The last time we did a major trip into France was nine years ago, in May 2015.
I am not a great fan of the French, I always run into frustrations and irritating their inefficiencies. This year would prove to be no different (we returned home one day early). While France has a lot to offer but it comes at a price: daily frustrations!
The basic plan was to finally visit Les Rencontres de la photographie d'Arles in the south of France and have stops on the way in Paris (3 nights) and on the Loire and to visit a few castles there.
I hope you enjoy my take on the usual and not so usual which we came across along the way.

FRANCE 2024 | PARIS |ARLES PHOTO | CASTLES | BLACK & WHITE

On the way south to Paris I soon found my first picture

If anyone has an idea of the car make I hope to hear from you! EMAIL

Soon we found ourselves in Paris enjoying crêpes

Our hotel had a few nice restaurants nearby for dinner and/or drinks (12th arrondissement).

For more of Paris this trip see my PARIS 2024

We stayed 2 nights in the delightful Chateau de Chissay and enjoyed the luxury

This would be our base to visit a few castles on the river Loire; on previous visits we'd visited a few before.

The Royal Château of Blois, where we probably had the finest visit of the 3 castles we'd selected.
See my page on FRANCE 2024 CASTLES for more of this visit.

A nice view Blois and the river Loire. Next time we'll try to see more of Blois, it seemed to have more on offer!

There was this house of mysteries and horror; these dragons came out, moving from the windows: fantastic!
Alas, we had no time in our schedule to visit this fascinating house and find out more. EMAIL

On the square below the castle we noticed this little market. Surprisingly there still an interest in videos & dvd's.

Both nights we stayed at Chateau de Chissay their fine dining restaurant was closed, so for a meal we had to go to
nearby Montrichard (Montrichard-Val-de-Cher). When we drove in I immediately noticed how we had stayed here
before (in much less luxury surroundings), also exploring castles on the Loire!

It's a nice little place, but again we had no time to see if we could explore the castle ruin here.
Two restaurants here, Le Procopio (pizzeria) and Les Tuffeaux weren't great (the latter had a better beer selection)

Stylish houses in Montrichard

View from Chateaux d'Amboise (see my page dedicated to CASTLES - France 2024)

Montrichard has a similar styled bridge, albeit smaller.
The report on our visit to the Château Royal d'Amboise, aGothic & Renaissance 15th-century chateau with
tapestry-filled rooms & panoramic terrace, is on the above 'castles' link.

The street leading from the castle to House of Leonardo da Vinci (which we did not visit)

A bit of history on a wall of Amboise Castle

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The castle we stayed in... Château de Chissay. No doubt whatsoever the best stay we had this trip.

We'd cross the square for our splendid breakfast buffet. Pity the restaurant here isn't open on Sunday + Monday.

The drive from Chissay-en-Touraine to Arles was quite long, so I planned a night a little short of our destination.

Ibis budget @Orange centre, near ramp off Hwy A9/A7. Our best stay in terms of price versus quality.

ARLES

Arles arena. "Arles - Patrimoine mondial du Humanité"
The city of Arles has been inscribed twice on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for the cultural property "Arles, Roman and Romanesque monuments" and for the serial cultural property "Routes of Saint James of Compostela in France". I am not in photography of historic buildings and façades anymore, but took these in my stride.

Théâtre Antique d'Arles. While my photography has developed in another direction, away from popular tourist
spots and fronts of imposing (historic) buildings, one is tempted to aim the camera on such subjects every now and then.

Over the past few years murals & graffiti were subjects I became fond of. But here I fancied something else...

The mystery: 02.10 - 09.11 ....

Past events, often with hardly a clue to what was advertised.

This was supposed to lead to an exhibition, on Rue de Doisneau, but led to nowhere (closed?)

Everything is in French, like it's a privat party only for French nationals...

 

Most of the exhibitions were inside buildings and halls, this one was in the park across the Central Carpark.

See my page for some of the exhibitions at Les Rencontres d'Arles 2024

I had planned 3 days for 'Arles Photo' but after 1.5 days I felt saturated because most adresses had several
(4 or 5, sometimes even more) artists on display. Later I regretted not having spent another half day for
a few selected exhibitions. I was also curious to what the area also had to offer.

The wild horses of the Camargue, a 'find' en route

We drove from our B&B in Générac to Seaquarium Institut Marin (Le Grau-du-Roi) for a visit

There quite an emphasis on educational aspects. This one fits my #LOOK series.

Coral growing

Several types of sharks swimming over the tunnel

Our host @ B&B in Générac had recommended a visit to Aigues-Mortes while we were so nearby.

Our hostess had mistaken our taste: while the medieval wall was of interest the shops only offered expensive
clothing and souvenirs. The opening hours of the restaurant were a recurring frustration, a light meal was not to be found.

I did get some satisfying street photography results, but besides the high street there was nothing of our interest.

Layers of scenery

Fine art but nothing I could afford!

A roadsign somewhere en route..

Le Cailar

Entrance to Générac

Générac is a small town which has literally nothing to offer. The B&B felt too isolated.

Starting our return trip...

A car had landed in the ditch. I had turned around to make these photos.

What are the chances this happened in the wee hours, youngsters in their twenties and alcohol involved..?

We were surprised to find so many paper magazines still for sale, including aviation and photography magazines.
In our country those are virtually gone, replaced by online sources. Ada picked a Point de Vue and a Paris Match.

So we left the south of France a day early, frustrated by some French customs (e.g. opening times of restaurants)
and decided to drive the scenic route though the National Parks. We came to the (abandoned) Château de Portes.

en.wikipedia.org:_Chateau_de_Portes

The Château de Portes is a castle located in the commune of Portes in the Gard département of France. It overlooks the Regordane, an ancient avenue used by the pilgrims of Saint-Giles and the Croisés on their way towards the Holy Land for a distance of ten miles. Raymond Guillaume de Budos, the nephew of Pope Clement V, bought the seigniory in 1322, and added at least two additional flanks to the castle in 1384. Thibaud de Budos recovered the castle after deposing his father André, who had joined with the English at the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. The Maréchal-de-Camp was killed in the siege of Privas in 1629. His daughter, Marie-Félice, left the castle as an heirloom to her nephew, Prince de Conti, in 1693, whose descendants sold it to Louis XVI in 1781. With the French Revolution, the castle was nationalised and sold to six successive owners. In 1841, in the hands of the Vernede family, the monument was restored from its decrepit condition. In 1929, following the intensive exploitation of the coal mines under the site, the ground broke down ruining the castle and forcing its evacuation. The village was rebuilt about 300 metres further. Circa 1960, the grounds were stabilised and in 1972 an association was formed to recover the castle. It has been classified as a historical monument since 1984. [- Wikipedia]

Here's the distinct shape of a ship to be seen. See also my B&W France 2024, on similar variety of subjects.

View over the surrounding area

While en route on the winding roads I came across this mural. The artist is deserving of some tribute!

We didn't stop much, for on the winding roads we weren't making very good time, but like these I had to photograph

Here's another quick stop:

I haven't been able to determine which dam and reservoir lake this is (EMAIL)

We made slow progress on this scenic drive, which resulted in a nightstop too far south from Paris for next day's plans.

Winding roads but also on plateaus, sometimes in bright sunshine, sometimes the sun was hidden by the clouds.

With most restaurants in France closed between 1400-19:00 we just missed lunch here too.

Fortunately there was coffee and a candy bar (lunch). Kitchen closures are (too) strict, not even a ham/cheese toastie
Glad to be going home the next day, fecking French!

Funny doormat at this brasserie

The colour blue in rhyme

A quick visit to Musée de l'Air at Le Bourget (Paris)

While I was here solely for the restoration hangar (only open on the Patrimoine weekend) I was repeatedly
misdirected (staff probably had little knowledge on the museum), perhaps misunderstanding' restoration' for 'restaurant'... Thus my slot for visiting the restoration hangar (I found I had to board a bus to visit the other
side of the airfield, at Dugny - but the bus had no clear schedule) was spoiled. And we left, still 6 hours driving home.

I was quite shocked about the agressive driving by others on the highways, also in The Netherlands.
Finally I had made it to Les Rencontres d'Arles, but it had shortcomings like Paris and the Loire castles too.
Give me a visit to England any day! At least one can find something to eat there anytime of the day and friendlier people.

LINKS
FRANCE 2024 | PARIS | ARLES PHOTO | CASTLES | BLACK & WHITE