The best road cycling routes around Nieul-Le-Virouil

Courcoury is a natural island surrounded by the Charente and Seugne rivers, giving it a unique landscape setting between marshes and waterways, conducive to biodiversity and outdoor activities. It is also the only village in Charente-Maritime to have been awarded 4 stars by the "Villes et villages étoilés" label, recognizing its efforts to reduce light pollution through intelligent and environmentally friendly public lighting.

You can also spend a night at the Saint James House B&B, quality guest rooms, swimming pool and view of the Donjon 🙂

Very pretty village, worth visiting!

An old Romanesque church like many churches in this region. It has its cemetery and is only open on religious holidays. As for the town, it has less than 200 inhabitants, there are no amenities, no shops, no cafes.

The keep of Pons is located in the commune of Pons in the French department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. This tower is the old keep of the castle of Pons. 33 m high, it is visible from a long distance and is the symbol of the city. With the Saint-Gilles chapel, the remains of the ramparts and the main building, it constitutes the remains of the ancient castle of Pons.

The Santons people occupied Saintonge during the Gallic era. The Romans conquered the region and settled on the banks of the Charente. The town of Saintes (then designated Mediolanum), located at the western end of the Via Agrippa which linked Lyon (capital of the Three Gauls) to the Atlantic coast, quickly became monumental. At the time of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), the city probably became the capital of the province of Greater Aquitaine (Aquitania). This then extended from the Loire to the Pyrenees. Mediolanum is endowed with important public monuments: the amphitheater, the arch of Germanicus, the thermal baths and the aqueduct are still partially visible today. At the time of its peak (end of the 1st century – beginning of the 2nd century), the city must have had several thousand inhabitants. The amphitheater of Mediolanum is one of the earliest in Gaul. It is estimated that its construction began during the reign of Tiberius (14 – 37 AD), and was completed during the reign of Claudius (41 – 54 AD). Like many amphitheaters of the Roman Empire, that of Saintes was located on the outskirts of the ancient city in a chosen and developed site: the “vallon des Arènes”. Thanks to a favorable topography, the builders were relieved of part of their work, the amphitheater resting on the slope of the valley. This elliptical monument, with imposing dimensions (126 meters long and 102 meters wide), made it possible to accommodate several thousand spectators around bloody and violent representations such as gladiator fights (munera) or animal hunts (venationes ). In the 3rd century, the city declined and was entrenched within an impressive rampart, built from the remains of public and funerary monuments from previous decades. The amphitheater is then no longer used. Since the Middle Ages, it has been used, among other things, as a stone quarry. It was classified as a Historic Monument in 1840. It was from this moment that it was gradually restored. Today, despite the disappearance of the superstructures, the remains provide a faithful image of what this monument could have been at the time of its splendor. The site welcomes visitors all year round. Certain objects found during various excavations in the amphitheater district are visible at the archaeological museum.

5 km north of Barbezieux, we find this beautiful 13th century church in the small hamlet of Saint-Médard. From here, you can take the greenway to Clérac.

The Church of Saint-Martin de Coucoury was built around the 11th century. It is a pretty example of a Romanesque church.