--- title: "Roadtrip through France -" description: "After several months in Asia it was finally time to get back to Europe." date: "2025-07-24T18:53:59+02:00" language: "en-US" canonical_url: "https://patrickposner.com/blog/roadtrip-through-france/" source_url: "https://patrickposner.com/blog/roadtrip-through-france/" content_type: "text/markdown" --- After several months in Asia it was finally time to get back to Europe. We’ve spent a couple of days home, catching up with family and friends before packing up the car and driving our way to France. It was also finally time to be reunited with my lovely dog, Sheldon! ## Colmar Our first step was Colmar, just behind the German border. We had some bad luck with the weather, but I still managed to get some decent photos: [![Roadtrip through France 2](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02365-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02365-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 3](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02369-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02369-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 4](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02377-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02377-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 5](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02385-682x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02385-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 6](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02397-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02397-scaled.jpeg) It’s a lovely place, but way too overcrowded by tourists. Even with the weather being less then optimal, the streets were packed with people. ## Côte d’Azur Our next stop was a small town close to the Côte d’Azur called Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer. It’s what you would expect – it was hot (we had a heatwave during our time there), you find beautiful beaches, lots of vineyards and overall a pretty mediterranean flair. [![Roadtrip through France 7](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02489-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02489-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 8](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02464-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02464-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 9](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02471-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02471-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 10](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02490-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02490-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 11](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02544-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02544-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 12](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02537-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02537-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 13](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02507-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02507-scaled.jpeg) It’s not the best place to travel with a dog sadly. Most beaches won’t allow dogs all year along and you rarely find a great space to go for a walk. We still managed to keep him entertained, but we had to think a bit out of the box! ### Marseille We also made a quick trip to Marseille and I wasn’t impressed. It’s really a show-off for most people – look rich, being poor, seems to be a pretty common pattern here. I’d say you probably have a better time here staying in a hotel inside the city (without a dog) and go for some fancy vine-tasting, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a day-trip. [![Roadtrip through France 14](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02432-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02432-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 15](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02423-1024x647.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02423-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 16](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02427-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02427-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 17](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02433-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02433-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 18](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02439-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02439-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 19](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02442-682x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02442-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 20](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02447-1024x647.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02447-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 21](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02448-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02448-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 22](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02461-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02461-scaled.jpeg) ## Bordeaux Our next stop was Izon (a small town right next to Bordeaux). It was honestly pretty similar to our time at the Côte d’Azur because we caught the peak of the heatwave. We stayed inside most of the time, giving our little dog plenty of time to recover from the heat and me some time to catch up with work. We still managed to get a day trip to Bordeaux and a day at the cliffs: [![Roadtrip through France 23](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02602-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02602-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 24](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02557-1-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02557-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 25](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02567-1-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02567-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 26](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02568-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02568-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 27](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02606-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02606-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 28](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02617-1-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02617-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 29](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02635-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02635-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 30](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02637-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02637-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 31](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02646-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02646-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 32](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02657-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02657-1-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 33](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02681-1-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02681-1-scaled.jpeg) ## Nantes As we were heading north, our next stop was Nantes. There isn’t much to share here, despite one big thing: [Les Machines de l’île](https://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/). It’s basically a steampunk theme park and well worth a visit – I don’t want you to spoil too much, but here are some cool shots I’ve done: [![Roadtrip through France 34](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02688-1024x717.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02688-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 35](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02691-1024x788.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02691-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 36](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02695-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02695-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 37](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02703-1024x612.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02703-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 38](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02745-1024x612.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02745-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 39](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02764_GEN_GEN-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02764_GEN_GEN-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 40](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02780_GEN-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02780_GEN-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 41](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02837-1024x647.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02837-scaled.jpeg) ## Brittany We finally visited all the big cities (at least the ones we had planned). It was time to meet up with some of our friends who accompanied us for the next 2 weeks – it got a bit more unstructured, but also more fun! [![Roadtrip through France 42](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02901-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02901-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 43](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02914-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02914-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 44](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02938-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02938-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 45](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02957-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02957-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 46](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02965-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC02965-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 47](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03009-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03009-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 48](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03036-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03036-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 49](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03089-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03089-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 50](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03128-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03128-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 51](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03136_GEN-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03136_GEN-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 52](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03167-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03167-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 53](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03178-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03178-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 54](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03361-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03361-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 55](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03375-1024x683.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03375-scaled.jpeg) ## Saint Michelle No trip through France without stopping by at Saint Michelle, right? Before we drove our way from Brittany to the Normandy we decided to take a day trip to visit Saint Michelle: ![Roadtrip through France 56](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03278-1024x683.jpeg) ![Roadtrip through France 57](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03253-1024x682.jpeg) ![Roadtrip through France 58](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03244-1024x683.jpeg) ![Roadtrip through France 59](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03225-1024x682.jpeg) ![Roadtrip through France 60](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03263-1024x647.jpeg) ![Roadtrip through France 61](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03257-1024x683.jpeg) Our friend had already warned us that it was a crowded space, but we weren’t prepared for how crowded it actually is – it’s a pure miracle that this place still exists and hasn’t sunk to the ground, given how many people go in and out here every day! ## Normandy Our last stop of the trip – also the one with the least amount of photos because, you know, it does get kinda repetitive. I know the cliffs are incredible, the weather was great, but after all those impressions for Asia, we had a pretty hard time getting the excitement for France: [![Roadtrip through France 62](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03319-648x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03319-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 63](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03289-682x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03289-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 64](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03298-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03298-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 65](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03306-683x1024.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03306-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 66](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03317-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03317-scaled.jpeg) [![Roadtrip through France 67](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03323-1024x682.jpeg)](https://patrickposner.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC03323-scaled.jpeg) And that’s it, folks – two months in France gone! Next, we are taking a quick trip to Belgium to meet up with friends from my mastermind before heading back to Germany.