Thurs 5 Sept 2024
Today’s outing took us further south than our drive along the Loire Valley yesterday (to Gennes). We headed towards the town of Doué-la-Fontaine to explore how people have utilised the caves that have been created through quarrying of falun.
Falun is a type of sandstone formed 11 million years ago when this part of France was covered by a sea. The falun is what remains of underwater sand dunes, built up in layers by the tides from the bodies of dead sea creatures. Many fossils can be found in the falun – sharks, whales, sea urchins and more. Over the centuries people quarried out stone for various uses leaving behind pits and caves.
Troglodyte Village, Rochemenier
The village of Rochemenier is made up of 40 farms, with 250 underground rooms excavated out of the rock. The oldest habitation dates from the 13th century and the two farms we get to see were inhabited from the late 17th century right up until the beginning of the 20th century. The land above was originally flat and excavations created a large roofless quarry, followed by creating the underground dwellings where people lived, worked, sheltered their animals and kept their belongings. The farms used the rock to neutralise soil acidity.
Some of the rooms are quite small but some of the more modern ones were quite large with a decent kitchen and dining area. There are stables and wine cellars, and even courtyards where the sheep were brought in at night. Shafts were useful for ventilation and lighting the underground areas, and some were used for hoisting goods in and out.
There is even a village hall where people would gather to chat or work on winter evenings. It was large enough to seat 30 people. And there is a huge underground chapel, part of which is below a church above ground. The village church was burned down during the Wars of Religion and the villagers took refuge underground.
Unfortunately we learnt the hard way that if we left it too late to have lunch, everyone would have sold out. We finally found a bar that was prepared to make us a ham and melon salad.
Mysteries of Falun
Even though this wasn’t at all what we expected, we loved this ingenious use of the old mines as an art installation to tell the story of how the structures were formed over 10 million years:
Once upon a time, 10 million years ago in the land that is now known as Doué-la-Fontaine, there were elephants, antelopes, tigers and a shallow sea filled with white sharks, whales, rays and dugongs. Over time, the tides created an underwater dune. Along with a bit of sand, the remains of all the animals that inhabited the sea came to rest there.
There are exhibits that show the rock (known as falun) was extracted – first to construct tombs and then to make building stones. The dug down a vertical shaft and then opened this up wider into caverns deep underground. Many of these caverns interlinked forming the massive underground structure that we walk through.
In places there are lights and videos playing against the walls, highlighting the amazing structures. In other places early life in the sea is portrayed, a shark swimming, a vast savannah with elephants and monkeys in the trees, there is even a real whale skeleton for us to walk through. It finishes with an outside quarry and a beautiful carving of a quarry worker.
Troglodytes & Sarcophages
We had also hoped to visit a heritage site just along the road from here where galleries have been uncovered that were the site of sarcophagus manufacturing in the 5th-6th centuries. They estimate that it produced as many as 30,000 sarcophagi or stone coffins. Then, after being used as a quarry, this underground world became a shelter in the 9th century during the Viking invasions. It included a chapel, grain silos, farm outbuildings and pigeon lofts as well the human dwellings.
Unfortunately the road was closed and after several attempts to find an alternative route we gave up for the day and returned home.
On the way back from our parking spot we paid our daily visit to our favourite Traiteur for some more deli delights and stopped in at the wine shop where Dominique chose a beautiful bottle of local region red wine. Delish!
Exploring the Angers Region in France
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 – this post
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
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