53305SWE
Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Fortevraud Abbey, Gouffre de Padirac, Lascaux, Limoges, St Jean de Luz, Lourdes, Oradour, Pau, Poitiers, Rocammadour, Sarlat
Routes
Opening days/times, entrance fees, etc. listed on Yellow Pages.
This includes:
Bordeaux Lourdes
Carcassonne Oradour
Fontevraud Abbey Pau
Gouffre de Padirac Poitiers
Lascaux Rocamadour
Limoges Sarlat
St Jean de Luz
Plus coach drop offs
Bordeaux
If you have arrived by train load the bus and start your tour by driving down the Cours de la Marne to the Place de la Victoire. If you arrive from Biarritz, follow the signs to the Gare SNCF and Centre Ville and make your way to the Place de la Victoire.
Ask the driver to take you along Cours Aristide Briand, Cours d’Albret, Place Gambetta, Cours de l’Intendance, Place de la Comédie, Cours 30 Juillet and Esplanade des Quinconces, where you start your Walking Tour (see map below). Fetch good maps of whole region and city from the Tourist office to give the group. Tell the driver to pick you up at the Cathedral one hour later depending on your schedule. If you are taking the TGV do not leave the Cathedral later than one and a half hours before the departure of your train.
The Walking Tour should include the Esplanade des Quinconces, Fontaine Gironde, the Grand Theatre, rue Sainte Catherine, Place du Parlement, La Bourse, The Water Mirror, the Quai of the Garonne, Eglise St Pierre, Place St Projet and the Cathedral. If you have some spare time it is worth doing a detour via the Porte Cailhau and the Grosse Cloche and giving them some free time in the rue Sainte Catherine, the busy pedestrian street of Bordeaux.
Remember that Bordeaux is a big city and be sure that nobody gets lost, especially if you have a train to catch!
Bordeaux Bus Drop Off at Esplanade des Quinconces:
Carcassonne
Set down on the bus drop off (see map) and make a rendezvous with your driver for departure. There are relatively good public toilets on your left as you walk towards the entrance – Porte Narbonnaise.
Carcassonne Bus Drop Off:
Lead the group through the double curtain wall. You don’t have to guide, but it’s a good idea to lead straight along the central street (full of souvenir shops selling weapons from all periods) until you see the Château Comtal ahead to your right. Point it out to the group.
Take the street to your left and lead the group into Place Marcou (great place for lunch – lots of cafés/restaurants selling local dishes).
From the Place Marcou take the street to your right (following the inner wall). Keep walking for a few minutes. Eventually you come to the Basilique St. Nazaire (there are more public toilets on your right).
Give free time to explore. Suggest the remparts for amazing views.
If time allows they can visit the Chateau as individuals – 13€ or free Under 18.
It is possible to reserve a school group visit in advance (35 max + 2 adults) for 40€. Call 04 68 11 70 70. This also gives access to the South and West facing Remparts. Allow 45 mins – 1 hour.
There is an ATM machine on your left, just before you turn into the Place Marcou from the main street.
Fontevraud Abbey
If driving between the Loire and the South West, it is possible to do a short detour via Fontevraud Abbey, 15km south east of Saumur (picture stop). Add 30mins to your journey time.
If the group is interested there may be time to do a short visit to the Abbey, burial ground of the Plantagenet kings including Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine and their son Richard the Lionheart. Cost of entrance: €13/€7.50.
Alternatively, point the group in the direction of the Abbey and they will see the amazing construction and plenty of shops along the way.
Gouffre de Padirac
Tell the group to have sweaters with them, the temperature in the caves is a constant 12° C (low 50s° F). A light rain jacket is also useful as it is damp and ‘drippy’
There are lots of stairs, with elevators covering some, but not all, of the distance.
Arrive and set down in the bus park. Walk group up to the entrance (past a little hut on your left, go to the left of the main building and the door will be on your right) and pay for tickets.
The visit starts with a descent by lift and you are led very clearly through the rest of the visit by headsets which react to where you are standing. There is a boat ride on the underground lake (most guides give commentary in French, some in English – ask for the leaflets in English as you board the boats) and the last part of the visit takes you on foot through two further caves.
You see amazing underground lakes and rock formations and this will be a highlight of your trip.
