Days 1 & 2: Exploring Angers

From New Zealand it is a gruelling journey to get to Angers – 24 hours of flying, which is never fun no matter how you do it. We treated ourselves to premium economy seats to try to make it easier on our respective current health issues – it certainly helped but it was still a marathon. Once we arrived at the airport in Paris we caught the TGV (high speed train) from there for another 2.5 hour journey through to Angers, passing through mostly very flat agricultural land dotted with little villages.

Angers is the capital of the Anjou region and in 2023 had a population of 157,175. It is situated on the banks of the Maine, a short but wide river created by the confluence of 3 rivers: the Mayenne, Sarthe, and Loir, all coming from the north, and flowing south into the Loire several kms south.

Dominique has found a fantastically well-located house for rent within easy walking distance from the city centre – Les Suites Angevines. It is one house that has been divided into 4 apartments, one on each level. Dominique has the ground floor apartment that has a beautiful little garden terrace and large kitchen/living spaces. I am in the apartment above that has a tiny kitchenette perfect for a cuppa in the morning but we will eat meals etc together in Dominique’s apartment. For the moment we have the house to ourselves. Our lovely host Annella greets us and has a wealth of local information.

‘Angevines’ in the name of our house means ‘from Angers’ or ‘from Anjou’. The name originates from Roman times and refers to the Andecavi, the principal Gallic tribe in the area. Over time this name morphed from Andecavis to Andegavis to Angieus through to Angers. My window looks out onto an old traditional style Angevine-style house that has the blue-grey slate roof and white limestone (tuffeau) detailing around windows and doors.

We don’t have many options that evening as most shops (including supermarkets) and many restaurants are closed on Sundays. We walk into the centre square and find a pub that is open with terrace tables looking across to the Grand Theatre. We indulge in people watching as we share a pizza. Then it is definitely time for an early night.

Dominique and I beginning our journey

TGV from airport to Angers

Location of Angers

Kitchen at Les Suites Angevines

Lounge at Les Suites Angevines

Terrace at Les Suites Angevines

My room

My kitchenette

Traditional Angevine-style house

Grand Theatre in the main square

In the morning we indulge in a breakfast of croissants and pan au chocolate with a coffee to get ourselves into local culture. Annella has told us of a nice delicatessen not far from the house where we can get some food for later in the day but we are thwarted when we discover that many shops are closed on Mondays as well. Later we go to pick up a rental car – and are thwarted again as we had forgotten that most places close for a long lunch. By now it is pouring with rain and not very pleasant for walking around.

Once we finally have the car we search for the place with free parking that Annella told us about. This turns out to be an epic fail and after circling round and through the area multiple times, getting foiled by extremely narrow one way streets and a particularly unhelpful GPS system in the car, we give up and park in a pay car park. I am extremely grateful that I am not driving as the narrow one-way streets and confusing road markings (not to mention being on the wrong side of the road) make it a nightmare.

We walk back to the house from the carpark, buying some salads and a baguette for our dinner. We also enjoy a bottle of local ‘champagne’ that Annella left for us before having another early night.