The only thing better than the sea
is the ocean,
or a trip to the "Coast of Love"
is the ocean,
or a trip to the "Coast of Love"
The French resort La Baule is famous for its nine kilometers beach in the form of a crescent. The people call it the "Coast of Love" or the "most beautiful beach in Europe".
La Baule – it's about vintage cars, mid-20th century fashion, the sincerity of black and white movies. It still preserves the tradition of aristocratic sea bathing: every time you unwittingly expect someone with curly mustache and a stripped bathing suit to show up on the beach.
From Paris to the resort of La Baule, it takes just 3 hours by a hide-speed train – time flies by, and here we are entering the hotel.
From Paris to the resort of La Baule, it takes just 3 hours by a hide-speed train – time flies by, and here we are entering the hotel.
Hôtel Barrière L'Hermitage 5* has 200 comfortable rooms with sea-themed design. Facilities: sandy beach, spa, two pools with bar and two restaurants with French and international cuisine. The hotel also has its own business center and can organize events in the most famous city venues.
Hôtel Barrière Le Royal La Baule 5* occupies a building constructed in 1896 in the style of the-then fashionable Neo-Norman architecture. The famous thalassotherapy center Thalgo La Baule (3000 м2) is adjacent to the hotel. Two rooms for business meetings and celebrations that can accommodate up to 100 people are available for the guests. Two steps away from the hotel is the Casino Barrière de la Baule.
The small Hôtel Le Castel Marie-Louise 5* in the Edwardian style mansion was originally purchased in 1926 by François André, the founder of the Groupe Lucien Barrière, and was primarily used as a private summer residence. When François André decided to turn the building into a hotel, he named it after his wife Marie-Louise. Today the hotel has 31 rooms of various categories, restaurant, bar, and 3 halls, where a group of 6 to 60 guests can be accommodated.
Next day we set for a drive along the coast on vintage buggies to make a stop in the garage DB7 Autos with 200 collection cars, where they organize a master-class on opening oysters which is naturally accompanied with wine!
One of the local landmarks is salt flats, where the famous French salt Fleur de Sel (Guerande salt) is mined. It is considered the purest among all other kinds of table salts, not only is it the most expensive, but it is also the rarest, which prompted gourmets to call it the "Queen of Salts".
While in La Baule, one of the highlights of the program can be a visit to the Brissac Castle, which was built in the 11th century by the Count of Anjou and was later acquired by Pierre de Brézé, who held ministerial post in the service of King Charles VII and King Louis XI.
The portrait below shows Madame Clicquot and her great-granddaughter Duchess Anne d'Uzès, whose husband, Duke Jean d'Uzès of the Brissac family, bought this castle as a gift to his wife in 1870. Anne became the first French high society woman to get a driver's license – and she was also the first to get a speeding ticket driving in the Bois de Boulogne.
Every day Duchess Anne d'Uzès went hunting and rarely returned without a trophy. On her conscience are 2057 reindeer and horned walls all over France.
