Saumur Zoo—A Corrected Update
The first time we visited the Loire Valley in France was five years ago. We’d visited Paris and other parts of France, but never the Loire and decided to spend a few weeks in the area. Our first stop was Saumur, a lovely town and a really good base for many wonderful activities and sights in the area. Because it was our first visit, we came prepared with various guidebooks (Lonely Planet and Insight, amongst others, I remember), but we also used the information and pamphlets provided by the Saumur Tourist Office. When you don’t know an area or a sight, you have to be guided by the opinions of others as a way of choosing what to do and see, which is why well-written articles and guidebooks and accurate advertising are so important.
At that time, based on the ads that we saw, we decided not to visit the Doue la Fontaine Zoo, a fact that I mentioned in an article published in Newfreebooters (http://www.newfreebooters.com/?p=11). The ads seemed to show the zoo as a type of spectacle and I quote what I said: “The zoo, for example, sounded to us over-done and sensational: animals kept underground seems particularly unattractive and cruel.”
As it turns out, those ads were obviously misleading, and subsequent ads have been much clearer, focusing more on the conservation aspect of the zoo—if we’d seen today’s ads five years ago I’m sure we would have gone. We had a wonderful time in the area and would recommend everything that we saw and did.
Over the years we returned to France each year, but not to the Saumur area, and we also lived in Paris for 6 months. But, late this summer (2008) we did return and my main point is: How things do change. Another reader of Newfreebooters pointed out that they had a mediocre experience at the Mushroom Museum we’d been so happy with, whereas I’m happy to report that I can thoroughly recommend the Doue la Fontaine Zoo. The zoo is in an unusual site, a reformed quarry that gives animals, many of them endangered species, plenty of space to roam in their respective enclosures.
The Moral: Don’t let preconceptions deter you from visiting certain places; and/or Learn to read beyond and behind the ads.
(view of Saumur and its chateau)
Glad you managed to go back and take another look, Viv – and that it was worth the effort.
Hi Mike,
I’m glad I managed to fix this issue—who would have imagined that that one comment would set off such a discussion?
Just shows how powerful words can be, hey?!
I’m trying to imagine what a mushroom museum would be like!
It was fun, Keith—a huge cave system tunnelled into the cliffs, with different “rooms” devoted to displays of various mushrooms, how they grow etc and even a place where mushrooms were growing, plus a cafe outside with mushroom dishes and snacks, and drinks.