---

I Along with my husband, I have spent many years travelling around Europe, especially to France, where we arrange home exchanges with lovely French couples and families to all parts of France.  We have driven thousands of miles around the country and loved every single minute.

No.1   Paris 2010   Was an exchange with a couple with an apartment right in the heart of beautiful in Paris,  in the 9th arrondissement where we explored the most beautiful city in the world on foot.  We saw all the wonderful sights, the magnificent Eiffel Tower, Notre dame, Opera, La Louvre, Musee d’ Orsay, Musee Georges Pompidou, and every little street and piece of wonderful architecture including the wonderful Haussmann style buildings.  We ate in cafes, bistros, and occasionally in Michelin star restaurants, more often we visited the wonderful farmers markets especially in Avenue President Wilson, where we brought fresh food, saucisson, rillet, cassoulet and more back to the apartment to have for dinners and lunches, one of the wonderful aspects of home exchange, to be able to buy produce and cook it in a home.  We were lucky enough to have a patisserie at our front door, which filled our apartment with the most wonderful aroma first thing in the morning , and it was a battle as to who was getting out of bed first to go for the morning croissants.

Cap d’ Antibes 2010 We then took the TGV fast train to Marseille where we hired a car and stayed in a home exchange apartment on the beautiful French Riverina in the town of Cap d’ Antibes. Picasso lived here for years, and we explored his home and the views he had from there would have inspired anyone to paint.  From here we drove to St Tropez, Cannes, Nice and the beautiful city of Monaco, which we adored. We stayed all day in Monaco, not caring how long it would take us to drive back to the Anibes, had lunch, wandered around the township and along the water where we saw the some of the most expensive and biggest boats I have ever seen, moored around the harbour-front.  Perched on top of the town was the castle the Garibaldi family lived in, it was a divine sight.

Other than Monaco all these cities were  popular at the time we were there for the French holidays, so were very crowed, if you travel there chose your timing well.  We drove through and explored by car, it was just too busy to park, but we saw a lot, and won’t go in August next time.  That is another thing about France, all the French take their holidays then, so many of the restaurants and shops are closed, which can disappoint you when you drive for miles and arrive in a gorgeous town you want to explore for the day to find half of the town has gone on holidays.  The French, like most European regions, close for lunch for a few hours from around 12-2pm each day, shops close, businesses close, although this is frustrating for the traveller who has arrived in a town expecting everything to be open, I understand it.  Europeans are very family oriented, they like to get together over a meal every day, and they take the time to prepare it, cook it and enjoy it with family and friends, this is very important to them.  Totally unlike a lot of other countries, rush, rush, rush, fast food, take away, no time to cook, too busy to see family this week, here the Europeans can teach us all something about the values of good food, taking time to cook it and share it with family.

The next day we drove through some gorgeous towns of Provence, this is where I fell in love.  St Remy de Provence would have to be my all time favourite, and on future visits we drove miles and miles to visit it again. (what a good husband I have) It is the most quaint, medieval village of them all, wandering around the streets, the little shops, the cafes, the bistros, the houses with gorgeous window boxes filled with summer flowers and pretty blue painted shutters.  I couldn’t resist taking souvenirs home of the wonderful array of tablecloths all with the typical patterns we all know to be Provence.  I smile every time I use one at home, remembering where it came from and when I was there.

We drove to Aix-en-Provence where we wandered around for days, with its wonderful square and water fountain and gorgeous parks. We stayed nearby in a castle by the name of  La Barben, run by the famous Pillyuvyt family, fine porcelain producers since 1818,  here were met by met the chairmain who was at his desk laid up with a broken leg. Staying in the castle was a wonderful experience, and we dined like kings and queens in the dining room with other guests, surrounded by candelabras and chandieliiers. We have fond memories of this stay.

After our stay we then drove to Avignon, a medieval walled city of  wonderful winding streets to explore and enjoy.  We (or maybe me) collected a few items for the kitchen from the vast amount of shops selling French pottery.  Avignon is a gorgeous medieval town, and I was in awe of the architecture and age of the place.  We explored through the Palace de Papes at the edge of town, its amazing history and sheer size and architecture is fabulous, please take time to see this castle, it is definitely worth it.  This town is a definite must see on your travels here.

Provence is divine, my absolute favourite area, I think I have already said that 🙂

No. 2  Albon 2012 a little town just outside Lyon,  where we had the most amazing old stone house with views over the valley to die for. We visited Lyon often and fell in love with it, the wonderful food, the town spilt by the beautiful Rhone river, and the architecture. Restaurants with Raclette, a melted cheese meal to savour over like nothing else on earth.

We also visited the famous Paul Boucouse market hall, where we wandered in awe at the food delights available to purchase or to take home, we decided to sit down and enjoy it there.  I love café gourmand in France, a sampling plate of the dessert menu divine!

We drove to the Loire Valley, the gorgeous area south of Paris where the rich and famous built their chateaus and used them as weekend or holiday houses, and some commuted to and from Paris each day to work.  There is nothing like this area, the main town is Tours, along with other small towns like Amboise, which we loved, and chatted to a couple in a shop who were very interested in the prospect of home exchanges.  We did  tour of a winery, which the French call a ‘cave’, in and old stone building with cellars down under the ground.  To our amazement this winery had red wine vintages from back to 1810, we loved our tasting and tour, another ‘must to do’.

Now the chateaus of the Loire valley, the most famous one being Chenonceau, a chateau near the river Cher.  Its wonderful Gothic architecture is a sight to behold.  It opened in 1521 and was built by architect Philibert de l’Orme and houses tapestries and old master paintings, and is huge, so allow plenty of time to explore it and the wonderful gardens.  We toured quite a few chateaus, and I just loved the gardens, mazes and the absolute perfection they delivered, even down to manicured hedges of herbs and vegetables, I was in heaven.  My husband took a photo of me in one of the mazes, it happen to be wearing a red top that day, so amongst all the greenery it was a ‘where’s wally’ spotting 🙂

We did a lot of touring from this house, it was very central to a lot of towns, like the beautiful Lake Annecy, which is sometimes referred to as the ‘Venice of France, with its gorgeous buildings surrounded by a beautiful waterways stemming from the gorgeous Lake Annecy.

We then head west, and visited the town of Thiers, where the famous Lagiole cutlery is made, we saw the craftsmen working in some quaint knife-making stores….and yes a little purchase came home with me.  Then onto Limoges, well known for its exquisite porcelain,  sold worldwide, where we wandered around the lovely township, and entered into the Bertrand Limoges factory outlet store, and saw how it had been made for hundred of years, and the wonderful array of porcelain of all styles and colours.

No. 3  Roquefort 2014 on the hills looking into the mountain are caves where the

famous Roquefort cheese is made. This house was in a typical rural township by the name St Afrique, a lovely little township with weekly farmers markets and a small amount of patisseries, cafes and restaurants and a few local shops.  We drove up to the top of the mountain where the caves were that the Roquefort cheese is made, a natural occurrence where the land subsided forming these amazing caves that are able to retain the perfect temperature for the cheese to develop their mouldy structure and ripen to perfection.  We went on a tour of the Societee cheese-making caves, well and truly worth it, and very informative, we learnt a lot, it was easy to park and enter so I would highly recommend it.  We also drove to the town of Milleau where the famous expansion bridge is, we stood under it and drove over it, it was awesome.

No. 4  Montpellier 2014  was a fairly new house, but built in the typical French

house style, where we could walk to shop locally for fresh vegetables and food.  We were a close drive into the city of Montpellier which was divine, another one of our favourites. Montpellier has the oldest university in the world, something I learnt from our visits.  There is a wonderful little train you can hop into from Place de Comedie, the main square,  which travels all around the city including right up to the top where you can see the old ruins and views of the surrounding hills and towns.  It winds in and out of all the streets, including the little ones where there is barely enough room for it to manoeuvre around.

We visited the wonderful city of Toulouse and Carcassonne, the castle of Carcassonne stands high overlooking the town, and its quite a drive up to it, but very much worth the effort, as wondering around the castle’s streets and buildings is fabulous.  There is so much history and if the walls could speak they would have stories to tell.  It is wonderful and definitely on the agenda if you are in this area. Toulouse, another walled city, is full of wonderful winding streets to wander and take in the medieval architecture, and of course same the famous Toulouse sausage in a restaurant for lunch, tres bien!

