Day 13: Puy du Fou Historical Theme Park

Friday 13 Sept 2024

Today we head quite a way south past the town of Cholet to Puy du Fou, a theme park that brings history to life through its amazing reenactments of key periods of history.

My first impression when we arrived was how huge and well-organised it was with massive carparks and great signage. Once inside, I was even more impressed. It is set in a beautiful park-like setting with huge trees providing shade, and well tended gardens. The site is separated into areas representing different historical time periods each with accurate reproductions of villages for that period. In each of the villages are appropriate shops, artistes and displays relevant for the time and even the eating places manage to look reasonably authentic (although modern). You could happily just walk around the park and wander through the villages.

But wait there is more! They have developed a series of extremely impressive shows that are essentially historical reenactments on a major scale. There are smaller shows operating too. As with the whole complex, they aim to be as authentic as possible. It has been operating for over 50 years (Dominique remembers when it first opened) and is entirely privately funded – it does not receive any government funding. It is all purpose-built and everything looks exactly like it would have if it was the age it represents.

It is impossible to see everything in one day so we just chose 2 major shows and arranged our timings around those. Although each of the show venues is huge, the queues are enormous and they start letting people in half an hour beforehand.

Our first show was Mousquetaire de Richelieu (The Musketeer of Richelieu) – a swashbuckling adventure with sword duels, flamenco dancing and horse riding – held in a gigantic theatre where the stage was large enough to have multiple horses galloping around it. They have a huge number of animals that they use in their shows and, particularly for the horses, there is now a horse training school nearby. The performance is amazing and the footwork and precision of the horses is stunning. It is such a spectacle that it doesn’t really matter that I can’t understand most of the words (I did discover afterwards that there is an app so you can have the shows translated into English).

Our second show was Le Bal des Oiseaux Fantômes (The Ballet of the Ghost Birds) – completely different but equally spectacular: an aerial ballet performed by 300 birds of prey. The park runs a preservation and breeding programme for rare and endangered birds of prey – they have over 800 birds. The show is based around late Middle Ages falconry but they have several different species of owl (including fabulous large grey and snowy owls), eagles, falcons, hawks, vultures, marabou storks and more. We see the different species show off their skills, some diving down from up high (they are released from a giant balloon above us) and others swooping low just above the heads of the crowd. There is even a glider leading some birds in formation. At the end, there is a massive release of birds from the balloon and from all around – we don’t know where to look, the whole sky is seemingly full of birds.

We also see one of the smaller shows Le Grand Carillon – very impressive ringing of bells on a spectacular tower.

Just a few of the other shows (there are many more) include:

• Le Signe du Triomphe (The Sign of Victory) – relive the greatness of the Roman Empire: a spectacle in the amphitheatre complete with chariot racing
• Les Vikings (The Vikings) – Viking warriors attack a fort during a wedding
• Le Secret de la Lance (The Secret of the Lance) – a medieval adventure in an abandoned castle, a spectacular equestrian epic set in the Hundred Years War

• La Renaissance du Château (The Rebirth of the Castle) – a chapter from the glorious past is revealed in every room of the Castle
• Les Grandes Eaux (The Grand Waters) – a fabulous aquatic ballet to baroque music
• Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (The Knights of the Round Table) – Merlin puts Arthur’s courage to the test.
• Les Noces de Feu (The Sound of Fire) – one of the largest water and fire shows in the world is held on Friday and Saturday evenings, featuring more than 1000 actors, 4000 costumes and 300 fireworks.

On our way back we pass through the town of Cholet and note that all the roofs here are made of terracotta clay tiles rather than the black/dark grey slate tiles of Angers. On our drive south of Béhaurd, Dominique had pointed out that some of the houses had a few clay bricks used as decoration – apparently this is permissible because there are clay mines locally.

It is late when we get back to Angers so we purchase a few quick things from the supermarket for dinner and have an early night.

 

 

Exploring the Angers Region in France

Day 1 & 2: Exploring Angers

Day 3: Chateau d’Angers and Historic Quarter

Day 4: Exploring the Loire Valley to Cunault Abbey

Day 5: Troglodyte Village & the Mysteries of Falun

Day 6: Fontevraud Royal Abbey & Chateau du Brézé

Days 7-9: Angers, Markets & Old Town

Day 10: Troglodyte Restaurant & Medicinal Plants

Day 11: Béhaurd Island Village in Loire River

Day 12: Michelin-star Restaurant Degustation Lunch, Angers

Day 13: Day 13: Puy du Fou Historical Theme Park

Day 14: Le Thoureil, Ackerman Winery & Dolmen de Bagneaux

Day 15: Visit to Slate Museum, Trélazé