It was enjoyable and relaxing in the french countryside. Great for the wallet and a recharge.
Cost Per Day
$46.26
Number of Days On Trip
7
Total Trip Cost
$323.85
On this trip, we cooked the majority of our own meals. The price point for food was higher than we were hoping for, so we didn’t eat at restaurants much.
The town we stayed in didn’t have much activity and everything closed around 7pm. The surrounding towns, however, have amazing architecture and castle walls! Walking tours are highly recommended.
This area has farm-town vibes. It is laid back and quiet… perfect to get away for a while. It wasn’t luxury (since we were taking care of 3 dogs in a 1 bedroom house) but it wasn’t a hostel!
Surprisingly… pretty easy! There is a train station a short walk from the house we were staying in. The train let us go to a few cities in a 30 min radius!
Itinerary
After departing from our shared AirBnB in Melun (outside of Paris), we hopped on a train to the French countryside! We lined up this house sit before we started our adventure and were ready to meet the 3 adorable doggos! If you would like us to house sit, reach out at foleyexploring@gmail.com. Check out our Trusted House Sitters profile for extra references! We are happy to help take care of your animals!
La Coquille
We stayed in a small town called La Coquille. I’m not surprised if you haven’t heard of it… it’s REALLY out of the way. There is a post office, a train station, a small grocery store (that closes at 8pm), and 2 bars. That’s it. But that is exactly what we needed after our month of non-stop travel! This whole experience was geared toward catching our breath and deciding what our next steps are.
The whole trip was 7 days long. We were able to take the train outside of our sleepy town to 2 cities: Limoges and Périgueux.
Limoges
We took the train north into Limoges with no expectations and very little idea of what we would find. It was a nice city with some squares and unique cathedrals like Chapelle Saint Aurélien.
Perigueux
We walked around noticing some other tourists with walking maps so we stopped into the tourist office to grab the map. It took us on a massive walking tour of the Old town historic houses, cathedrals, markets, and squares this city had to offer. The city has essential two “old towns”; the medieval old town and the roman old town. It was unique in that you can see how each civilization made its mark on the city.
After walking through the medieval town slinking streets, walking along the bank of the Isle river, and walking through the huge Cathédrale Saint-Front de Périgueux, we made our way to the Roman old town.
The roman city blew my mind. There is a massive tower, The Tower of Vesone, that was dedicated to the goddess Vesunna, protector of the city. It stands at over 24m high! There’s also the remains of several other Roman civilization castles and amphitheaters. The Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum is the protector of some ancient ruins.
Unique Opportunities and Experiences
La Coquille
This was a home grown kind of town that we would have never stopped at if there wasn’t a housesit here. There wasn’t anything to do but sit and relax in the garden oasis with the dogs. Amber really enjoyed just opening all the windows, putting the laundry out on the line and having life slow down. We spent our entire time on the porch enjoying the fresh air.
Perigueux
We only skimmed the surface of this city’s rich history and I wish we could have taken a guided walking tour. I think the blatant difference between the two old town regions is unique and is often not well preserved. The ability to walk into an ancient temple that’s completely free and open to the public is crazy to me. You don’t get that in overly touristed towns.
Trip Cost Breakdown
| Item | Category | Cost |
|---|---|---|
|
Carrefour Express |
Groceries |
$2.28 |
|
Kasa Coffee |
Coffee Shops |
$12.94 |
|
Shopi |
Groceries |
$74.44 |
|
Carrefour Contact |
Groceries |
$7.07 |
|
Carrefour contact |
Groceries |
$20.31 |
|
Carrefour contact |
$7.01 |
|
|
Eurail |
Transportation |
$199.80 |
Cost Saving Opportunities
This trip was definitely good on the wallet! House-sitting saves a ton of money since you are not paying for accommodation. You also get pets to snuggle with, and your own kitchen to cook with (someone lives there and has all the stuff!). Our friends John and Christine also travel and house-sit, the community is wonderful! We have a feature on their blog as well.
Having a kitchen is literally the greatest gift of all time for traveling. We were able to plan and purchase everything for the week… including storing leftovers in the refrigerator! I know it seems normal, but you would be surprised how many places do not have refrigerators and adequate kitchens. This house even had a deep fryer… which we leveraged to make THE BEST FRENCH FRIES EVER.
Check out our previous trip!
