With two solid days of heavy rain, we didn't get to see much of Avignon, Arles, or Aix-en-Provence.
The average high in May for Avignon is 74 degrees. I think our average high while in this region was more like 52. We've been bundling up with sweaters, jackets, and scarves.
We did spend some time at the Palais de Papes. You can read more about it by following this link.
Pope's Palace
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| Palais de Papes in the rain |
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| It was so rainy and cold in Avignon. |
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| Pouring rain on the Pont Avignon bridge. |
The best thing about being in Avignon is the dinner we had at a place called
La Cuisine du Dimanche The chef's name is Marie and she shops daily for the freshest produce at the local market. Marie is truly an artistic cook putting together flavors that are difficult to describe. Dan and I absolutely loved this place.
If I only had one day to spend in Provence, I would go to this restaurant and spend the evening beginning with the raspberry apertif, then the tapenade on cake-like bread, the vegetable soup, slow cooked pork with an amazing sauce, and any of the desserts. In addition, the wines were superior. I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. Definitely our best meal in France.
We had to skip any sightseeing in Arles because it was pouring rain. We drove through the center of town, but we would have been drenched if we had stopped. I was disappointed because this is supposed to be one of the best places to visit in the south of France. It's where Van Gogh spent several years and painted some of his most famous works. There is an amphitheater there and more museums, but I would have loved just to walk around and see it.
Moving on to Aix-en Provence where it was still rainy and cold, we had a difficult time finding the hotel. Dan was on the phone with the manager several times trying to understand how to get there before we finally found it. The hotel is called Mercure Chateuneuf Le Rouge and is located
in the heart of the vineyards, 15 minutes from Aix-en-Provence.
Across the street from the hotel, we stopped at a market to buy some peaches, strawberries, tomatoes, and some lavender honey. Then we drove through the city once again in the pouring rain.
The next day (May 29th) was one of my favorite days so far in France.
Using the search engine Bing one day, I saw their featured photo of a beautiful little village in the mountains called
Moustiers Sainte-Marie. I followed the links and learned enough about it that I put it on the list of places that I would like to go some day.
Moustiers Sainte-Marie, or simply
Moustiers, is a commune in
the Alps de Haute Provence in southeastern France, and is considered one
of the most beautiful villages in France.
It lies at the western entrance to the
Gorges du Verdon. The village has been a center of the pottery trade, especially an earthenware variety called
faience, for centuries.
When Dan and I decided to go to the south of France in addition to
Paris, I was thrilled that we might be able to go to this beautiful
mountain village. But, we might have to eliminate some other places from our plans.
We decided the night before, (May 28th), that we would make the journey, and that we would not take the motorway, but instead go through the twisty-turny-tiny roads that wound through lots of tiny villages. Below, you can see the approximate location from a larger map and
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| We started at A and Moustiers is C. |
from a larger scale.
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| We took the smaller roads through Pourrieres, Rians, Ginasservis, Vinon-sur-Verdon, Greoux-les-baines, Allemagne-en-Provence, Riex, Roumoules, and finally Moustiers. |
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| We started outside of Pourriers. |
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| The towns along the way are charming, but lots of winding, narrow roads and wondering how long this would all take. |
I would have taken more photos if there had been more places to pull out with the car. The drive was spectacular and these photos are not even close to the most beautiful places along the way. When we got to Greoux-les-Baines, there was a market on the roadside, so we stopped to look.
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| Greoux-les-Baines |
There were all kinds of goodies, wines, cheeses, pastries, soaps, olive oils, and herbs.
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| I bought some herb Chevre cheese from one of the vendors. I have come to love this cheese in the last few days. |
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| We couldn't leave without some pastries. |
From the time we left our hotel until we arrived at Moustiers, it took about 3 1/2 hours. Finally, we could see it in the distance from the road.
The village of Moustiers clings a hundred or so meters up the side of a limestone
cliff. A spring flows out of the cliff, creating a waterfall directly
out of the center of town. At twilight, the sun strikes the south-facing
cliff, creating a diffuse pink light for a few minutes on clear days. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay that late.
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| We still needed our jackets, but at least it was mostly sunny and no rain! |
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| Everywhere you go in Moustiers, there is a photo op. |
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| A spring that runs through the center of town. |
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| This is the spring. The foreground is a red flower. There is a cafe right next to the spring that you can see in the back. |
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| Very picturesque |
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| Another view of the spring |
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| We followed steps that would take us to the top of the mountain where there was a little chapel. We didn't quite make it to the top, though it wasn't far at all. Dan said it looked like rain. Ha! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| We could have made it. |
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A view near the top
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| Looking down from the mountain |
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| a little rest on the way down. |
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| a bridge over the spring on the way to the top |
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| Dan sitting in a cafe waiting for his paninni. |
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| A pottery store where I bought a couple of small pieces. |
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| You can see the chapel at the top. |
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| Dan having lunch. |
We were only there for around two hours, but had a great fun. A visit to Moustiers was well worth our time.
The next part of our journey was to try to get to Nice on the French Riviera. We had no idea what was in store for us on the way. Driving through the mountain passes, we saw a lake up ahead.
We didn't realize that we were driving through France's equivalent of a National Park. Yes, the water really is that blue. The roads were so narrow and I wanted to get some photos. I was driving this time and I pulled over to get a photo and a motorcyclist almost ran into me. He was so mad that he was swearing and cursing at me. Then we saw him again later at another stopping point and he pulled up next to me and was shouting something about getting the heck out of France.
The lake is called Saint Croix and is fed by a river that must be glacial water because it is so blue. The park had parts of it that reminded me of Yosemite with the half dome, Glacier National Park with the vast expanses of mountains, and Zion as well. It was truly beautiful.
Of course, there were lots of little towns that we traveled through in the park on the way to Nice.
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| And some very narrow roads through towns. |
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| Finally we arrived at the place we were staying in Antibes on the French riviera. More about that tomorrow. It had been a spectacular day. |
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| View of the Mediterranean from outside our room. |
