Poitiers is a wonderful little town, near the center of France. I stayed at large house owned by a British couple, living with their two children, on the outskirts of the town. They rent out rooms to tourist groups and are extremely hospitable. The house is enormous and is complete with a swimming pool, a huge yard, and a barn filled with games and a basketball hoop.

The town itself is actually quite small and doesn’t attract great amounts of tourism. Its a little fish in a big ocean that is France. I was there in the end of June and this is important because of a certain event: their music festival. For one night, the entire town is transformed into a cornucopia of small performances, numbering, at least, in the twenties.

During this festival, you can walk around town freely, enjoying all the music, spanning from small groups in corners to bigger performances in the town square that draw large crowds that are inclined to dance through the plaza. In addition to traditional French music, you can find newer, hipper French music, as well as both classic and new American music.

One memory I will never forget is dancing in the streets to one of the main bands performing Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock & Roll”. I was with a group of other students from Salt Lake City, Utah and I remember drawing a lot of attention with our flamboyant dancing, singing along, and our general merriment.

I have never in my life witnessed such free happiness and frolicking in such a widespread manner. To this day, I’m convinced that the entire population was out partying for the better part of the night, into the wee hours of the morning.

So basically, Poitiers is a great town, especially around that time. Another plus is its location. It is located just a short drive away from Mont St. Michel, Chartres, Futuroscope (an interesting and one of a kind theme park) and one of the largest sand dunes in the world. It is also surrounded by tons of smaller castles and is steeped in history. One last fun thing to do in that area is the Velo-Rail. The Velo-Rail is basically a train track that spans for miles. For a small fee, you can take a small sort of bike made for train tracks that fits four people, and pedal yourself through the countryside and see all the beautiful scenery and historical architecture.

When in France, Poitiers is a must-see, even if your just stopping by on your way between the North (Paris and such) and the South (Nice and Mediterranean).

Poitiers- Wikipedia