www.tourisme-blaye.com. Encircled by vineyards on the east bank of the Gironde, dozy Blaye crouches behind its vast, grass-covered Citadelle. The site has been fortified since Roman times, but the present fortifications are the work of Maréchal Vauban, Louis XIV’s celebrated military architect. Together with the ruined Fort Médoc on the west bank and Fort Pâté in mid-stream, it was designed to protect Bordeaux from the British fleet.

Inside the citadel, which measures almost 1 km long and 0.5 km across, there is a clutch of apricot-coloured cottages laced with climbing roses, craft shops and tea rooms which cater for trippers in season, and an hotel.

There are cheaper hotels in town; and several daily ferries across to Lamarque on the Médoc peninsula.