Saturday, November 2, 2013

Saturday is the big market day here in Aix.  While John went to get his hair cut, I visited the morning market.  Through the Passage Agard...

...and voila!

The markets are so much fun.  It seems as if everyone in town is there.  In addition to the wonderful produce, they have street after street of antiques, clothing, linens and pretty much anything else you can imagine.  The street performers are out...

...and it is a real treat to find a seat at a cafe and watch the world go by.  We went on a hunt for one of our favorite restaurants.  We remembered it being at the end of a tiny street and had just about given up hope of finding it when a lucky turn took us right to it.

Chez Feroud

This is the restaurant where we first tasted vin d'orange.  It is a wine only made in Provence and usually each family has their own recipe.  Luckily, there is a winery here who produces it and we have found the one shop in town that sells it.  It's a fabulous after dinner drink. Perfect for sipping. We made reservations that night for dinner and had a lovely evening out.

John's Entree

November 1, 2013

National holiday here in France.  Used the day to catch up on laundry and rest up from our trip. Had a problem with the washer so John went out looking for a wrench.  No luck!  Everything was closed.  Finally came up with a solution after a little discussion on how it should be done. No details of that conversation will be posted!

We went to the cathedral at 5:00 pm for solemn vespers.  The chanting was in Latin.  Beautiful to hear!

Said a little prayer for all of our family and friends that have gone before us.

Picked up a baguette on the way back to the apartment, made some spaghetti with olive oil and garlic, and watched an episode of "Inspector Morse" on YouTube.  Another wonderful day!

Luberon

Thursday, October 31, 2013

We awoke to a rainy day in Uzes so decided we had done enough exploring the previous evening.  Breakfast at the hotel was wonderful.  Homemade bread, jam, fresh squeezed orange juice and a fruit salad.  Wish I had taken a picture of it. It was beautiful.

We headed east toward the Parc du Luberon to visit the small village of Bonnieux.  John had read that it was a fun drive and on the list of "most charming villages" in France (hard to find an UN-charming one!). The route was beautiful even on a cloudy day.  Winding up through the mountains - not a problem for those of us from Colorado, but we imagine that visitors from Kansas would have a fright or two.

Bonnieux!  We parked at the base of the village and walked up to the centre ville.

Spectaculat Fall Colors

Restaurant with Million$ View

Apartment Windows in The Fortified Wall

View - Worth the Walk!

Had a lovely lunch in the village - very few places open.  Our waiter was a really fun kid - Kenny - who speaks English with a really convincing American accent.  He attributes this to spending "countless hours in bars" drinking and chatting with the American students in nearby La Coste.  He was so much fun!

We meandered our way down south through Lourmarin (really impressive), Cadenet and Pertuis.  Arrived in Aix in time to see some little some little trick-or-treaters roaming up and down the Cours.  The kids dress up mostly as witches and zombies here.  Didn't seen any princesses or pirates like at home.

We had dinner on the Cours at Pizza Pappa.  They were offering free drinks for anyone showing up in a costume.  Didn't buy John's story that we were dressed up as American tourists!

Languedoc

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Up early and off to the Languedoc. We have enjoyed the wines from this region for many years and are eager to see the region.  After pouring over our various maps, we have chosen a route that will allow us to avoid the highways.  We head northwest from Aix via Venelles on our way to our first spot, Arles.  We drive across narrow roads lined with plane trees through which tantalizing views of farmhouses, wineries, and chateau can be seen.  There is very little traffic.  Makes for a more relaxed trip.  

We pass through Cannat, Lambesc, Salon-de-Provence and arrive at Arles.

Arles - Main Square

Roman Amphitheater

Colliseum

Exterior Wall of Collesium

Just Another Charming House

Clematis

Typical Street in Historic Center

An Old Ruin in an Old Ruin

Stage of the Amphitheater

The Cheap Seats

View from Top Row

Coliseum

Interior of Coliseum

Arles is charming and quite easy to see on foot.  We stopped by the Tourism office to pick up a map of the city and then headed for the main square.  No market today, but it was nice to be there when it was fairly uncrowded.  First stop was the amphitheater built by the Romans. Still in operation today! It is amazing that wherever they travelled (aka conquered) they established centers of culture, water systems, roads, bridges, and countless other improvements.  John read that the generals would assign the soldiers building projects during long encampments to keep them occupied and out of trouble. 

The coliseum was an amazing structure. It is still in use as a bull fight arena.  So close to Spain, the residents are obsessed with it!

