Exploring the Sables d’Olonne: Vacationing on France’s Atlantic Coast with
Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent, baby Florence, and I loved going to visit Laurent’s grandmother, who lived in the Atlantic Resort town of Les Sables d’Olonne that had a Casino, a huge cement walkway along the beach called the Ramblai, and a spa (‘thassolotherapy’ featuring hot salt water baths).
When
we arrived, the four of us went to a restaurant called the Calypso. Laurent and I started our meals with a dozen
raw oysters each “to cleanse the glands.”
We
then ate roast cod and salmon wrapped up in a slice of Vendéean ham. We drank a house with the fish that Laurent’s
grandmother called “pissote” – a local wine that does not travel well.
We
had a sampler plate of desserts. My
favorite was “egg in snow.” These fluffy
beaten egg whites were topped off with caramel threads. Laurent ate a fruit salad floating in a
cognac glass full of banana liqueur. I
felt like I could make that dessert at home.
Of
course, we took a big walk along the Ramblai and inhaled deep breaths of salty,
ocean and admired the fine, white sand and kids playing in their go-carts on
the beach.
That
evening Laurent and I went to the “spectacle” at the Puy du Fou Château.
The
profits from the “spectacle” go to pay for things such as:
-research
on popular traditions from the Vendée
-an
equestrian school (a Middle Ages tournament is held as part of the ‘spectacle’)
-a
newspaper
-a
literary prize called “Terre de France” for a book about a French region
-a
radio station
-a
150-seat bus for shows about the Vendée
There
are 12,500 seats in the bleachers. The
Spectacle dealt with the War of the Vendée.
The
Vendée was monarchist and religious during the French Revolution. The Revolutionary government in Paris sent
dragoon troops to walk through the countryside and kill men, women, and
children for not obeying their agenda 100%.
This
repression (some would say massacre) may be one of the reasons why Western
France has more practicing Catholics than in other parts of France.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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