UN PETIT TOUR DE PROVENCE ET PARIS

So after a lovely family wedding in the UK, we hopped over the Channel (not through the tunnel thank you very much - the thought of all that water above me - shiver) to Paris and took the TGV down to Avignon to have a few days in Provence.  Being the daredevils that we are - (!) - we booked hotels at the beginning and end of our short tour, and decided to wing it for three days and stay where the fancy took us.

We had a file full of maps and directions, and yet on arrival at the Avignon TGV station, I had neglected to read the instructions from the hotel to get a suburban train to the city and the hotel is then walking distance.  So having crossed the highway, and on approaching a shopping centre with a huge Carrefour (to come in handy later as it happens) we knew we had made a wrong turn.  It was a very hot day and this part was no fun lugging our suitcases along the uneven pavements and through heavy traffic, but back to the station we went.  Then of course I realized my mistake and got a E1.60 ticket to the Avignon city station which is just outside the ancient city walls.

We had prebooked Hotel de Garlande which was tucked away in one of Avignon's many small alleys, but was a minute from the main town square which was buzzing with people eating and drinking in the myriad restaurants and cafes.  The owner however, suggested that the square was "miserable" and that we should eat in the restaurant next door.  Having had a long day we went there quite early (by French standards) - about 7pm and the place was empty.  By 8pm they were turning people away.  What a marvelous find.

and the wine was good too.

After dinner we walked around the lively town square and had coffee in one of the many sidewalk cafes.  We didn't find it "miserable" at all - still buzzing till late into the evening.

The next morning we woke bright and early to walk around the city a little and visit the Palais des Papes.   It had not yet opened so we walked around the gardens and paused at the magnificent view sites.  

Palais des Papes

Palais des Papes

The rooftops of Avignon

The famous Pont d'Avignon

We were keen to get out of the city however and into the countryside so we went back to the TGV station to pick up our hire car.  We were not going to hire a GPS with the car as the cost of that was almost as much as the car itself.  However, after being assured by the rental agent that it would be a "marriage saver" we decided to get one anyway.  Thank goodness - he was right.  We would never have found our way around without it.

We first drove an hour or so to investigate the Camargue region, which is famous for its wild horses and lakes.  The only horses we saw were behind fences and the lakes were not evident.  We drove down to the seaside town of Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer which is very quaint, and it was nice to have a look at the Med, although it always seems rather grey to me, even on a sunny day.  Lunch was fish, of course, and local beer.  Then back to the official start of our tour - Les Baux de Provence.  This fortress on a plateau 245 m high is at the pinnacle of the village of Les Baux - one of the most beautiful villages in France.  The cobbled streets and ice cream and nougat vendors were just charming.  We had to pay 5 Euros to park in the street at the bottom of the hill which was a little annoying (not even a car guard in sight) but we walked all the way up to the top and enjoyed the magnificent views over the Camargue, les Alpilles and the town of Arles.  

The fortress

The fortress

Looking over the village of Les Baux

Wine at Hostellerie de la Reine-Jeanne

It was a very very very hot day, and we decided we loved it so much in this village we would try and find somewhere to stay.  The Tourism Info office sent us to Hostellerie de la Reine-Jeanne at the end of the 'pedestrian only' part of the town which looked charming.  After initially sending us away as there was no room left, Gayle called us back and said there was a room for 60 Euros, including breakfast.  We jumped at it and on her advice sat and relaxed with a glass of wine waiting for 6pm when most of the tourists would have left and we would find parking nearer the hotel to make it easier to bring up our luggage (haha).   We did indeed bring up the car to the top but when we opened the boot it was empty!!!  Everything - gone!  Luckily I was carrying our passports and money and my camera so they at least were safe.    Our initial reaction was to get out of there as quickly as possible and come home, we were use that angry.  Gayle and Jean-Pierre were so wonderful, giving us toiletries (there were no shops in the village selling such banal necessities), dinner on the house (I couldn't eat anyway), and being generally very sympathetic to our plight.  After a rather sleepless night, but in the warm light of day we decided to carry on.  After spending quite a long time at the police station futilely reporting the incident (which we were told by many, including the police, happens fairly often in this area) we ventured forth to our next destination, L'Isle Sur La Sorgue.  

Known as the "Venice of Provence" - the town is built on the Sorgue river and the many, many cafes and restaurants are doing a roaring trade along the many canals that run through the town.  It really is very pretty but we were hot and still a bit cross about yesterday so after finding a pharmacy to get some sunblock and some toothpaste we had a quick lunch here and moved on.

