Cognac country cycling tour in Poitou Charentes - an extraordinary tour! One of the many astonishing highlights of this tour is the visit of the Hermione, vessel linked to the legend of La Fayette. La Fayette came to Rochefort, whence he embarked for the New World on a newly built frigate- l’Hermione- on March 21, 1780. Landed in Boston after 38 days at sea, he joined General Washington to announce the imminent arrival of French reinforcements giving the revolutionaries the support necessary for the birth of a new nation.
Poitou Travel Info
In Poitou Charentes, today an official region, a variety of kingdoms, cultures, and influences come together. Angouleme was the capital of the province of Angoumois and it is in this city that King Francois I was crowned.
Paper mills were the main industry for centuries in Charente and were amongst the products that would once have been carried by sailing barge down the Charente to the sea. The leisure aspect of the river is a relatively recent idea. In fact, for 4,500 years, commercial barges held sway on the waters until the start of this century. The Charente was the main thoroughfare and life was conducted around the traffic it brought.
The most important cargo on the river was Cognac (Brandy). The reason that Charentais wine was distilled in the first place was so that it would be easier to export by boat and most of the important producers have their storehouses near the banks of the river.
The city of La Rochelle became a stronghold of Protestant Huguenots during the Reformation in the 16th century. As such, it was unsuccessfully besieged by Roman Catholics in 1572 and 1573, and it fell to the forces of Cardinal Richelieu ( the chief minister of Louis XIII) after 14th month siege in 1627 and 1628. In the 17th century some of its Protestant residents fled to North America to found the city of New Rochelle, New York.
At La Rochelle, the towers of the old port are the mark of the influence and wealth of the free city of La Rochelle. The Tour de la Lanterne or Tour des Quatre Sergents dates from the 13th and 15th centuries and served both as a prison and a lighthouse. Its four rooms, located one above the other, are covered with engravings mostly made by the prisoners of war held there in the 17th and 18th centuries; this is proof of the tower’s usage as a prison in the only medieval lighthouse still in existence in France.
The three islands (Oleron, Aix, and Re) had a strong military connection. They served to warn off Dutch and English vessels from La Rochelle, Rochefort and the Charente.
On the Charentais littoral where the English didn’t stop to try to establish themselves, the ports have often been the wars strategy. The ports have been fortified allowing protection: today, it gives some beautiful pieces of architecture and cities giving their name to the history and to the ocean. Poitou-Charentes is also a rendez-vous with its gastronomy and its famous Vins de Charentes.
Poitou-Charentes is a region very much appreciated because of its sunny days. This is the sunniest region in the west of France. The Poitou-Charentes region located in western France, is made up of 4 departments: Charente-Maritime, Charente, Vienne, and Deux-Sevres. The department of Charente-Maritime is the only one being coastal to the Atlantic ocean and the city of La Rochelle is the capital.
Poitou-Charentes region is a very diversified region, with fortified cities, islands, beaches, wetland (Marais Poitevin), and vineyards.
La Rochelle is a fortified city and is most famous for its old harbour and its three outstanding medieval powers.
The islands of Poitou-Charente such as Ile de Re, Ile d’Oleron, and Ile d’Aix have a unique beauty and character. On Ile de Re as on the other islands during the summer, the streets are bordered with "roses tremieres" or hollyhocks: warm symbols of the gentler pace of country life. Ile de Re is flat because it is really an archipelago of sandy islets fused together. The Ile d’Oleron is connected to the mainland by a three kilometers long toll bridge. In the Ile d’Aix, cars are not allowed on the ferry, but bicycles are allowed.
The Marais Poitevin, (Poitou Marshlands) called also the Green Venice, have been a protected natural environment since 1975.
The Marais Poitevin (marshes) is divided into Dry Marsh near the sea, and Wet Marsh also called Green Venice. The Green Venice covers 37 000 acres and the Dry Marsh stretches away on either side of the River Sevre Niortaise, and cover an area of 198 000 acres. The Dry and Wet Marshes have different aspects: the Dry Marsh is a wide open territory producing wheat, barley and other cereals with long canals where migratory birds can been seen. The Wet Marsh is the most picturesque by its villages of character and a preserved life style.
The Vineyards of the valley of Charente are famous for its production of cognac (brandy). Although production extends into Charente-Maritime and Deux-Sevres, it is concentrated twenty miles around Cognac and Jarnac.
The vineyards around La Rochelle appeared in the XIII century and became the wealth of the Charente.
What good "stuff' can you eat?
Seafood: oysters, mussels.
Fricassee d’anguilles: eel cooked with garlic and cognac.
Soupe aux moules (mussels soup)
Regional dish: Jambon de Vendee aux mogettes(ham from Vendee cooked with white beans from the Marsh)
Goat cheese: Chabichou du Poitou, Mothais-sur-feuille, Saint-Maure
Brioche vendeenne pur beurre
Tarte aux pruneaux (prune pie)
Touteau fromager: sweet pie with fresh goat cheese
Le broye: dry cake
What about a drink?
Cognac: alcohol drink.
Le Pineau des Charentes: mix of Cognac and grape juice. The pineau is to the Charente what is Pastis to the Provence.
Vins de Charentes: Fiefs Vendeens and Haut Poitou wine.
Le vin d’Epine: specialty of the region made of maceration of prune trees bud with white or red wine.
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