In our Objectives 2017 setting, we jotted down on nr 3″Plan and relax two weeks somewhere in the world with the family for a SUMMER vacation”. During the year, after paying ourselves first in our investment portfolio, we set aside month after month vacation money (Layer 3 in our Financial Strategy – Saving for specific goals)
This year we decided not to travel to a coast location but instead travel to a relaxing vacation home with a swimming pool. In two weeks we could discover the whole region and drive to any interesting spot as we wanted.
Our Vacation Home
My favorite search starts at the website Home-Away.nl or Abritel.fr where I use the advanced filters to downsize the numbers of vacation locations. I use the advanced filters Internet – Free Wifi and Parking spot as we don’t want to search where to park our car each night….Then the search starts using the Google maps navigator and the evaluation of each vacation location is done based on location, living space and accomodation, price, … But most important in our final decision are the reviews of other visitors.
This year we decided to chose the Chambres d’hotes L’ecurie D’alcide in Thurageau. (only 6,5 hours drive) This vacation house has a garden (great for the kids), swimming pool, jacuzzi and gym. In addition to the facilities, this vacation location is close to many interesting places to visit. Here’s the list :
– Futuroscope, 20minutes
-Poitiers and Roman art, 25minutes
-The Loire castles, 45minutes
-Abbayes de Fontevrault, Le château de Montsoreau, Les châteaux de Chinon et Saumur, 45minutes
The region in France is called La Vienne and has Poitiers as main capital. As this vacation location is situated in the mid of France, the weather could be disappointing compared to a location in the south of France. In our opinion there’s always something to visit if you want to stay busy…or just do a relax day. We had a swimming pool, a jacuzzi and a gym..enough to have fun during a relax and rainy day.
The region has plenty of activites to offer. There are lakes, an apes and crocodile park, and a lot of cultural sites to visit.
Highlights of our Vacation
On the 21st of July we headed to our vacation location but as a surprise for the kids, we did not go immediately to our vacation home. After 2 hours, we stopped just above Paris at the amusement park Parc Astérix. In the evening I had a one night reservation in a hotel close to the park.
Parc Astérix
Parc Astérix is a theme amusement park in France, based on the stories of Asterix (by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny) and is situated approximately 35 km north of Paris,in the city of Plailly. The park, opened in 1989, is operated by Compagnie des Alpes. It is especially well known in France for its large variety of roller coasters. The park has different themes from historic cultures such as the Gauls, the Romans, the ancient Greeks and recently the Egyptians.
We arrived at opening hours at the park and spend all day at the park. There are several shows such as a dolphin show and a magician show. During the day you can also grab a photoshoot with two characters of the album Asterix and Obelix. Besides the rollercoasters (the Zeus one was lot of fun !), we did an Egyptian cruise, a water splash and many other fun activities. We didn’t manage to visit the whole park during the day…satisfied after so much fun, we had a nice rest in our hotel.
Visit to the city of Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river. It is the capital of the Vienne department and also of the Poitou region. Poitiers is a major university centre. The centre of town is picturesque and its streets include predominantly historical architecture, especially religious architecture and especially from the Romanesque period. Two major military battles took place near the city: in 732, the Battle of Poitiers (also known as the Battle of Tours), in which the Franks commanded by Charles Martel halted the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate, and in 1356, the Battle of Poitiers, a key victory for the English forces during the Hundred Years’ War.
Historic churches, in particular Romanesque church buildings, are the main attraction inside Poitiers itself. There are numerous shops, cafes and restaurants in the town centre.
We visited all the churches, the museum Sainte Croix and had a delicious typical Breton lunch with pancakes. There are also nice parks in Poitiers which are worth a visit.
In the evening we visited a Game Park where we did a laser shooting game. This was a lot of fun ! Two teams had a severe battle in the dark…
Grand Parc Puy du Fou
One of the biggest highlights of our vacation was definitely our visit to the grand parc Puy du Fou. If you follow our blog, you might have read the separate blog post about those two days. Here is the link for those people who missed it
I can only say…visit this park and those evening shows at least once in your life!
Futuroscope
Futuroscope is a French theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques. It has several 3D cinemas and a few 4D cinemas along with other attractions and shows, some of which are the only examples in the world. The park had 1.83 million visitors in 2015. In total, more than 50 million visitors have been to the park since it opened in 1987.
This is not the typical amusement park as we, Belgians are familiar with. This park has only buildings with cinema experiences with special effects. You are always seated in a different chair, car, flying insect, air balloon,…The experience is in each building different and the stories are very diverse. You can find there an Ice Age experience, but also Ubi and Arthur fun ride…
There is also a lot of high tech. You can visit a drone show of the Drone academy. You can dance with the robots and experience virtual reality. We tested our dance qualities and moves as a family on the beats of “Who let the dogs out !” – daddy lost of course…:-))
We ended the day with a great buffet dinner at the Arthur restaurant -(fix price – buffet dinner). Finally we attended the evening show with cinema projections, laser effects and fireworks.
We can definitely recommend you a visit to this high tech park. For us the three highlights of the park are the extraordinairy travel experience, Arthur’s insect ride and Ubi’s travel through time on a toilet….
Tour of the Loire castles
On the 4th of August, we planned out a visit to several castles of the Loire during the day. There are more than 71 castles in the Loire region. Some were too far for us, others did not appeal to us for a visit. Here are the castles that we did visit….
- Le Château de Montsoreau : A great view on the Loire and well preserved old castle
2. Château d’Ussé : Beautiful castle. There is also exposition of possessions of families who owned the castle throughout the different ages. There’s a beautiful garden. We also had delicious warm lunch (no fast food crap) in a hotel restaurant walking distance from the castle.
3. Château de Langeais : The Château de Langeais is a medieval castle, rebuilt as a château, in Indre-et-Loire, built on a promontory created by the small valley of the Roumer River at the opening to the Loire Valley. Great exposition of family life during medieval time.
4. Château du Rivau : Fairytale castle & medieval stables with sculpture-filled gardens, kids’ exhibits & a restaurant. Here the garden is fantastic for kids and adults. In the castle there is an art exposition.
Walking in the nature
Several days we did a nature walk as we were surrounded by sunflower fields..a perfect way to relax and enjoy the sounds and wonders of the nature.
Final Reflection
During our summer vacation, we were able to relax and switch our mind off from work. That is the main goal of a vacation, right? We did not read any email on our phone. I can’t understand people who still read their emails from their company during vacations…how can you relax your mind? Well, we enjoyed quality time with the family and combined cultural and fun activities with relaxing days at the vacation home.
During relaxing days, we did swim, played tennis and pingpong, exercized in the gym and relaxed in the jacuzzi. And most importantly we did read in our books and did feed our mind with new knowledge… Here is the list of books we are reading…
My Vacation Books : feeding my mind…
We hoped you enjoyed your vacation too and gave you some inspiration for your next year’s vacation. Let us know where we should go next year…give us your ideas where we should travel ! Thanks in advance !
As always we end with a quote…
One Response Comment
What an amazing place. Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing.