Saintes & nearby areas.

An abbey founded for females.

It's very easy to fall in love with Saintes. Basically it's a large provincial town but it has some of the elegance of the greatest of capital cities. Bisected by the Charente (which seems never to have been a sufficiently commercial waterway to have lined its banks with warehouses) it is chic with designer shops, a famous abbey founded for females and a mediaeval quarter scattered with restaurants and cafes. Agrippa - the son in law of Augustus Cesar - was one of the first to fancy the location and made it the principal Roman settlement in Aquitaine.

Roman celebration and jealousy.

The arch, fist erected in AD19, was moved to its present eye-catching position on the bank of the river in 1843. It had previously graced a bridge and when that was demolished - presumably to make way for someone's new ideas - it nearly suffered the same fate. Better counsel prevailed and we can still enjoy this monument to Germanicus Caesar, the Emperor Tiberius and his son Drusus. After a brilliant military career in the Rhine-lands the 39 year old General died of a sudden illness in Antioch while on a mission for the Emperor. Some claim that Tiberius, jealous of Germanicus' success and popularity, had had him poisoned.

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A revolutionary humane machine.

There are further reminders of Rome, most notably the amphitheatre or arena. It's comparatively small and fairly intimate but it could still, they say, hold 20,000 people. Would gladiators have fought to the death in what seems now a pleasant haven? Sudden ends seem to have become a theme of these notes and one can add a third fleeting connection between such events and this place. At the start of the French Revolution (1789) a certain physician of the town petitioned that its enemies should be despatched humanely and extolled the virtues of his new invention. His name was Joseph Ignace Guillotin.

A tribe of Gaul - and a taste of cognac.

The immediately surrounding area seems more Charente than Charente Maritime. Some of the principal brandy vineyards stretch well beyond the walls of this 'Saintes'. Perhaps they too join with the angels to take their share of the worldly spirit. Unfortunately that romantic idea falls foul of the fact that the name of the town - and the associated district - is derived from a Gaulish tribe rather than from revered souls within the Christian church.

Pleasant and pretty villages.

To the west the country changes into the maritime plain that extends both north and south as well. Flat fields with tall hedges and taller poplars spread themselves towards the sea. Superficially its very similar to the to the countryside surrounding St Jean d'Angley (see our Area of the same name) but somehow it's much more pleasant with a scattering of pretty hamlets and villages. Generally the often white-stone houses seem well maintained with freshly painted shutters in lilac or light blue. Some are doubtless waiting for new owners.