A couple of weekends ago, Hitchen and I took a road trip to the island of Noirmoutier on the west coast of France. We chose the destination because Coeur de Pirate was playing a concert there, and I’ve wanted to see her live for ages, but before finding out about this show, I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of Noirmoutier at all ! But it turned out to be a beautiful place and I wished we had more time there. In case you’re wondering where it is…

The island is surrounded by beautiful beaches, and is unsurprisingly known for great seafood. It’s also incredibly bike friendly, and seems like a great place to go if you’re into water sports of any kind (though we didn’t partake on this trip). Here are some of the highlights and favourite pictures from the weekend!

{The island was incredibly picturesque.}

{We took the dogs, and were able to get accommodations with a terrace, so the girls were pretty happy to be able to relax outdoors.}

{An amazing meal at La Table d’Elise , including the best mussels I’ve ever had in my life.}

{A perfect lunch at Le Velo Noir , which included complementary hilarious hats to keep the sun out of our eyes.}

{A day at the beach – le Bois de la Chaise.}

{Stella spent her time at the beach running around like a lunatic, making it her mission to get as covered in sand as physically possible.}

{Layla preferred to relax… more and more as the day went on.}

{Our friend Regis invited us onto his sailboat for evening apero.}

{And of course, the concert, which was incredible.}

Also, fun fact! There are two bridges that connect the island of Noirmoutier to the mainland of France – one that is suspended well above the water, and one that’s, well… sometimes under water. During high tide, this road (Passage du Gois) quite literally disappears into the water. (You can read about it here . They even have an annual road race here, that starts at high tide, but you have to finish before the road disappears). Anyway, google gave us directions following this particular route, and this is what we found when we got there:

That’s all for now. I’m headed back to Newfoundland this week to spend some time with family and friends – can’t wait!