Our Blog - Pons, France 2022

We stopped at Pons for the evening, which seems to be quite normal as it is one of the busiest urban crossroads in the Charente-Maritime department. It sits just off of the A10 motorway, which is a major North-South axis on the West side of France. We stayed at a lovely little B&B just outside of town and went to the downtown for dinner. We grabbed a few pictures of the donjon de Pons.

There used to be a castle here, which was built on the remains of the Roman village. It was destroyed in 1179 by Richard the Lionhearted with the exception of the quadrangular keep, which was the centerpiece of the defensive system. This keep is the best example of a Romanesque keep-palace in western France. The stone walls are 8 feet thick on three of its sides and 14 feet thick on the North side. It is over 100 feet tall, and the base is 86 feet by 50 feet.

Next door is a manor house built in 1630 by Henri I d'Albret, who married the last of the Lord of Pons line, thus inheriting the Donjon. They use the area for concerts, including one that was being held that weekend.

And just a couple pictures of some of the lovely decorations on some of the houses around the square.

The square facing the donjon has a set of restaurants, one of which was our dinner spot.

I mentioned our lovely little B&B ... these were the two nightstand lights ... HOW CUTE!!!