France is divided into 22 regions with all together 96 departments. Poitou-Charentes is a region in the middle western part of france and consists of 4 departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne.
This story is mostly about Charente. In the heart of Charente is the biggest town Angouleme. The department of Charente is named after the river Charente which runs through the district.
The biggest cities is Angouleme and Cognac. For me, both were new places, I’ve of course heard of Cognac and the famous alcohol drink made of grape wine. The area is famous for their cognac houses and destilleries. I was more exited about Angouleme. The city organises the largest comic festival in Europe, and every january about 200 000 visitors travels to the city for Angouleme International Comics festival. It’s the beginning of July, so I am far to early for the festival, but I’ve heard about the murals and wall paintings in the town. And I have a friend who lives there and could show me around.
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| Angouleme is a beautiful city on the hill. In the middle of the city I found a statue of Herge, the creator of Tintin |
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| The city is full of beautiful murals |
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| The river Charente runs slowly through Cognac and is a popular for boat trips |
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Except the cities, Charente is a fertile agricultural district with beautiful nature and small villages. I lived in the small village of Massac while staying there. Grape and Sunflower fields as long as the eye can see.
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| Small villages and easy atmosphere |
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| Beautiful landscapes |
In the west (Charente-Maritime), Saintes and Saint-Jean-D’Angely are two beautiful cities west in the region. Old towns with calm atmosphere. Its nice to travel around in the area and quite relaxing. There is much to see and this time I didn’t go to the coast and the main cities there, I was driving out of the region down to Bordeaux.
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| Saint-Jean-D'Angely |
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| Saintes |
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| Bordeaux |
