Savouring the flavours of France’s north

A classic French dining sequence typically begins with an aperitif and hors d’oeuvres, which will see mood-boosting drinks and snacks served to your table. Then, as the evening evolves, the entree (starter), plat principal (mains), dessert, digestifs and amuse-bouches will usually arrive (often paired with just the right French wines). On this new 18-day France tour by Albatross, guests will find that Paris, with its grand boulevards and monuments, is merely the aperitif, while the majestic Loire Valley château and gardens are the hors d’oeuvres. With your appetite for France well and truly opened by this point, here’s what you’ll savour next…

Brittany

As you follow the course of the Loire River west towards the Atlantic Ocean, you will step off the tour coach for a stretch of the legs and a comfort break and you’ll notice a change in the air. Coastal aromas - a touch of brine, a sprinkle of sun-warmed sand in the breeze - make their presence felt. You might spy resident and migratory birds, like herons, storks, spoonbills, harriers and egrets flying over and grazing amid wetlands sliced with marshes and canals. And north of the Loire estuary, fewer parts of France are as gloriously photogenic as Brittany’s ruggedly beautiful coast, especially when the sun’s shining - as it often is in the northern summer.

Walking paths thread by the ocean spray and on clifftops strewn with colourful wildflowers. There are jaw-dropping views over secluded sandy coves caressed by aquamarine waters, rocky outcrops thrashed by Atlantic waves and striped lighthouses that have witnessed - and prevented - many a shipwreck. Dotting the coast and its inlets are fishing villages and towns peppered with little boats and restaurants serving freshly-caught huitres (oysters) and homard (lobster), a true delight for those on French culinary tours.

Linked to the ocean by the River Odet, Quimper is one of the region’s prettiest spots, its quaint medieval core dominated by a twin-spired 13^th century gothic cathedral. As you walk the cobblestone streets, keep an ear out for Breton - an ancient Celtic language still spoken here, and across Brittany. It’s more closely related to Welsh and Cornish than French, a Romance language. The Breton culture runs deep here and it’s vividly expressed in performances by traditional folk musicians and dancers. Whether you catch them in a bar or at a street festival, these spectacles, fuelled by pipe bands, bear a resemblance to the ceilidhs you may have seen in Scotland and Ireland.

Perhaps the most appealing Breton destination of all is Saint-Malo, a walled city that was once a hive of musket-wielding pirates and was pieced back together being bombarded in World War II. Whether you’re ambling on the ramparts - and munching a kouign-amann (a sweet Breton pastry) - or ordering Breton crepes and ciders in one of the old town eateries, you’ll be charmed by Saint-Malo. Get a flavour of the city by watching All the Light We Cannot See, a Netflix drama series adapted from Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in this city when it was under nazi German occupation.

Normandy

For many tourists, Normandy is synonymous with World War II and the 1944 D-Day landing beaches - still known by their codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword - are a key part of any Normandy D-Day itinerary. Walking on the beaches, you’ll hear gripping war stories from expert tour guides and will learn more at museums displaying archive news footage, old battle plans, uniforms, preserved aircraft, weapons and tanks. You can pay your respects at poignant war memorials and military cemeteries, including some containing the graves of Australian airmen and sailors who died during the liberation of Normandy. 

While this region’s interior is lush and pretty, laced with apple orchards, cattle-grazed farmland and alluring towns and cities (including Rouen), the coast has a magnetic pull. It stars places like Etretat, whose white chalk cliffs and sea stacks Claude Monet loved to paint, and Honfleur, a harbour town also adored by the Impressionist artists. Quayside restaurants here entice diners with dishes like moules mariniere (mussels steamed in white wine) and baked Camembert - one of the many cheeses produced in Normandy. 

Chantilly

Chantilly is a lovely, leafy town inextricably linked with its whipped cream - a sweet, mousse-like fix that proved fashionable with the aristocrats of 17th and 18th century Europe. Made with unpasteurised cream, blended with icing and vanilla sugars, and normally served with berries or cakes, creme de Chantilly is de rigueur at the town's cafes and tearooms, as well as in La Capitainerie, the restaurant tucked inside the château of Chantilly. During your Chantilly château visit, James Bond fans may recognise this glorious Renaissance landmark from A View To A Kill, Roger Moore’s last appearance as 007 when it stood in for the grand estate of villain Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken).

You can work off the cream-induced kilojoules by roaming the regal, art-filled suites of this richly-furnished palace, which was heavily rebuilt after the French Revolution. Walks can also be had in the château’s lake-graced gardens and through the vast Chantilly forest, where royals used to go hunting and visitors now enjoy the hiking and horse-riding trails. Chantilly also boasts one of France's top thoroughbred racecourses, the Living Museum of the Horse - which celebrates the enduring relationship between man and horse - and the sumptuous Great Stables, which were built in the early 1700s for Louis-Henri, the Duke of Bourbon. He believed he would be reincarnated as a horse and wanted a suitably upscale residence for the next life. 

It would probably take more than a day to ride back to Paris on a horse, but your Albatross coach will have you back in France’s capital in a little over an hour. Expect to be there in time to catch the sun setting behind the Eiffel Tower before a farewell meal in this most romantic of cities.