Wee Laddie

We have 2 vacations remaining this year. We did Rome for a week in February
and had a great time. As you can imagine, we were on the go all of the time
to make sure we saw everything in 6 days, including a train trip to Naples
for Pompeii. We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
July and a week in October available.

Many thanks.

Wee laddie

Marie Lewis

In article , Wee laddie
writes
    >We have 2 vacations remaining this year. We did Rome for a week in February
    >and had a great time. As you can imagine, we were on the go all of the time
    >to make sure we saw everything in 6 days, including a train trip to Naples
    >for Pompeii. We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
    >keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
    >town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
    >July and a week in October available.
    >Many thanks.
    >Wee laddie
Try Gascony. It is wonderful. D'Artagnan country.

As for a village, you could try Bassoues, which is small but has a great
restaurant, Fources, Plaisance (which had a Michelin starred
restaurant, but I don't know if it still has, or, for a bigger town,
Condom (in spite of its name, it is picturesque and the countryside is
wonderful), Mirande or Vic Fezensac for the bullfighting :-)

Wherever you go, do not miss visiting Lavardens, a totally unspoiled
little village. Do visit the Chateau.

But Gascony as a whole is enchanting and sort of out of time.

Great weather usually, too.
--
Marie Lewis

Hotmail

OK, it's touristy but I loved Calais. The people were wonderful, there's
lots of history to explore, the weather was nice (September) and the food
was tasty. When we wanted to "do something else" we caught the hovercraft to
Dover and spent the days putzing around eating chips, drinking Guiness, and
being lectured by a barkeep at the Sir John Falstaff about why you must keep
Guiness belowground at 47 degrees. After enough Guiness I believed him.
    
Judy



"Wee laddie" wrote in message
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We have 2 vacations remaining this year. We did Rome for a week in February
and had a great time. As you can imagine, we were on the go all of the time
to make sure we saw everything in 6 days, including a train trip to Naples
for Pompeii. We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
July and a week in October available.

Many thanks.

Wee laddie

Ellie Clemens

Wee laddie wrote:

    >We have 2 vacations remaining this year. We did Rome for a week in February
    >and had a great time. As you can imagine, we were on the go all of the time
    >to make sure we saw everything in 6 days, including a train trip to Naples
    >for Pompeii. We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
    >keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
    >town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
    >July and a week in October available.
    >Many thanks.
    >Wee laddie
    >

We spend a lot of time in the Aude, in Languedoc-Roussillon and it's
very non-touristy. We bought a house there a few years ago and love the
location. Since this area is in the foothills of the Pyrenees, the
landscape varies greatly, depending on which direction you take. The
beaches along that end of the Mediterranean coast are lovely, sandy, and
almost empty. To the west, there's the Quercorb, the most sparsely
populated area in France. It's beautiful, with rolling farmland looking
like something right out of a fairy tale book. To the south, going into
the mountains, there are breathtaking gorges. And, of course, there are
vineyards everywhere.

Ariege

We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
    > keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
    > town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
    > July and a week in October available.

For October I would suggest the department of Ariège in the central
Pyrenees. (Someone else suggested Aude--Ariège is right next door.)
The weather in October is wonderful: warm, dry and sunny. We make sure
never to go away in October, the weather's too fine. And few tourists.
I could list all the positive qualities of my adopted home here, but
instead I'll send you to http://www.ariege.com for all the info you
need in English and French.

Oh, July is nice too, but we have enough tourists during that month
and accommodations are pretty much booked up by now.

mpprh

Hi

I'd suggest Languedoc.
Better weather, choice of beach or mountains, lots of history.
And close enough to take trips into Spain, Andorra, Provence etc

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com

Me

"Wee laddie" wrote in message news:...
    > We have 2 vacations remaining this year. We did Rome for a week in February
    > and had a great time. As you can imagine, we were on the go all of the time
    > to make sure we saw everything in 6 days, including a train trip to Naples
    > for Pompeii. We are really in the mood to just chill out for a week and I
    > keep getting the feeling that it would be fun to stay in a small non-tourist
    > town or village in France. Any suggestions out there? We have a week in
    > July and a week in October available.


You could pick about any small town along the French Med coastline.
They train that runs along there would give you access to a whole
host of options. Or you could chill on the beach. In July that might
just be too hot though. So go north, way north. Any of the Normandy
or Calais kinda places would probably do just as well. You could
even cram in a trip to Paris or London too.

Although I gotta say, I could "chill" for a good long time in
Paris and just stroll the town, eat the food, even shop a bit
for my own groceries to make lunch or dinner. I find Paris to be
one of the more "relaxing" of the large towns in Europe.