No 5 Poissy 2015  Isle de Migneaux is where the town of Poissy is, just a short 20 minute train ride to Paris.  This gorgeous old house was a house to remember, built in 1860, and placed right on the shores of the Seine River, it was amazing. We swam in the pool which sat right on the river’s shore, and watch all the Scenic cruise shop sail by, with happy holiday makers waving furiously to us, thinking we lived there and were local, we loved it.   We have fond memories of this gorgeous house, and the family who lived there with whom we met a few times during our stay as they greeted us on arrival, and when we left.  To be able to exchanged houses with people in other countries is a way to see how they live and to live like a local yourself, and to make friends along the way, it is very special.

The little town of Poissy had a farmers market three days a week which was wonderful, we wandered into town, and with our limited amount of French language skills bought vegetables and fruit from the vendors, with the occasional overdose of quantities, but it didn’t matter.   We loved buying our daily baguette, jamon and saucisson, and we always thought we blended in as a locals, walking down the street with a baguette under arm.

From this house we drove to Villers Bretonneux, and saw the thousands of graves and memorials of all the soldiers who fought in WW1, so humbling.  It amused us that when we climbed to the top of the tower which overlooked the graves of the Australian ad Canadian soldiers, we met another couple from Sydney there….small world!  I guess the thing that moved me, not only the thousands of lives lost, was that so many of the graves were marked ‘the grave of the unknown solider’…unidentified men whose families never knew where their bodies were to say goodbye to them……so sad.

We saw many other wonderful towns, Amiens with its wonderful square of colourful umbrellas all hanging upside down on a metal frame, Rouen the beautiful town with the medieval style houses with timber frames and panels on the front, and Honfleur, the seaside town where a lot of the French like to take their vacations.  This was another town we visited in holiday season and the number of people there on holidays, boating and dining in restaurants was overwhelming. Despite that we loved  it .

No.6 St Germaine l’Aiguiller 2015 in the Vendee region on the west coast of France.  This house was reasonably new, but still built in the typical French style, a little like the house in Montpellier, but with views of the valley and beyond.  The local township a short walk away had just two shops, a small grocery store, and a patisserie of course!  As long as there  is a patisserie, we can all live happily every after.  The couple who owned this house lived in England, so were not there often.  The kitchen was wonderful and had a window that looked over the valley also.  No complaints from me cooking dinner there.  It was about an hour’s drive to visit the well known seaside city of La Rochelle, this gorgeous walled city with its tiny streets for us to roam and enjoy the medieval architecture, and the old port.

Here my husband had the best lunch of Moules he has ever had, you just have to have seafood when you are near the sea!  I loved this town, it had a real seaside feel about it, and being summer holiday time it was very crowded with French locals, French holiday-ites and overseas visitors from everywhere.  As we walked around I could hear languages from all over being spoken around me, the world is a wonderful place.  If it got too crowded we would duck down a side street and take photos to escape the mobs.

The wonderful city of Nantes, where there are no cars allowed in the centre of town.  Here we were able to wander for hours, we loved this city again one of our favourites.  I found a wonderful kitchenware shop called ‘Trouble Obsessionnel  Culinaire’ …oh that just you my husband said, and yes, he is right.  We were able to meet up with the son of our home exchange family from Albon three years ago, who is now living and working there, we had lunch together and chatted like old friends, it was special. He showed us around the old town, and took us up to the top of a new tower building where we could have a panoramic view of the town it was awesome.  We were not as keen on the west coast as other areas of France, although both La Rochelle and Nantes were gorgeous, it think is was more the landscape than anything, it was drier and less interesting than we found other regions to be.

No.7  Volmunster in Lorraine/Lorraine  2016   Our next exchange in France, and I never stop becoming excited to explore another region of this country we love so much.

We well and truly loved our stay in the chateau, there are 17 rooms, all with  beautiful high ceilings, tall windows and wooden floors.   It was built in 1735 by one of Napoleon’s generals, whose name is on the Arc de Triomphe.  The current family who live there have lovingly restored it to its former glory over the 13 years they have owned it.  The garden has an ancient apple tree, where I picked to my hearts content and of course made an apple tarte.