L'Isle sur la Sorgue

 Not on everyone's itinerary and certainly not on many maps, Venasque is another beautiful hilltop village.  Worth seeing for it's very steep lanes, and the 11th Century Baptisterie.  Another "most beautiful village in France" - there seem to be quite a lot of them!

Venasque

Venasque

Another 15km, and we reached the village of Gordes.  Apparently the most photographed village in France and it is easy to see why.  We immediately fell in love with this village and decided to find somewhere to stay.  The Hotel Mas des Romarins fitted the bill perfectly - a short walk away from the town but on the other side of the valley so we had the pleasure of watching the sun set over this picturesque village from the gardens of the hotel whilst enjoying a nice cold crisp Luberon white wine.
We found a shop that sold cotton, locally made clothing so could stock up on a couple of shorts and t-shirts - wearing the same clothes for three days in the hot Provence sun was getting a little uncomfortable.  Sitting at the hotel enjoying the magnificent scenery and delicious wine, we reminisced about our lost luggage - most of it completely replaceable but some items of sentimental value we will never replace.  A valuable lesson was learnt here - travel light.

View of our Hotel from the village

Gordes

 We decided to base ourselves here for two nights so as not to have all the hassle of packing and unpacking (haha - too soon!) so the next morning set off for Bonnieux, a 19th century village built around the silk industry which now concentrates its efforts on tourism - there is even a Bread Museum - and yes, cafes and restaurants.

The view from Bonnieux

Driving between these villages was a challenge in itself - not just keeping to the other side of the road, but that there really was no "side of the road".  Most of the lanes we travelled were just wide enough for one vehicle, and the French who are used to driving this way didn't really feel the need to slow down when seeing an oncoming vehicle.  A lot of driving time is spent on the edge of the ditch at the side of the road at a complete standstill while the local is whizzing past seemingly oblivious to your existence.  Luckily the roads were very quiet and oncoming traffic was not constant.

From Bonnieux to Roussillon - the road into the village was blocked off as it was Jeudi - market day.  It was quite a walk in the blazing sunshine up the hill into the centre but when we arrived we found a very pretty village (another of the "most beautiful villages in France") festive with music, lots of people eating, drinking and shopping.  The many colored buildings built from the surrounding ochre and clay - the red, yellow and orange shades of the earth reflected in the colorful buildings.  There were plenty of goods on display, including the locally made nougat, a speciality of the region, which is sold in huge blocks.  I was so tempted to buy some but it would have been too heavy for our brown paper carrier bag which was the only thing we had at that time.

The multi colored houses of Roussillon

The Rousillon town hall

Next stop Menerbes, the home of Peter Mayle when he wrote A Year in Provence, but we were told he had to move away because the bus loads of tourists wanting to take photographs of every square inch of the village was too much for the locals.  It has now returned to the peace and quiet of yesteryear with very few tourists bothering to stop off here.  The views from this village are particularly beautiful as the area is very green, lots of vineyards and cherry orchards down below.   There is a Truffle and Wine House, showing off the produce of the area.

The view from Menerbes

We made a quick stop in Apt to buy a charger for the phone and a couple of items of clothing - thank goodness for European hotels with their heated towel rails and radiators - made washing and drying of clothing a little easier.  Then to Lourmarin, which is really off the beaten track and very quiet and, dare I say it, one of the "most beautiful villages in France".  So we sat in the town square having a nice cold local beer with the locals, with umbrellas shading us from the hot sun.  And of course off the beaten track the beer was half the price of anywhere else.  We visited the 15th century Chateau, which was impressive from the outside, but not from within.  There are churches and beautiful buildings in the other villages which are more interesting, and free.

Coming into Gordes from the other side we saw that there is a lovely vantage point on a rocky outcrop next to the road to take photographs of the village so we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then walked down just before sunset.  We had to wear the hotel slippers as our shoes were now starting to want to walk on their own, and this resulted in some very strange looks from the passers by, especially as we were struggling to keep the gravel from tearing our feet to shreds.    It was all worth it though as this is by far the best view of the village.

We ate the three course set meal in the hotel that night, small helpings of the most delicious food, and of course the requisite bread basket.  After breakfast the next morning we set off to St Remy de Provence where I had prebooked a hotel as it was our last night and we needed to know where we would be.  This was a trip that we remember well through avenue after avenue of oak trees lining the lanes.  Unfortunately, there was too much traffic, and the sun was by now too high anyway to take any photographs.  I was also rationing my taking of photos as the only battery I had left was the one in my camera and the others had been taken along with my camera bag and charger.  The Hotel du Soleil et Spa was tough to find in and around the one way traffic system in the town centre, but find it we did and walked in with our brown paper bag of clothing.  We were a little early for check in so the receptionist offered to keep the bag for us.  Having noted how anxious we were at just leaving it in the foyer, she took us to an office on the second floor where she deposited our bag and locked the door.

