Advertisement
Published: September 7th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Saturday 1/09/12 Le Croisic
We said good bye to Ricarda and Jean-Luc and set the GPS for Croisic on the Atlantic coast.
We knew nothing about Le Croisic but on the map it looked like it was a small village on the tip of a peninsula and with some internet magic we had booked a room for three nights at Hotel l'Ocean. It was a bit more expensive than we would normally look at but as we had lived cheaply in Crouzilles and were about to spend a week for free next week we thought we could afford it.
On arrival we were not disappointed. The hotel was literally on the rocky coast and we got a room on the second floor with a large terrace with a 180 degrees ocean view. Of course we had to have a bottle of Champagne to properly appreciate a setting like that.
We booked a table in the Gourmet Restaurant in the hotel for the evening but when we got down there they apologised profusely but there was no tables available. We got a table in the bistro instead and even though the food there was very nice it was
a bit disappointing as we had dressed up for the nicer restaurant.
Sunday 2/09/12 Le Croisic
The breakfast in the hotel was tasty but a bit sweet for our taste; a lot of very nice pastries but hardly anything a bit more savoury, but as we had decided on a long walk around the peninsula we stocked up on carbs and sugar.
It was a 7 km walk to get around from the southern side to the northern where the main town centre and fishing harbour is located. It is a very pretty little town with a fantastic promenade along the harbourside and plenty of restaurants to choose from. There was quite a lot of tourists but not in any way crowded.
On the way in to town we noticed that the tide was out and there was lots of people out on the exposed rocks and mud flats picking oysters, mussels and clams. All the boats were sitting on the muddy bottom 4 metres below the quay and the oyster farms were totally exposed on dry land.
There was so much to see so it took us several hours to get into
town and soon it was time for lunch. When in Bretagne one must eat Galettes. They are crepes made from rye flour and not at all sweet as dessert crepes. I had one with a sardine rilette and Lyn had one with scallops in a leek sauce. Both very nice.
We walked back to the hotel (the short, 1 km, way) and relaxed on the terrace for a few hours and then we walked back for dinner. It's great to be able to leave the car and walk to wherever we want to go!
We booked a table at Le Lenigo, one of the restaurants Lyn had checked on trip advisor, and sat down at another bar for a pre-pre-dinner drink while marvelling at the difference 6 hours can do. The tide was now in and the boats that earlier sat on the bottom was now floating next to the quay as ships normally do. There were no mud flats and the oyster farm was now hidden under water.
Back at Le Lenigo Lyn was introduced to Dubonnet as an aperitif. I have always thought that Dubonnet is super sophisticated and Lyn liked it too so we
might just buy a bottle of that some day.
The food was brilliant! I had 6 super fresh oysters which were served with a raspberry vinegar that I didn't like much but with just some lemon juice they were perfect..Lyn had a very delicious fish soup.
For main course I had a fried John Dory (St Pierre in French) in a vanilla and ginger sauce and that was quite possibly the best fish dish I have ever had. The fish was so fresh it just melted in my mouth. It was truly awesome!
Lyn had a classic fried Halibut (Turbot) in a beurre blanc. It was also very good but unfortunately it was not very well cleaned so there was lots of bones in it.
We had a beautiful Muscadet to go with that.
For some reason we then decided to walk the long way back home again. That meant another 7km and this time it felt like much longer. By the time we got to the hotel we had had plenty of time to regret the decision to walk in the dark and cold but at least we had got well and truly 10
000 steps if not twice that.
Monday 3/09/12
We started with a "French breakfast" in town, i.e half a baguette, butter and jam and a cup of coffee. Not exactly a lot better than at the hotel but it was at least a bit smaller.
At a small supermarket we got some almonds to settle Lyn's "overwined" stomach and then we just wandered around in town a bit. We bought three big tins of lobster soup to have when we don't feel like restaurant food and for lunch at La Criee I had a seafood salad and Lyn had some Mussels in pesto - and a bottle of mineral water...
We spent much of the afternoon on our terrace, just relaxing and we went for a very short walk and paddle on the beach just outside the hotel.
By dinner time the choice was a bit limited as many of the eateries in town were closed. I did get a pretty good Sole Meuniere though. Not as good as in Oostende but totally OK.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.186s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.1143s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.3mb