Unique to France are the Village d'etape ( I can't add the proper accents on this laptop). These are small villages, with at the minimum a hotel, bakery, cafe/bar/tabac, post office and restaurant that met a subjective 'prettiness' standard and are within 5 km of the motorway. We watched a whole TV show on French TV about how a village gets this designation which attracts motorists, including us. Today on our way to Calais we stopped at one of these certified 'village d'etape' and it really was quite perfect. Even on a Sunday, the bakery was open, as was the bar and I could buy stamps there for my post cards. I'd recommend stopping at one of these villages if you are traveling through France. They are marked on maps and you can check their
website for planning purposes.
 |
| Finishing my post cards at the Village d'Etape Vatar |
 |
| I started standing in line long before Christopher got to the pump, and waited long after he was done filling up... |
 |
| Lunch at the 'aire' |
 |
| Tail-back at the motorway toll booth |
The other cool thing about French motorways are their "aire", which may include only pic-nick benches and grass, or could have a full blown camp ground, gas station, restaurant gift shop. The signs will tell you what sort of 'aire' is coming up, and where the next one with services is (how many km). Since we were within shooting distance of Paris, all the 'aire' were crazy busy - leaving us to pic nic on the dog's blanket. Not a bad choice all in all, having been siting in that horribly uncomfortable car for way too long. For some reason the French motorway gas stations don't seem to have embraced 'pay at the pump' or the Sicilian version 'pay the man at the pump'. Which results in huge waits to pay for your fuel long after you've filled up.
No comments:
Post a Comment