Ahhh, pre-pandemic travel – we didn’t know how good we had it, did we? That said, Angers is a great place for post-pandemic travel too. It’s really outdoorsy, excellent for exploring on bike and by boat, and there’s a fantastic riverside bar scene. They’re called ‘guinguettes’ and it was fun to explore so many for this story in The Times.
This is a slightly longer version that appeared in the paper in October 2021.
We stayed at Angers City Kamp, but if you fancy something a little more luxurious, I also adore the Chateau des Briottières which is a few miles north of the city.
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When it comes to the ideal post-pandemic city break, Angers’ tick list is long: breezy outdoor bars and restaurants; verdant riverside cycle paths; trips up the River Maine in a self-drive boat; Saint John chasing off The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Well, not the actual St John and the Horsemen, you see, more a 14th-century depiction in France’s oldest medieval tapestry. It hangs in a darkened hall in Angers’ mighty chateau, which looms large over the city, and it was created shortly after the Black Death had ravaged Europe.
As a pre-pandemic visitor in summer 2019, I stared up at the six-metre panels depicting scenes from the Book of Revelations and was oblivious to the fact that The Beast known as Covid-19 would soon be bounding over the hill, so my family and I just got on with enjoying what Angers does best: the outdoors.
With four rivers – Maine, Sarthe, Mayenne and Loire – running through or close by, Angers and its environs has always embraced its waterfronts, but in recent years the ‘guinguette’ bars popular in the 19th-century have seen a resurgence. While the original incarnations offered open-air cabarets and dances and were depicted in many an Impressionist painting, the 21st-century versions offer everything from Bollywood dancing lessons and yoga classes, to rock bands and improv nights, as well as good food and a lively atmosphere – all in the open air. Of course, the Beast of Covid put a dampener on the revelry for most of 2020, but summer 2021 saw the guinguettes return to normal service that goes on until late September, with others remaining open all year, making autumnal al fresco lunches pleasant in the 20-degree temperatures that linger here until early October.
When we arrived at La Cabane du Chat qui Pêche (‘the cabin of the fishing cat’) at the village of Cantenay-Epinard on a sunny Sunday, the entertainment was a DJ set playing a mellow afternoon session, while families tucked into lunch at the outdoor tables that spanned out on the grass towards the River Mayenne. Our lunch was the Loire’s signature dish, a tangy beurre blanc sauce over pike-perch, with salad and potatoes, rounded off with a crème brulée infused with Cointreau – the orange liqueur distilled in Angers since 1849. As the afternoon drew on, cyclists pedalling the 30-minute cycle path from the city arrived and paused for drinks in the orange deckchairs by the river.
The next day it was our turn to take to the saddle. We rented bikes and pedalled south, out towards the Loire at Les Ponts-de-Cé, following the cycle path that took us past towering corn fields and through blond meadows, the expansive river gliding silently to our left. After passing through the sleepy village of Saint-Gemmes-sur-Loire, we peeked through the gate of a small Mediterranean garden. Next door was one of the most popular outdoor bars, the Guinguette Port-Thibault which remains open all year long and where we downed refreshing Oranginas in the shade and gazed out at the sparkling, silver river.
From there, it was a short ride along to the confluence of the Loire and Maine, where a bridge took us over to the village of Bouchemaine, a sun-drenched village overlooking the Maine, where traditional toue boats pootled past its own guinguette called La Noé. We followed the river back up to the city, cheeks rosy and legs tingling from the long ride.
When we take to water ourselves some days later, it’s a more modern vessel – an electric boat hired from the quayside on the River Maine opposite the looming chateau. After little more than a basic steering lesson from the man in the cabin, we donned our life-jackets and whirred northwards along the River Maine, spotting heron on the shallows while swallows swirled overhead. Our destination was the village of Écouflant, a quiet village that in the 19th-century was a hub for fishermen and there were guinguettes galore. When we arrived in the now-sleepy village, there was just one hangout: the Guinguette de la Mazette, where we tucked into salads, frites and saucissesat picnic tables overlooking the grassy bank to the river.
With so much to explore around Angers, it took us a few days to get back into the city. When we did, the best vantage point was from the imposing chateau’s ramparts where we trotted around a mini-vineyard and the kitchen garden growing atop the walls, and then went inside to admire the apocalyptic tapestry. The castle also marks the start of a 3km trail around the city’s best sites marked by a blue line painted on the pavement that snakes around the city. Behind the Cathédral Saint Maurice, we stopped to gaze up at the Maison Adam, a 15th-century half-timbered house adorned with bawdy figures pulling all sorts of faces, which the children emulated to great effect. Elsewhere, we followed the line past the art deco Maison Bleue – an apartment building with yellow and blue mosaics built in 1929, as well as vibrant murals depicting forests, sunsets and – oh here we are again – the apocalypse. This time The Beast was sporting a retro geometric catsuit, presumably not de rigueur in the 14thcentury when the original tapestry was commissioned by Louis I, Duke of Anjou.
For our final evening, we travelled down-river again, to the 3km island of Béhuard in the Loire, known for its monastery and as a place of pilgrimage for centuries. In the early evening sun, we wandered through the cobbled street of its main village, where hollyhocks towered against stone cottages and gardens brimmed with hydrangeas and hibiscus flowers. After climbing the steps to the 15th-century chapel, built high on a rock, we headed out of the village to the Guinguette La Croisette where an accordion player perched on a stool next to the river, the silver-grey water moving silently behind him. As we devoured platters of fish and seafood, the sky filled a dramatic orange and pink, I might even have said it looked apocalyptic, but the Four Horsemen were nowhere to be seen.
Carolyn Boyd and her family were a guest of Angers Tourism and Brittany Ferries. Angers is a 2.5-hour drive from Caen-Ouistreham. Fares for a family of four and a car both ways with ensuite cabin start at £338 (brittany-ferries.co.uk). Stay at the excellent Angers City Kamp (citykamp.com/en/angers/) just outside the city centre has self-catering cabins from £59 per night. Hire an electric boat from Locactivities (half day £85 for up to six people, locactivites.com) which goes from the Cale de la Savatte quayside. More information on the guinguettes at tourisme.destination-angers.com/en; you have to show a passe sanitaire to enter bars and restaurants.
