Chris discovered the Puy du Fou website quite by chance and said we had to go, especially after friends at camera club gave it the thumbs up. I was a little sceptical, not sure how great a historical theme park in French would be, but we booked tickets to fit in with our ferry home. I left the rest to Chris to sort and he booked us into the Ibis in Les Herbiers for a couple of nights so we were close by.
Showtimes were added to their app a couple of days before and using the map we tried to plan our day to include the events we most wanted to see without walking from one end of the park to another. The app also provided simultaneous translation for some events if you took earphones, and it was going to be warm so water, hats and suncream went into the bag as well as a power pack just in case.
We were lucky to have a perfect day with some cloud and hazy sunshine and we were ready to enter the park as it opened … and had a truly wonderful time!
The park is made up of arenas presenting shows based on different historic events and also immersive shows that you walk through. These are linked with shady walkways and gardens and three theme villages of different periods with refreshments, craftsmen making things and souvenir shops.
In fact, for much of the time I was so busy enjoying it all that I hardly took any photos!
We entered by the the Belle Epoch Village …
… and our first short show was The Carrillion, with lots of bell ringing and acrobatics ….
The first epic was The Vikings, the story of a peasant girl who saves village from Viking raiders starring a ship which rises from the lake, acrobatics, explosions, horsemanship, animal handling, falconry and with a happy ending.
We saw three of the immersive shows, but being inside, it was hard to get photos. La Perouse told the tale about about a French voyage of exploration as we walked through the hull of the ship, there was a chateau with talking portraits, and the life of a really earl French king called Clovis.
Here’s the village of Fort-Rognou where we had lunch … ye olde burgers …
The next was The Secret of the Lance, a story of a shepherdess who helps save the castle with the help of Joan of Arc starring a huge lowering castle wall, acrobatics, explosions, horsemanship with a happy ending.
… and the finale, a tale of Richelieu’s Musketeers with swash-buckling sword fighting and Spanish gypsy girls dancing flamenco in water.
By early evening, there was another show we could have stayed for, but we decided to call it a day! Tired but happy, we stopped off for snacks on the way back, and sat on the terrace at the Ibis in the evening sunshine talking about how great the day had been. Well spotted Mr Hayes … his inner child was released!
Just for info, Puy du Fou began when a student had an idea to promote the history of the region and increase employment. The show Cinéscénie was born in 1978 and now has 1200 actors, hundreds of horses and lots of fireworks and is just shown during the peak season. In 1989 the Grand Parc of Puy du Fou was opened and it gets over 2 million visitors a year and it also has firework shows some evenings … but fortunately not this evening!
Tomorrow we head back towards the coast …
Off Travelling Together 