Gouffre de Padirac Bus Parking:
Lascaux
YOU MUST ARRIVE AT TICKET OFFICE 30 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR RESERVATION TIME – EVEN A FEW MINUTES DELAY MAY LEAD THEM TO REFUSE YOU ENTRY. This will give your group time to visit the toilets which are to the right of the entrance once inside. 1 1/2 hours is needed to visit the cave, toilets and the gift shop. The whole complex is set in the woods, and is pretty small. Warn group that it is cool and damp in the cave, and that they should bring a jacket. They are sometimes sceptical about visiting a replica of the original cave, but the visit is excellent. Prepare them for the wonders of the discovery!
Once bus has set you down, there is a short walk to the ticket office within the modern Visitor Centre (you should have a voucher from ACIS with the time of your reservation and to pay for entrances) Be sure to amend your voucher to reflect the exact numbers in your group. Group will be called for a guided tour inside the cave. Tell them that they will exit into the bookstore area!
Lascaux Bus Parking:
Limoges
This is primarily a lunch stop. There may be time for those interested to visit and perhaps buy pottery from one of the factory outlets. You will find plenty of cafes, boulangeries etc along Rue Jean Jaures.
The bus can drop you off and park in front of the tourist office (Blvd de Fleurus, tel: 05 55 34 46 87)
Limoges Bus Drop Off:
Musée National de Porcelaine – Adrien Dubouche: Place Winston-Churchill (05 55 33 08 50). 10 am to 12.30pm, 2pm to 5.45pm, every day but Tuesday. Adults €7, free for under 26s.
Bernardaud (factory): 27, Av. Albert Thomas (05 55 10 21 86). Call to confirm times and costs of guided visits. Parking for buses.
Lourdes
Follow signs to Lourdes centre and take the rue de la Grotte, cross the Pont Vieux then take the Ave Soubirous. You can drop off at the end of the street, where it joins the Bld de la Grotte.
Lourdes Bus Drop Off:
Make a rendezvous for departure and walk the group first to the Basilique du Rosaire (the crypt is reserved for private prayer). Then go to the Basilique Superieure and from there take them to the Grotto (see map).
On the way back you can visit the Basilique Souterraine St Pie X, built in 1958 to mark the centenary of the visions.
If your group wants to explore Lourdes the other main attractions are:
The Cachot where Bernadette’s family were living in penury at the time of her visions.
The Chateau Fort with the Pyrennean museum.
For deeply religious groups you might suggest making a detour via Barthes, a village 3 km from Lourdes off the D940 to Pau. Here you can visit the house of Bernadette’s foster parents (they pay). Just before the village there is a track, marked with a small shrine, leading to the sheepfold where Bernadette looked after the sheep.
Oradour sur Glane
Oradour is a historic village left as a memorial by de Gaulle to the 642 French men, women, and children alike, massacred on the 10th June 1944 in this village. See TM notes. Your group can walk around the deserted village. All the women and children were gathered and locked in the church to which was eventually set fire. The men were gathered separately before and were either executed by bullets, or for many, burnt alive, and shot in the legs in the meantime so they could not escape, dying in the most atrocious pain.
Take N 141 westwards of Limoges. Then D9 to Oradour-sur-Glane. Allow 1 hour for the visit and add 30 mins to driving times.
Nowadays it is a ghost town. Ruins of what made everyday life 80 years ago remain. It can be quite a shock.
There is a large free car/bus park up above. You then walk the group down to the main entrance/reception where there is also a book/souvenir shop.
Entrance to village is free. There is a small fee to visit the museum (student rates available) but you may only have time to visit the village. Toilets are located on the left before going through to the village.
Please ensure that the group respect the quietness of this place (as they would at St. Laurent). There is no particular route to take in the village, however it is worth offering to lead/point out the underground memorial near the cemetery (the room is small so don’t try and get a group of 30 in there in one go) and the church at the bottom of the street (see map). Here, you will find all the names of those burnt. They are listed in families and give their ages. There is also a substantial collection of many items recovered.
If you decide to do the visit, you could reduce time in Poitiers and eat in the new village of Oradour (next to the destroyed memorial village). It has restaurants and cafes.
