La Roche-Chalais via Barzan (12/9)

The amphitheatre at Saintes is one of the
oldest and largest in France

Now that we had access to wi-fi for the Mac Air, Allan was able to do a little more investigating about the frozen iPad and was able to unlock it which was great. It meant that we didn't have to dash into Bordeaux to get it going again.  After breakfast, we checked out, and decided to go down to Tourist Information again for a map of the area seeing as we now no longer had Bordeaux in mind as our destination. There we saw a picture of the amphitheatre and we had definitely not found it last night. In fact the map showed we were nowhere near it. We had barely walked half way, but it looked like it was worth seeing. With both of these in mind we went off to see the amphitheatre. It was most impressive. It is thought to be one of the earliest to be built in Gaul and is also one of the largest. Unlike the freestanding ampitheatre in Rome, the builders took advantage of the topography of the site when constructing it. It is carved out of the head of a valley so the builders only had to build walls on about half the circumference. 

The huge entrance to the arena

Another advantage that the builders had with the site was that they were able to drain water away from the floor of the arena via the creek that would have flowed down into the valley. It is 126m long, and 102m wide, and had at least two tiers of seating, perhaps a third. The tunnels forming the two entrances into the arena itself were at least 10m high. Performers went in one entrance, and if they were unlucky, they were carried out the other. Although it was used as a quarry for building material through the ages, there is still much that remains. The amphitheatre has been used for recent events, with modern seating constructed around the lower tiers.

The wooden ceiling of the church of the
Abbaye aux Dames aids the acoustics
for the choral concerts it is famous for.

We retraced our steps into town, because we found out that we could visit two sites for a small additional fee. The second site was the Abbaye aux Dames, the dome of which we had seen several times but not investigated. It was founded in 1047 and was the first Benedictine abbey for women, particular from the noble classes. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a generous benefactor. It went through the many upheavals which religious houses were wont to do. Men weren't the only ones to jockey for power. It's final demise came with the Revolution. As usual, all traces of coats of arms or figures associated with the nobility were chiseled away, although the original religious figures in the highly decorated portal fortunately escaped this fate. Bonaparte housed his army here, then turned it into a prison as he often did. The buildings were restored in the 1930's, and declared a national monument in 1937. It is now the centre for very successful musical festivals. Because of its recent past, the church is devoid of decoration, and only has a couple of new stained glass windows. The audio tour took us through the church, up the bell tower, (which has a roof like a pinecone) for a view of Saintes, and then through the dormitory wing where the nuns had individual cells rather than a shared sleeping area. This style developed because it was thought that this provided a better ambience for the private prayers and contemplations which were a considerable part of the nuns' daily rituals. These rooms now provide visiting musicians who stay there with a similar atmosphere. The cloisters and other buildings were demolished by the army to make way for a parade ground, however the footings of these were discovered during archeological excavations in the 20th century, but were re-buried so little can be seen now.

Site of the Roman baths at Barzan

After spending over an hour at the abbey, we headed westwards towards Royan on the coast. The countryside began to flatten out and became broadacre farming land with few trees then mud flats typical of an estuary. The archeological site of Le Fa is just outside the town of Barzan. The site has been under human occupation since the Neolithic times, and it seems to have been an important trading port before the Romans arrived. It is on the mouth of the Gironde River making it a strategic site for a port. Tin was an important commodity which was traded from Britain during the Bronze Age, so the Romans probably built on this already established trade route after conquering the local celtic tribes in 58 BC. A substantial building period is thought to have initiated by Flavius starting in 69 AC. Although the site was known in the 1830's, it was really aerial surveys which have revealed the extent of the town. A windmill had been built on the substantial foundations of a temple, and the complete footprint of the baths and gymnasium has been excavated. A forum, a theatre, and a considerable number of warehouses have been located, but there is still much to be done.

It was now mid-afternoon, so we had to decide where we were going to spend the next three days. It was decided to head inland again for the Dordogne region. Jill had browsed a little the night before about a small town called La Roche-Calais which seemed to be at a cross-road to a number of potentially interesting areas, and still had the hotel list up on the ipad, so we took the plunge and phoned one of them. The lady seemed a little reluctant until we said we wanted to stay for three nights, and she booked us in. We had our fingers crossed, but were delighted with our accommodation when we arrived. It is in a large house with a very pleasant outdoor area and swimming pool. Our room was at the back, overlooking the garden. There is the most eclectic collection of objects and furniture, books and magazines at our disposal, and our hostess was really pleasant and helpful. She booked us in for dinner at the one restaurant in town, and rang her hairdresser to see if she had a booking for tomorrow. We moved in to our room very happy with our stab in the dark. The hotel is called Les Tuileries de Chanteloup. The restaurant was only 20m away so that was easy. We spent some time out in the garden before it was time to head off for what turned out to be a very pleasant meal.