Is London City the airport that London forgot?
I hear more people talking about trekking to Stanstead and Luton than I do the carefree whispers of a flight out of City. Getting there from Battersea I took a bus, a tube and the DLR, something I’d normally consider a bit of a schlep but it was just over 1 hour door to door making me annoyingly early and wonderfully unflustered. I’m told at City airport they have a passenger policy to make Heathrow and Gatwick blush; apparently you can arrive and board within 45 minutes. What a dream.
it was barely past 10.30am but this is where I tasted my first two wines of the trip.
On the off chance your time exceeds the three quarter hour mark there is at least a haven to shelter out the storm in the form of The City Bar & Grill, it was barely past 10.30am but this is where I tasted my first two wines of the trip. I’m told it’s a city bar that doesn’t do airport food. And they’re right. Trés chic, as far as airport hangouts go and the food more English bistro than air-plain.
Onward to Angers in NW France. It’s the commercial centre of the Loire Valley and is almost in the middle of the 300km long region that runs horizontally along the river Loire from the coast near Nantes to central France. This was to be my home for 48 hours. Famous wines you may have tried from the region are Muscadet (great with seafood), Sancerre (perfect with goats cheese) and Crémant de Loire (the regions’ equivalent to Champagne and a refreshing apéritif). It is also the authentic home of the Chenin Blanc grape, better known now for its affordable bottles from South Africa but arguably more expressive and impressive here in its homeland.