The kitchen is divine with its green and yellow tiles on the walls and on the bench tops, and the huge black shiny stove is so gorgeous and fits in perfectly. I’m in heaven in this space♥

From this town, we were able to explore the towns of  the Strasbourg, with its wonderful canals and winding streets, window boxes filled with geraniums.  Colmar which had some really ancient streets with a canal which gave the towns its name of petite Venise, it had wonderful restaurants lined all long it, we had lunch in one which was divine.  Riquewihr was a wonderful ancient walled town, the historic buildings are exceptionally well preserved, the village delighted us with it’s exquisite medieval and Renaissance houses from15th century, this town is a must to see.

We are able to travel back and forth from France and into Germany as we were 10 minutes drive from the border,  and went to Frankfurt where we thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Altstadt’ old  town, and then drove onto Heidelberg on the wonderful Rhine River, oh this town is definitely worth visiting, I adored it, especially the old town again, we walked across the bridge to the other side where all the wonderful hotels and luxurious accommodation lined the banks of the river, every so gorgeous.

We had some friends in the area an arranged to meet them in the Champagne region, they were staying in Reims, we met them there and had lunch, this was a city busy city, not one of my favourites, so we drove with them to the nearby town of Epernay, where all the champagne houses are……oh my goodness The Avenue de Champagne was exquisite. Wonderful houses like Moet & Chandon, Pol Roger, Collard Picard and many others, you must put this town on your agenda if you are in the region it’s gorgeous.

We then day tripped to Nancy, the capital and another beautiful town of the Lorraine region, and I absolutely adored this town.  It has a wonderful main square with it’s 18C buildings and was added on the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO  a statue of Stanislas Leszczynaski, the deposed king of Poland and brother-in-law of Louis XV, who gave the town it’s present splendid Roccoco aspect.

We also visited closeby pottery ville of Soufflenheim, which has been the home to pottery for centuries. The potters were granted the right to extract their clay from the Haguenau forest by the emperor of the era, and the right remains to this day.  There are some 20 workshops that create the unique Alsatian pieces, flourished with hand painted designs.

On the whole this region is has a large German influence, and in our little township everyone spoke both French and German, and perhaps for this reason was not indicative of typical little French towns.  Having said that it was wonderful being 10 minutes from the German border and being able to travel easily between both countries.

No. 8 Seuilly in the Loire Valley September 2017

We have organised a wonderful exchange in one of my absolutely favourite areas in France, the Loire Valley.

This 15th century house, pictured  was divine, a 3 hour drive  from Paris, with its exposed ceiling beams and pigeon holed bathroom windows.  The Loire Valley has the most wonderful chateaus in France, Chenonceau, Villandry, Chambord, and gorge it’s littke town of Amboise has one standing proud over the village.

the magnificent Château Chenonceau

                        Château Villandry with its beautiful gardens

Chateau Chambord

A journey to the Loire Valley is like a journey back in time as they retain much of the charm, character and authenticity that has attracted royal patronage over the centuries.  Our favourite little town in the Loire Valley is Amboise, it is so gorgeous, with it’s cobblestone streets and quaint little shops, and pretty cafes and bistros to have lunch.  It is well know for it caves (wine cellars) where you can sample some of the regions famous wines.  There is a fantastic Chateau and the end part of town which is well worth the visit.  The largest town and arguably most popular is Tours (pronounced Tour) which is were you would catch to TGV to from Paris, and truly well worth a visit, although the capital is Orleans, which I adore, and a must to visit.  It has a beautiful church and wonderful winding streets.  Some of the other smaller towns, are Chinon, Blois & Saumur, all  really pretty.

The Loire valley wine region has French wine regions situated along the Loire River.

No. 9 Saint Jacut de la Mer – Brittany September 2018

We had been wanting an exchange to Brittany for ages, and this house was 15 minutes from Dinard and 30 minutes from the beautiful town of Saint Malo, this fabulous house was right on the water, with beautiful views of the ocean where we watched in awe the receeding tides daily. It was also not far from Mont Saint Michele too.

