It would be a mistake to think that Le Mans is all about the 24-hour race and nothing more. For one, it has more than a kilometre’s worth of 2,000-year-old Roman wall that’s still largely intact, and a gorgeous old city area full of artists and galleries. We spent just the one night here, en route to Saint Malo in Bretagne. .
Once again, we’d booked an old hotel near the city centre – Citôtel Levasseur, with plenty of turn-of-the-century charm that reminded Roy of certain New York hostelries of the same era. Our Garmin, not being up to date with road changes, was a bit slow in getting us there, but get there we did.
Once we’d changed our small room for an only slightly pricier (€81) and comparatively huge one (no. 11) overlooking the main street and the trams, then polished off a couple of little bottles of southern French rosé, we were ready for a visit to the breathtaking cathedral and a walk around the ramparts and cobbled alleyways of the old city.
There seemed no reason not to dine at the hotel’s own bar and brasserie, La Mendigotte – and yes, the name must have something to do with beggars (as in mendicants), as the sign features a hat. After broaching a bottle of Chablis (we’re now firmly in love with the stuff) and nibbling complimentary salmon rillettes at the bar, we chose from one of the set menus (€29.90): jars of delicious pork rillettes with cornichons, then a traditional pork dish for Roy; better, I think, than my onglets de veau with a sauce of bleu d’Avergne and chips. For dessert, tarte tatin, again – and now I’m officially tarte tatin-ed up to the eyeballs.
It’s a shame we didn’t get to visit the highly recommended Le Mans museum, especially as Roy’s such a motor-head, I don’t mind looking at pretty cars, and there’s a tram for the museum that stops right outside the hotel we stayed at. Having just the one night in Le Mans meant there wasn’t enough time; but if we’d ascertained its location beforehand, we could have stopped on the way into Le Mans.
