her fascinating tour and went our separate ways, her on to another historical site and us back to Le Mans to wait for our train home.
Sitting on the platform, neither of us could believe how much history we had taken in - and enjoyed - and how much of our past is entwined with the French.
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Le Mans, but I can certainly say that we will be back. Neither of us are history buffs, but the stories of the past that Natalie brought to life fascinated us and made us want to know more.
So, would I recommend Le Mans? You’ll not find a full English on the menu or rows of rowdy bars. What you will find is a city steeped in fascinating history, tightly interwoven with our own and a fierce pride in the architectural gifts bestowed upon them by their ancestors. The weather is pleasant, the locals are friendly and generous in spirit and the food is truly French - delicious.
No matter your budget or time to spare, Le Mans is one place I would recommend to everyone - c’est magnifique.
Details correct at 4/10/11
Carly Lewthwaite was a guest of the Sarthe Tourism www.tourisme-en-sarthe.com and travelled with Rail Europe (T: 0844 848 4070 or {http:// www.raileurope.co.uk/|www.raileurope.co.uk}) which offers London-Le Mans returns from £99pp.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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MarniedeVanssay
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 08:40 PMThanks for this great review on Le Mans, which unfortunately is too many people know only for the world famous 24 hours endurance race, when this medieval city has so much more to offer. It is really an undiscovered jewel, but is being put forward as a UNESCO heritage site, and rightly so. However, as soon as this is official, the tourists will flock, so now is the time for sure!
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