We travelled to France with Hertz Europe and Visit French Wine for an unforgettable week of castles, wine, history, French food, vineyards, villages, and sunshine - and loved every minute of it...

Here are some of the activities that we did on the spot:

• We landed in Nantes in the late afternoon, and our first stop was an incredible BnB - Château d'Yseron in Vallet.
• We visited Clisson - the little town was so cute, we could have spent the whole day. And (surprisingly) is home to one of the largest Metal festivals in Europe, which just happened to be in town the same weekend we were. The incongruity of seeing this charming village and the decked-out festival goers made us laugh every single time a group walked past us.
• We saw barrels of wine aging.
• We enjoyed diner at Le Favre d'Anne in Angers - I took more photos of food on this trip than I ever had before. We have never traveled with such a strong focus on food and wine before, and it was a really interesting, informative, completely new journey for us - especially me.
• The caves at Ackerman cellars were such a cool experience - they seemed endless and housed a museum on the history of wine-making - as well as huge installations from local artists. This installation was made of just strings and pins, with strategically placed lights to illuminate the entire cave.
• We rode through the vineyards in Saumur in a 1960's VW bus.
• We went to Le Clos Luce, the final home and death place of Leonardo Da Vinci - my favorite historical figure.
• Volupia Wine Bar was one of our favorite dinners on this trip - you order from the bar inside the cave and sit on picnic tables and lounge chairs by the river as the sun sets, it is magical. 
• We wore some old costumes at Château Amboise!
• Of course, we enjoyed wine tasting, for example at Caves Duhard. The oldest wine we had was bottled in 1975!
• We took a wild tour through the underground cave labyrinth at Troglo Degusto - through the week we learned that in medieval times, when the villages and castles were all being built, they mined stone from the mountains and created this massive network of underground caves - that were later used for wine aging, mushroom farming, and during the World Wars. This cave had markings from all of these uses all over the walls, and was full of underground wells, history, and oddities - one of the coolest experiences we had.
• We also saw amazing views of beautiful landscapes

We have never traveled with such a strong focus on food and wine before, and it was a really interesting, informative, completely new journey for us. I took more photos of food on this trip than I ever had before! 

See our whole trip in the Loire Valley in pictures here: IN ANALOG - ROAD TRIP THROUGH LOIRE VALLEY, FRANCE​

More on www.awaylands.com

All credits go to Amy Seder from awaylands