28 July 2014

Les rues de Châtillon

There are three ways to get through Châtillon-sur-Indre. One is around the east side of the town center. You go that way if you are headed straight south toward Le Blanc or east to Châteauroux. Or you can drive directly through the center of town, which is the slowest route.


Coming into town from the north, the road narrows seriously as it crosses the Indre River. In the photo above, you can see the donjon, which is about a thousand years old, with the French and, I think, Belgian flags flying (I don't know why). A donjon in French is what is called the "keep" or main tower of a fortified castle. I don't know why we Americans think of a dungeon as an underground space.


A little farther along, this is where you make your decision about going around to the east or to the west of the center of town. We usually turn right (where the road appears to end in the photo above, because our destination is toward the southwest. If you choose the eastern route, you come to a big intersection with traffic lights and you see the restaurant pictured below, in an old photo of mine. It looks fairly fancy and is on the main road that runs along the Indre River from Châteauroux to Loches and on to Tours.


On the western route, you go through a basically residential neighborhood made up mostly of big stone houses. The one business along the way is the café pictured below, Le Bon Coin, which I think is especially picturesque. I also like the little blue Citroën C3 car parked on the side street. I'm thinking about buying a car like that one next year.


On our latest drive, I spotted the old Renault 4 GTL, below, parked at the curb. I had a car like it 30 years ago, when I lived in Paris. Walt and I have friends who say they are going to try to buy such a car this year or next, and this looks like a very nice one. I think the last R4s rolled off the assembly line more than 20 years ago. I saw no sign indicating this one was for sale. Hélas...


As you can see, the road is very narrow here. That red Loches Boissons truck up ahead has to wait for us to drive through before he can continue his route — delivering bottled beverages to cafés and restaurants, I assume. When parked cars leave just a narrow passage for traffic, the vehicles on the side where the cars are parked are supposed to give way to oncoming traffic. Driving in little French towns and villages that were built before motorized vehicles existed is always interesting, and slow.

15 comments:

  1. The presence of the Belgian flag is intruiging, indeed. So I did some 'reseach', to find out about the 'Belgian connection' :). I found two possible explanations: 1) It is there in honour of the Belgian 'Fête Nationale' on July 21st, the eve of your excursion and the 'flag attendant' forgot to take it down. Or 2) as a remnant of this: http://chapelle-lez-herlaimont.blogs.sudinfo.be/archive/2013/07/31/les-chapellois-ont-represente-la-belgique-aux-rencontres-eur.html. Some of the photos in this article are hilarious :) Although this 'event' took place in July 2013, there might have been a similar 'do' in 2014.

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    1. Ladybird....
      it is a twinning / "excuse to party" event they hold every year.
      The Chatillon Brits run a very nice "Tea & Cakes" stall...
      but when we went, in 2012, they were just launching the Hoegy Rosée onto the market...
      and it was going down very well!!

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    2. Tim, is that an "edgy rosé" wine that you are referring to? Where does it come from?

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  2. There was an accident in Le Grand-Pressigny last week. An old French driver in an old French car was already driving past some parked cars when a very smart English Volvo came round the corner. Neither stopped soon enough and there was an unwanted meeting of metal. Both cars were damaged but the Volvo more expensively.
    Which just goes to show that it pays to drive through French towns cautiously. Not everyone gives way when they should, although they're better at it in rural France than in any part of Derbyshire, where 99% of drivers shove their way through if they can, especially if they're bigger than the oncoming vehicle.
    A motorcycling friend of mine once said that being in he right is not much help if you're dead. I personally give way all the time as it's less aggravation in the end.

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    1. Jean, better safe than sorry, but don't stop unexpectedly and abruptly. You might get rear-ended.

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  3. maybe this village is twined with a belgian village as it is often the case with english german irish italian ( etc ...) villages. But it would be written at the entrance ( your previous post) . I often take this road from Paris to go to Dordogne and Limousin , no Traffic, lovely Landscapes ... I dont' like motorway and ......it's free !!!

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    1. I did see on a sign that Châtillon-sur-Indre is twinned with Solferino in Italy, but I didn't notice any twinnings with Belgian villages or towns.

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  4. Nice pics of a nice old town. There was indeed a European festival at Chatillon sur Indre earlier this month. It's an annual event and good fun, with traditional dancers, food, art, music etc from all over Europe. The town seems to be twinned with most of Europe. I would expect them to fly the European Community flag (blue with a circle of white stars) for that, though. P.

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  5. At the European festival they have official visits from many of the places that Chatillion sur Indre is twinned with. It takes the twinning very seriously and has establishes very good links. A friend who lives near organises visits to Wales, when Wales are playing France at Rugby at the Millennium Stadium, in Cardiff.

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  6. Le Bon Coin café is nice. When you get your new car, perhaps you'll revisit this spot and send us a photo. So you're thinking Citroen rather than Renault?

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    1. Evelyn, we are going to keep our Peugeot for as long as we can, but we think we might add a little Citroën to the household next year.

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  7. Do you think those boughs under the windows of the Auberge de la Tour are left over from Noël season, or just the decoration of choice? That's a very handsome building :) Love the photos.

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    1. Judy, the photo of the Auberge de la Tour in Châtillon is one I took in late December 2011. I just kind of plopped it in there with the more recent shots.

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  8. Your comment sent me off to Wikipedia, which seems to be saying that what we call dungeons are more properly "oubliettes". With the shifts among various languages, and the need for early Hollywood to present events dramatically, I'd guess that "dungeon" sounded better as the dark, underground place -- easier to say to a vast audience. Trying to imagine Errol Flynn rescuing someone from an oubliette -- doesn't work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon

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  9. Thanks, everybody, for all the information about twinnings, festivals, and oubliettes.

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