deep water, I'm caught up in it's flow (Listrac)

ah, Richard Clapton, we played the album on the iPad as we drove down the motorway from Sainte. The air con was on warm as we tried to dry out on the way to Listrac. Yes, we were caught in yet another rain storm. The weather here!

Anyway, we left La Rochelle this morning with a 3 hour + drive in front of us and thought we'd look at some points of interest on the way. It would lengthen the drive, but also break it up. Jayne did her research and found two excellent places to visit: Sainte and Cognac. OK, no prizes for the guessing what the attraction is at Cognac. Sainte, on the other hand, had a Cathedral (no, seriously) with some history, an Abbey, an arch and an amphitheatre.

Spire, with grey clouds.

St Eutrope
OK, maybe the skyline is a give away, but the weather was a bit dodgy. Anyway, after driving through the usual difficult conditions we arrived at Sainte and discussed where we would park. There was a street that lead up toward the church, but it was narrow and had cars parked on both sides and we couldn't tell if it was one way or not.

I opted to avoid yet another narrow street and we parked on the main road, grabbed our gear and walked up to the church. It has major significance because Louis XVI was cured of dropsy here. Afterwards he decided to thank them by destroying the original Romanesque structure and adding a series of Gothic 'thank you' structures.

Crypt - in light.

We went underneath the church into the crypt. Not sure who was buried here, but we can attest to how scarey it is when the lights go out. Deep underneath the church we heard the clap of thunder and the lights went out. The one arch-way of light showed the way to the door. I looked towards Jayne, the hero that I am, and said, "if that door starts to close, you're on your own".  In retrospect, I should have gone for the car then. Shoulda, but didn't.

So, we headed off for the amphitheatre, in light drizzle. And it began to get heavier. By the time we got to the amphitheatre it was annoying, but hey, it's European rain, it's not like it's a thunderstorm back home.

The amphitheatre is awesome and I have no photos because the rain continued and got heavier. We paid for access to a site, which in reality was a minor version of a colosseum. But the rain continued and it all flowed into the base of the amphitheatre and began to fill up. At that point, I gave up.

The lovely attendant, who felt sorry for us, talked us through the model back in the foyer. This site is amazing. It doesn't rate in Lonely Planet, I think they have gone yuppy market since I bought my first copy. We are planning on heading back once we get settled at Listrac - we are here for a week.

Listrac
Our little piece of Bordeaux. We were dry when we arrived, but it's been one of those days. We skipped Cognac and headed straight for our accommodation after the Sainte drenching. We were met by Andy, who produced a bottle of wine, a bagette and had dinner already in the fridge. This place is delightful, all we need is some stable weather - that's the weather without the rain.

A twilight dinner on the patio

Tomorrow, we are heading for a market to do our shop for the week - just like the locals.

Au revoir.