St Remy de Provence, Hotel du Soleil et Spa

We walked into the charming town of St Remy and continuing in the spirit of aiming to eat where the locals do we found the Tabac des Alpilles and had some lunch, and of course some local wine.

Local wine

There was an anxious moment when we returned and none of the 50 keys or so on her keyring would open the door to the office and we thought someone had jimmied another lock, but she sent us off to our room and within five minutes our precious bundle was there!

After wandering around the town and simply soaking up the atmosphere, later we went back to the same place for dinner.  We managed to grab the last table and to our delight found that Friday night was "Flamenco" night.  Two guitarists were entertaining the patrons and the whole restaurant joined in to "Solare, oo oo, cantare, oo oo oo oo".  We shared a "grand poison" - no idea what the fish was but it was cooked whole to perfection and filleted at the table.  A splendid way to end our time in Provence.

Our little bar in St Remy

Saturday morning back to Avignon to get the TGV back to Paris.  Stumbling across the Carrefour on the first day when we were lost proved fortuitous because we made a plan to pop in there and buy some warm tops for Paris (thank goodness we did) and a small suitcase.  We just couldn't face the idea of getting on a plane with just our brown paper carrier bag in tow.  As mentioned, the first class trip back was very comfortable, bigger seats and with a better standard of bathroom, and we made our way north as the clouds started to appear and got heavier and heavier the closer we got to Paris.  By the time we got there it was teaming down and after a short attempt to walk to the hotel with a very complicated and very small Paris street map, we hot footed it back to the station and got on the Metro.  From the Odeon station it should have been a short hop to the hotel, but as mentioned the map was very small, and was soon soaking wet, but eventually after asking for directions in my rather poor French, we found the Hotel St Andre des Arts.

The hotel is in the Latin Quarter, surrounded by restaurants and cafes, buzzing with students, and people young and old.  This made the first nights sleep a little difficult as they were partying until about 3am but we managed to doze off in between the shouting and hoots of laughter.  Anyway, we took a walk to get our bearings and round the corner stumbled across the Pont des Arts festooned with "love locks".

Across the bridge and we found ourselves walking into the grounds of the Louvre.  We knew we were close to everything but this was a short walk from the hotel.   Showing Paris to someone for their first time is almost as good as your own first visit, and my husband was completely overawed by the beauty of this building and others surrounding it.  

The next day we did all the touristy things in Paris in between rain showers - Notre Dame

Where we saw this rather colourful character

then to the Place de la Concorde and through the Tuileries Garden which is where the rain started again. We stopped under some umbrellas outside a cafe and felt obliged to buy a cappuccino - at R95 each it was an expensive rain shower!  Along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, but once again the rain came down in a deluge so we got back on the Metro to our hotel, this time we walked around the corner from the Odeon station and there it was, about a 2 minute walk.  We didn't have far to walk from our hotel to find a place to eat and again plumped for one of the last tables at the most popular place.   

Cafe Le Buci, Paris

I had booked tickets for the Eiffel Tower about three weeks before we left Johannesburg, but even then the only time slot available was 7.30 pm on Sunday.  Thank goodness I did too, as the queues were horrendous.  Even with prebooking the wait is a good 40 minutes before you actually get to the top.  But the view was worth it

Paris at sunset

By the time we got down it was dark and the tower was lit up - quite a spectacular sight.

Monday morning early we got to the Louvre about half an hour before it opened and stood in a not too long queue, but of course the rain came down again.  There was a group of ladies further back from us sporting complete coverall plastic macs and I remarked to my husband that we could have done with something like that. The ladies very kindly leant us an umbrella and just as well as we were wearing the clothes we had to travel home in later that day!

And like many before us we made a b-line for the Mona Lisa, stopping of course to admire the many, many beautiful paintings and sculptures along the way.  Amidst such magnificence, the little lady is a bit disappointing when you get up close, but at least this time we were allowed to take photographs.

The latin quarter is woven with small alleyways with hidden bars and restaurants and again for lunch we just parked ourselves in one that looked the most appealing.  The waiter (Italian) was absolutely charming and we had pasta and Italian wine for our last meal in France - oh well, it was really good.

Being now seasoned European Travellers we took a train from the centre of Paris to the airport.  It really is quite easy to do, and cheap.  And so, back home to Joburg.  Funny that only when we got out of Paris and back to the big bad city of Johannesburg could I loosen the tight grip I had on my handbag - those signs all over Paris warning you of pickpockets and the looping videos showing the  re-enactment of their modus operandi makes one very stressed!  It was good to be home.