Today we caught a midday train to a town called Tours - we aren't going on a tour (Hayley 😂). So a slow morning - sleep in, packing and coffee at the market on the way to the station.
We passed a Gustave Eiffel High School and discovered that he didn't design, but his first ever project was to oversee the building of a bridge in Bordeaux nicknamed 'le Passarelle Eiffel' (the Gateway Eiffel). It was built and used for many years as a railway bridge over the Gasconne, but was slated for demolition until UNESCO threatened to pull Bordeaux' World Heritage status if it was demolished, so it stayed as a pedestrian bridge until it was deemed too unsafe. We also crossed an Eiffel bridge when we were in Hanoi.
The trip on the train took a bit over 90 mins, and we got to face forward the whole way this time. Ade found a Leffe Bar at the Tours railway station and had to call in for a beer for Jesse, as he is having his bucks night tonight (well that's the excuse Ade gave anyway 😂)!
We walked to our very cute accommodation with a view of the cathedral - except Ade had to carry the heavy bag 3 floors up to the loft!
We have a light brunch at about 3, including the daily pastry - a shared small fraise tart.
At about 5 we headed out for a walk, a drink and to find a tea spot. Tours is on the Loire river, so we walked across a footbridge, along the river and back across another bridge. I found some cyclamen growing that I think were natives.
We found a Delerium beer bar and I had a cactus beer that I'd had a few years ago in Brussels. It's slightly green, but it doesn't look like it compared to my shirt 😂. It tastes a bit like lime flavored beer - it's relatively sweet.
We then went for tea at 7 to a restaurant called Le Trypteque. They specialise in local food and wine. Here's Ade pouring raclette cheese over his food, we had to melt it ourselves and then pour it over the cooked potatoes and meats. We got to try several local specialties including some:
- Rillons de Touraine (pieces of pork belly that are seasoned and cooked before they are stewed in pork fat for about two hours)
- Rillettes de Tours (pork cooked in pork fat for between 6-12 hrs and flavoured with wine)
- Sainte-Maure de Touraine - a goat's cheese rolled in wood ash. It has a straw through its centre, marked by the AOC seal and a number indicating the producer)
Ade tried a tasting flight of 3 Loire reds and I tried 3 Loire whites, including a Cour-Cheverny made from a rare grape variety: the Romorantin - which is exclusively grown in a small area close by! A very pleasant evening! Oh, and we had a salad too!
We walked back home and had managed to avoid most of the rain, which occured either whilst we were in Delerium or having tea. There is more forcast over the next few days too.
This featured blog entry was written by Ade and Tam from the blog Tam and Ade's Adventures.
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