Our exchange house in Saint Malo

The quaint little town of Saint Jacut de la Mer was delightful.  It was very small with one grocery store, a patisserie, a gift shop, a café, a bar and two gorgeous bistros, one of which was a walk around the corner for us from the house. There was a market every Friday in the town with wonderful fresh local produce which we enjoy so much.  You could walk down a step pathway to the water from the end of the garden it was great.  We went on a long scenic walk along the waterfront and some higher vantage points to see all around the township the views were divine.

The amazing Mont Saint Michel

This was a hour drive from the house and so very well worth every minute.  You have to park in the carpark, walk to the main entrance and pay to enter, where you can then either walk all the waterway to it, or catch a light rail/bus to it, which is recommended as it is quite a distance.  There is a little townshop at the bottom of the chateau with many cafes, bistros and gift shops to enjoy.  The are hundreds of stairs to walk up and up to the chateau but do it, and do it slowly and gradually as you enjoy the views from the different levels.  Once in the chateau there is so much extraordinary rooms to see.  The kitchen with the brick wood fired bread oven, beautiful copper pans lining the walls everywhere.  Each room is decorated as it would have been in the day.  There are fabulous views from the windows everywhere.  A truly magnificent place.

Saint Malo

This beautiful township is right on the sea, it has logs dug into the sand all along the shorefront to help stop erosion, which makes it a sight to see.  The walks along the waterfront are amazing, the castle to explore and then when you enter into the wall town and begin to enjoy everything Saint Malo has to offer.  The seafood here is amazing, after all that is what Brittany is famous for.

Saint Malo

Dinard is a town on the sea with a beautiful beachfront with cafes and bistros lined all along the shore.  There is a fabulous market three days a week and an undercover area where we bought the most wonderful seafood for lunch as we had some friends joining us for a two day break in their travels.  The townships is mainly on a rise up from the oceanfront with little shops and cafes dotted along the way.  We loved this town it was one of our favourites of the trip.

Dinard view from the seafront.

We travelled to the wonderful seaside town of Cancale, where from the highest point of the town you can see across the Portsmouth and UK.  There are a fabulous amount of cafes and bistros all along the seafront with the most wonderful seafood and oysters fresh from the sea.

The other towns we visited were Dinan, more inland and such a quaint little cobblestone street town.  

Rennes was a the largest town, or city is was very bush when we were there, so we opted to have a quick lunch a scoot out, we generally like the smaller towns to explore, and there were major renovations going on so it was impossible to drive around to and park.

We travelled to the west to see Vannes , north to see Caen, I recommend a visit here the town is large but remains quite quaint.

No. 10 Burgundy – Ouroux-sur-Saone near Chalon – September 2019 

We had been eager to explore the wonderful wine region of Burgundy for a long time., and I can tell you it did not disappoint. 

We watched a whole family and friends and relatives and pick grapes and carry them on their back and tip them into a big wine vat on a vineyard, it was fabulous to see in a little town by the name of Givry.

I participated in a whole day cooking class in the gorgeous ancient town of Beaune, it was beyond my wildest dreams to do this. There were people from all around the world., we mixed, and stirred and made awesome food, gorges, cheese souffles. roast beef (on the most fabulous Lacanche French stove ever!), beautiful light madeleines, and a plum tart of the season.  We all sat an enjoyed the food together with a glass or two of local French burgundy wine.

Cooking school in Beaune Dijon Edmund Fallot Mustard Factory

We also visited the fabulous city of Dijon where we did a factory tour of the famous Fallot mustard, plenty of sampling done here and taken home.

We also met up with some Aussie friends in a gorgeous little town by the name of Auxere it was so delightful.

No. 11 Saint Emillon/Bordeaux – Saint Denis de Plie – September 2022

Here we were in another famous wine region of France, Bordeaux, what a fabulous city!!! It isset on the most water stunning water scene. The “Port of the Moon” is also now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Stone Bridge, with its 17 arches, crosses the Garonne, offering pedestrians a lovely view over the docks and harbor. Take a stroll through old Bordeaux in the Triangle d’Or and stop at Place des Quinconces, France’s largest public square. The city of Bordeaux is an ideal base for exploring the greater wine region’s unforgettable sights and tastes. We just loved it!

….more to come on our explores of Saint Emillion and the ancient catacombes of the old church it was eerie!