Oradour Bus Parking:
Pau
Consider stopping on the motorway before arrival for toilets – there are no group toilets in the city.
From the Motorway exit follow signs to the Chateau. This will take you down the Ave de la Resistance to the Place de Verdun. Follow signs to “Chateau and SNCF” down rue Corisandre and ask the driver to drop you on the Place Gramont. He can turn left and go back to the Place de Verdun to wait. Your tour should take about one hour.
Pau Bus Drop Off at Place Gramont:
After the walking tour give them some free time for shopping and lunch.
There are only a couple of pay toilet booths on the Bvd des Pyrenees, which would take too long for a whole group to use! There are McDonalds etc in the town centre.
Poitiers
You can be dropped off near to the tourist office and the bus can be parked on the Voie Andre Malraux. There are a multitude of cafes, restaurants around the Église Notre-Dame, place Charles de Gaulle.
Poitiers Bus Drop Off:
Change money: Banque de France, Rue H Oudin
Rocamadour
To get to Rocamadour you have to take some rather winding roads. If anyone in your group suffers from travels sickness do be sure to let them know so that they take any medicine necessary or bring a sick-bag!
Your bus can pick up and set down by the lifts in l’Hospitalet where there are toilets.
Ask your driver to drop you by the lifts in l’Hospitalet From there you can walk your group across the carpark and down the path to the left of the ramparts which leads to the Chemin des Croix. There are two paths which start near the ramparts, one of which bypasses the first few switchbacks.
At the end of the Chemin des Croix you walk through a large archway, which brings you out into the courtyard of the 7 chapels. Give explanation (see TM notes) and a few minutes for the group to go inside (Chapel of Notre Dame with the black virgin is the most interesting and is next to the tomb of St Amadour).
There is a religious souvenir shop in this courtyard.
Walk your group down the Grand Escalier (where the pilgrims would have approached the chapels) to rue de la Couronnerie and give free time for lunch/snacks/shopping.
Should you have anyone who has problems walking there is a lift, in two parts (see map). However, be wary of closing times.
Meet your group at the bottom of the elevator.
Either walk back to the bus or take the elevator. Some teachers may remember a bus park at the bottom. This is no longer the case.
Rocamadour Bus Park at Hospitalet/top of Lifts:
Sarlat
Sarlat was definitely not built for buses, so you will need to be dropped off on the outside of the old town. One possibility would be Place Petite Rigaudie. Make an r-v with your driver. Then walk your group through to Place de la Liberté. There are public loos next to the tourist office (get group maps) in the Place de la Liberté – See map.
The highest concentration of Renaissance and 17th century facades of anywhere in France, its prosperity due to its privileges granted during its loyalty to the French Crown during the 100 Years’ war. Behind the nondescript rue de la Republique are narrow lanes archways and ancient ochre coloured stone buildings, luxury shops and cafes
Every Saturday the Sarlat market takes place in the Place Liberté and once a month a full- scale fair attracts locals from all around. Local specialities are Foie Gras, walnuts and black truffles dug up in the woods in January. Also wild mushrooms, pink garlic and a huge range of pork delicacies.
This is a hidden gem for most visitors to France, so make enough time – at least an hour or 1/1/2 if you are eating here.
St Jean de Luz
St Jean de Luz is a sleepy fishing port. Set down on Boulevard Victor Hugo. Walk towards the Port (the train station is to your left and you will pass by the Tourist Information Office).
Once at the Port, the area on the other side is the district of Ciboure. Point out the Maison de l’ Infante (over to the right).
With the water behind you, walk ahead into Place Louis XIV. To your right you have the Town Hall and next to it, on the far side, the house in which Louis XIV lived for a month prior to his marriage. There are cafés on the square.
Continue to the far end of the square and point out the street to your left, rue de la République, which leads down to the beach and has various restaurants (Spanish dishes sold widely).
Carry on straight ahead. You are now on rue Gambetta. There are various shops and, on the left, you come to the church of St Jean Baptiste, where Louis XIV’s wedding took place. Arrange a rendezvous with the group on the Place Louis XIV.
Give free time to explore/go to the beach. Any street that runs to the left of Place Louis XIV or Rue Gambetta takes you to the beach.