The Mistral was in full force so we settled into a little cafe for lunch.  Checked out the map and decided to backtrack a bit to visit Les Baux.  When we were in Bar sur Loup two years ago, a woman we met suggested that we visit there on our way to St. Remy.  She said it was her favorite village in the Languedoc.  Somehow, we missed it the first time.  Glad we didn't this time around. Gorgeous!

View From Parking Lot

On the Climb Up, and Up, and Up

Narrow Cobbled Streets...

Beautiful Artwork...

Historic (Small) Hotels...

Lovely Chapels...

Ancient Structures (meaning the walls!)..

Shopping...

and intriguing passageways.

It really has it all.  The city is built into the stone cliffs high above the valley and the views are magnificent.  The shops and restaurants were exquisite.  Each one a little work of art.  We would love to come back just to have lunch. Cannot stress enough how absolutely, drop dead gorgeous this place is.  If you are ever in the region DO NOT MISS seeing it!

We lingered a little longer than we had planned (it was just so cool!) so at about 3:30 pm we hit the road, heading for Uzes (northwest of Avignon) where we had reservations to stay that night.  Down the winding steep road towards Remoulins and points north, hoping we would reach our destination before sunset (no problem with vampires - we are just old and don't like to drive after dark).

We arrived at Uzes just as the sun was setting. What a lovely city.  Once inside the fortified walls, the historic town center is almost perfectly round, with the streets spreading out in circles connected by passages, each one more charming than the next.  Found a parking spot and reached the tourist office just before closing.  Amazed to discover that our hotel - the Hostelerie Provencal was only two blocks from where we parked. Yay!  

The hotel was lovely - masses of fresh roses in the tiny lobby - with a small dining room attached.  Unfortunately I had not thought to make reservations for dinner that evening and they were booked.  Not a problem.  Our host directed us across the street where after a walk around the city we had a wonderful meal.

Fruits de la Mer

It was a great place to stay the night.  We had read that it was a good (and quieter) alternative to staying in Nimes and we are into the smaller, less congested towns.  Great day!

Sanary-sur-Mer

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

We picked up our little car this morning and headed off to Sanary-sur-Mer, Bandol, and Cassis.

John's reaction to Sanary-sur-Mer - "Let's sell everything we own, buy a sailboat, and live here forever!".

How Much Could One of These Cost?!?!

View of Village From the Marina

Ready for Halloween

Beautiful! Nice protected bay right on the Mediterranean.  The village had a really nice feel to it.  Plenty of streets to wander but not so large and glitzy to attract hordes of tourists.  Of course, this is the end of October and a somewhat rainy day so who knows what it's really like in high season.  Quite pleasant this time of the year, though.

One of Many Narrow, Winding Streets

Next we headed to Bandol (just west and across the bay from Sanary).  

Town Square

"Saint Francis of Assisi"

Bandol is much larger with much larger boats and would require a much larger budget.  There is a casino in town and it has the look of a real honest to goodness beach resort.  Almost like a little St. Tropez.  Lots of yachts and many beautiful villas perched on the cliffs above the city. Great place to visit and rub elbows with the jet set.

We drove through Cassis on the way back to Aix.  Charming town with many beautiful buildings and a very large marina. We were too tired to stop (it was raining a bit too) so headed back to face the horror that is the garage-space we rented.  We are on level -3. The garage is so narrow that there is barely a 6" clearance on either side of our small car when parked. I would include a couple of pictures but it is so dark down there that you can barely see your hand in front of your face. NOT my favorite place to be!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Spent some time deciding where we wanted to go and how to get there. The train and bus service here are really wonderful, but to see many of the smaller towns it made sense to us to rent a car for a few days and travel through the countryside stopping where we want for as long as we want.  

We reserved a car for tomorrow and will venture down southeast to see some of the coastal towns we passed on our cruise.  Fortunately, the owners of our apartment have a garage a few blocks away.  Parking is very scarce here especially in and near the centre ville.

Went for a long walk and then returned in time for John to watch St. Germain play Marseille.  Watched for 15 minutes and then it went to subscription. Just cruel!  Poor John!  We rented the 2005 series of "Dr. Who" on ITunes and watched it a bit.  It is Max's favorite show and it's always fun to get inside the 12 year old's world. 

John had a sudden inspiration to try and find the game on YouTube.  While the game was not on yet, we did discover that they have full episodes of just about any TV show you would want to watch.  We have enjoyed watching "Inspector Morse", "Poirot", "Jeeves and Wooster", and even "Ozzie and Harriet". Who knew!

OOPS!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

In France daylight savings time ended last night!  I had next weekend on my calendar, forgetting of course that we change time a little later in the US.  Missed church! But had a nice relaxing day here in Aix.