Friday 10 February 2012

Shivering in the City...

We had cause to visit Poitiers for the first time today. It is an odd mix of old and new situated on the bank of Le Clain as the river bends, thus creating a natural boundary to north, east and south of the main part of the city.

The helpful young lady at the local Office de Tourisme explained three main areas of interest, marked by red, blue and yellow lines painted on the pavements. Now this would have been a great idea normally but perhaps not today...


We had limited time to sight-see so we headed for the 12th century Cathedral church of Saint Pierre; by far the most important Gothic building in Poitiers.


The Cathedral houses a magnificent twelfth century 'Clicquot' organ...


Had it been 25C warmer we would have stayed longer... As it is, we will have to make a return visit in the summer. For today we contented ourselves with a quick visit to Leroy Merlin and then it was back across the snowy wastes towards Braye...

4 comments:

Susan said...

Never been here. I've been to the polychrome marvel on the market place, which is fab and well worth a visit. I remember visiting St Gatien Cathedral in Tours one winter and it being colder inside than out - absolutely perishing. They had piles of little envelopes dotted about the place and notices inviting visitors to contribute to the heating fund.

Anonymous said...

The cathedral looks massive, well worth a visit by the looks of things,

SP

Anonymous said...

my brother went to University there and complained how everything inside was so down trodden, of course that was 50 years ago hopefully it has improved!!!

Annie v.

Jean said...

We have only been to Poitiers once and really enjoyed the day. Thanks for the lovely photos.