There were many fabulous places we visited in the camping car in France including Roanne, Macon and Bourg-en-Bresse.
Roanne
Roanne is a beautiful old city near Lyon with a great marina. We decided to spend the winter here on our boat when the canals are closed and the weather is cold. Here’s a terrible photo of Ivan and I, but it turns out it is the only one we took in Roanne. Ivan doesn’t look too happy, and you can only see the top of my head. I don’t think we’ll win any photography awards with this one.
Macon is a great place to visit in a camping car
After Roanne we travelled to Macon on the Saone river. It was the 21st June which is the day that France celebrates the Fete de la Music. We really enjoyed this celebration of all musicians and everything musical and everywhere we went there were bands playing.
This next video I sound like I’m slurring a bit. Maybe I shouldn’t have had all that wine and beer to celebrate the Fete de la Music? Perhaps turn the sound down and just look at the beautiful scenery so that I can retain my dignity!
Bourg-en-Bresse in the camping car
June 22 was Ivan’s birthday! So we decided to head to Bourg-en-Bresse in our camping car and eat some famous Bresse chicken, which is known as the best in the world. We randomly chose a restaurant located near our camping car called L’Auberge Bressane. We chose it mainly because the Maitre’d was so welcoming but it turned out to also have a famous chef and excellent staff. The chef’s name is Jean Vullin and he came out to meet the Australians after we’d finished our meal. The food was utterly magnificent and the staff were brilliant. It was so much fun.
And to top it all off, L’Auberge Bressane was situated across the road from the Monastere Royal de Brou which is shown below. We didn’t end up visiting the monastery, as we couldn’t move after our lunch, but it looked pretty amazing!
After we’d had a bit of an apres lunch nap we wandered around the town, which was quite beautiful and is one of the locations featured in the Tour de France.
One final photo that I thought was cute. This is a chocolate shop in Bourg-en-Bresse where everything in this picture is made of chocolate. I love the Darth Vader with his sign in French saying “Je suis ton Pere”, which in English is “I am your father”.
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French
Hi guys just wondering what visa you applied for as the standard only allows 90 days I believe? Trip looks great so far.
We applied for the 12 month visitor visa – it’s known as a VLS-T. To get the visa you need to show enough money to support yourself for 12 months, health insurance to cover the whole time including repatriation back to Aus if you get injured or die (it’s different to travel insurance), a signed letter stating that you will not work, accommodation booked for min 3 months and a letter stating your intentions in France. Let me know if you need some extra info.
Ali,
That is great information thank you so much. My wife are looking to do similar. Does the visa allow travel with EU or locked to France? BTW being from Toowoomba which was home to us for many years (Oakey Base) does you guys know the Orford’s? David
With this visa you can spend 90 days per 180 days out of France and in other EU countries. We don’t know Orfords personally but know of them. They have a refrigeration company I believe.