Champagne-ing on Easter long weekend

Reims cathedral

This spring, we took a short break in the Champagne region of France. We drove there from Amsterdam, stopping on the way there and back in Belgium, in the towns of Ghent and Dinant. And while in Champagne, we just explored the villages and vineyards around, as well as the towns of Epernay and Reims. The trip turned out to be quite a relaxed holiday and a place that can definitely be visited again.


Getting there and Ghent

We had booked our airbnb in a small village of Champagne, called ‘Chateau Porcien’. The drive till there takes about 4.5 hours, with the Netherlands part mostly being through motorways, the Belgium part took us through some small towns (and honestly not great roads), while the French part was also through the highways. Though the roads in France were mostly 2 lanes, going up and down and constantly turning. It’s when you drive at places like these that you realise how flat the whole of Netherlands is.

Ghent city centre

On our way, we stopped at the Belgian town of Ghent and spent a couple of hours exploring its city centre. It was stunning – with its Flemish houses lining the canals and the many cathedrals dotting the city centre. The place looked directly out of a fairy-tale. That day was also very lively with lot of tourists everywhere, especially on walking tours. 

Ghent riverside

While there, we spent most of our time walking and eating. To eat, we tried all the famous Belgian offerings – Belgian waffles, Belgian chocolates and Belgian chips. The chocolates were definitely my favourites – they are heavenly.

We reached our village quite late that night, and driving on the small roads through fields and unlit villages felt a bit spooky but it also had its own rustic charm to it. On the way, I also had to stop and charge my Tesla. It was the first time I had tried a Tesla supercharger and I was super impressed – a 40 mins break and you are ready to take off. At one point, the Tesla supercharger charged 200kms in only 13 minutes! Hats off to Elon.

View of Chateau Porcien

Our airbnb was a huge house with a garden outside and a view of the village outside. It was lovely to stay there, wake up late everyday with the sun outside and laze in the morning. It’s sometimes so nice to stay in a village for a while.

Running through the fields

The village of Chateau Porcien was a very small non-descript village, with a bakery, a supermarket and lot of people who all knew each other. I went for a run one of the mornings and I could see everyone wondering who I was 😊), as they all knew each other. During the run, I caught a whiff of the French countryside which was refreshing, the village canal and fields with farm animals and ponies, lined with white flowers.


Exploring the Champagne region

During our two days in the area, we visited one vineyard every day. The first was Louis Brochet. The drive there was so cute, through small French villages with brown stone houses, churches and bakeries. The Louis Brochet was a small vineyard, with a gorgeous green garden. And even some tulips there😊. We took a tour where they showed us the process of how champagne is made. And then we sat outside in the garden for a bit. It was so green and turned sunny too, it was perfect. We were also quite surprised to see lot of visitors from Netherlands.

Inside Reims cathedral

Then we drove to the town of Reims for the evening and dinner. It was a beautiful town and quite lively. We first visited the Reims cathedral which was quite impressive. It had beautiful gothic arches inside. And some unique gargoyles on the inside.

Gargoyles

Rest of the time we just walked around town, had café in an open area, explored some of the local markets and shopped at a French boutique shop. It was such a perfect place to amble along, just walk in taking the views, the greenery and the energy around. We had an Indian meal at the Taj Mahal in a street which was full of restaurants, and drove back to our village at night.

The countryside

The next day, we repeated the same. First driving through the countryside and French villages to get to Fleury La Rivière. The drive was gorgeous and the weather sunny, though cool. Though green fields with sarson, windmills and lot of picturesque villages in the valleys. The French villages are so calming. We also drove through a forested area, and after the forests were lot of vineyards - spread out till where the eyes could see. I think we had finally come to the heart of Champagne, the valley of Champagne, with the forests and valleys and grape vineyards everywhere.

The village of Fleury La Rivière was such an old village, it was lovely to drive through it. We were visiting the vineyard of Francis Philipe Arnoult champagne here. The guide gave us quite a detailed tour of the facilities there, and was quite friendly with us.

Francis Philipe vineyard

This vineyard is run as a co-operative which buys the grapes from the locals, turns them into champagne and sells them to the large champagne companies. The winery was named after Francis Philipe, who was a wine grower from the village. He had become a rich wine merchant and moved to the city but had no family, so he donated all his money to the village. His name is therefore on the wine bottles from this vineyard. There are many murals outside the building too, depicting his story, how he gave money to the village, and how the co-op came about.

Art at the vineyard

The vineyard there had a river flowing underneath it which helped cool the champagne. Our guide explained how champagne is made in the big vats, how removal of the sediment is a big step in the process and how it takes 2-4 years to make champagne. Apparently vintage champagne is only from a specific year while old reserve champagne from different years is stored for blending with the newer grapes. Also apparently there are 4 other types of alcohol made in the area, the rest of them not being as famous as champagne.

After the visit we drove to Epernay and walked through the city centre. It was cute but our experience wasn’t too great. First, none of the electric chargers in the city were working. Second, most of the restaurants we walked to were closed or served only French food or fully booked out!

We walked a lot and finally found a Turkish place which was nice and we finally were able to eat dinner! After all the searching, we were already tired, and couldn’t explore Epernay much but apparently the Avenue de Champagne in town is quite a nice street to spend time in.


Dinant and back to Amsterdam

The last day we drove through Belgium and decided to stop at the town of Dinant. Driving through Belgium was gorgeous – it was so green, such a fresh shade of green. And there were cherry blossoms all along the road. The roads were smaller though and less maintained but worth the view.

Dinant

We stopped at the town of Dinant on the way. Which did not feel as impressive as we were driving towards it. But the view at the centre was stunning. Through the town flows a river, and on one side of it is a huge cliff, below which is a massive gray citadel and a row of brightly painted houses. It’s such a scenic view. We first drove a bit around town and to the top of the mountain, getting a good view of the village below.

Then we came down and after struggling to park for a while, finally got out and walked along the picture perfect river. There were colourful houses all along. The river was full of boats. The town is also where the founder of the saxophone was from, so there were lot of statues of the saxophone everywhere. And there were lot of Indians everywhere – it was clearly a popular tourist spot though I had never heard of it before.

We had lunch right next to the water at Pizzeria Taormina which was a picturesque location. There was someone playing the music along the river, in multiple languages. And I loved his Italian songs especially. It was quite an idyllic spot. And we wanted to stay longer but couldn’t as we had a long drive back. So we left soon for a rainy drive back to Amsterdam. But I am sure I will be back. To Dinant, as well as Champagne.