Villefranche-sur-mer
After an uneven nights sleep with our body clocks adjusting, we awoke and headed to Villefranche-sur-mer. “Villefranche-sur-mer,” you might be asking, “Why go there?”. Or, maybe, you weren’t asking that. In any event, it turns out, Villefranche-sur-mer was one of the places that I passed on a train journey many years back. It looked idyllic at the time. I wanted return and stay someday. With that, we headed out from Nice to Hotel Welcome in Villefranche-sur-mer.
Villefranche-sur-mer in the morning light
Our day started with coffee and pastries on our room’s balcony while watching the port in Villefranche-sur-mer gradually spring to life under the colored morning sky. On checking out, we headed west (more…)
Weekly market in St. Remy de Provence
The day began with a trip to the outdoor market in St. Remy-de-Provence. St. Remy is a short drive from the house in Fourques. After the challenge of finding parking, Becky, Catherine, Ganesan, and myself walked to the market and found a sprawling scene of colorful tent covered stalls full of goods from the region. Crowds of people swirled through the aisles of the market. The booths were entwined amongst buildings and trees of the old town, in the plaza and down the narrow streets. Along side the (more…)
The Eglise in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
The group as a whole headed out in two cars to the Camargue. The Camargue is basically the delta formed by the Rhone River and is flat (more…)
The formal start of the climb of Mt. Ventoux
Friday was the day we had chosen for our “assault” on Mt. Ventoux. Dawn came with light showers that turned heavy as the morning progressed. Undaunted, we headed to Bedoin to pick up the bikes and climb the mountain. By the time we arrived at La Route du Ventoux, the bike shop, the skies had cleared and we had reasonably cool conditions for the ride.
The folks at La Route had the bikes ready to go when we arrived. We had previously sent them detailed measurements of our own bikes, and they found the best matches amongst their inventory and made the necessary adjustments. After installing the pedals and making some slight adjustments to the seat heights, the carbon fiber Scott bikes were ready to go and the ride was reasonably comfortable.
Vegetables on offer at the Mouries Olive Festival
The group headed out in late morning for the olive festival in Mouries. Mouries is a village to the east and slightly north of Arles. The festival occupied the main tree-lined pedestrian area of the town and booths were set up to offer tasting of local olives and olive oil. Other stalls displayed a wide variety of wares from vegetables and bread to antique tools and linens with many items in between. A group of dancers in historic costumes performed traditional dances to traditional music. Later, a parade of vintage vehicles moved in a line, smoking down the center of the festival street. It seemed as if everyone from the region was there. The streets were full of festivalgoers.
The bridge from Fourques to Arles
[continuing from the previous post…]
As Becky approached the Razeteur’s entrance in the Arena in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, chuckles from the bullfighters inside watching her approach could be heard clearly. Perhaps they were chuckles of amusement that she might want to give it a try. Or perhaps they were the smirks of “bring it on”, “lets see what you can do”. We’ll never know, as Becky turned from the door at the last moment, thinking better of an encounter with the bulls.
Pont-du-Gard
Our sightseeing continued with a journey to see Pont du Gard and Avignon. Pont du Gard, a massive Roman aqueduct, spans the River Gard. It is a short drive 30 minutes or so north from the house in Fourques. (more…)
Perhaps this was not our first bottle of wine in France
As a fan of Rhone wines, it was inevitable that we head out and sample some of the region’s wines. In the morning, Ganesan, Catherine, Becky, and myself headed up to one of the more famous wine towns in France, Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The previous evening we had been hit in Fourques by an intense thunderstorm that cycled the lights on and off in the house during dinner and drenched the surroundings. The day of our visit to Chateauneuf-du-Pape dawned cool with lingering showers. Later in the day, the fierce winds of Le Mistral reappeared, pushing out the rain clouds and giving us a sparkling clear day. There was the distinct feel of the approaching fall in the air.
Welcome to Gigondas
Wednesday was our last day to tour around Provence. The day dawned with the Mistral wind in full force. We decided to head out and use our rental bikes one last time. Figuring that the hills around the town of Gigondas might give us a decent shot of avoiding the gale, we headed there.
After parking below the village, we rode our bikes up a short hill into the small central square of Gigondas. Gigondas is a tiny, out of the way town in the Rhone wine country. It is at the base of the Montmirail Massif, a hill area within in eyesight of Mt. Ventoux. The hills are capped by a distinctive rock out cropping laced with holes called the Dentelles (dentelle means lace). In amongst the hill and along the slopes, green vines tinged with the orange and yellows of the coming autumn and loaded with deep purple clusters of grapes nearing harvest are abundant.
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