It was a lazy day. Yoga, short walks into Noves, sunbathing by the pool. And happy hour (with a drink of Pastisse) on the patio under the wisteria.

The perfect end to a lovely holiday.

Our original plan for Wednesday was to walk from Les Cigales to the market in St. Remy, shop and enjoy the town then take a taxi home with our purchases. But, we all know that the key to a good vacation is flexibility. Since we’ve arrived here in Provence, we have had more than one person tell us that the best hike was from St. Reny to Les-Baux-de-Provence. Plus the restaurants were more reasonable in Les Baux. AND, there is a spectacular show of Chagall’s paintings put to music and projected onto walls in a cave located in Les-Baux-de-Provence. So, plans changed. Josie and Joan had spent time with Guy, while we were tasting wine on Tues., getting information and maps about the hike between St. Remy and Les-Baux along with a recommendation and reservation for dinner.

We started the day by having Phillipe, our wonderful driver, pick us up from the villa and transport us to St. Remy. We broke up into smaller groups shopping, enjoying the street musicians, seeing some of the sights of the city.

At 12:30 we met at the Tourist Bureau to begin our Wed. hike. Maps in hand, we headed out of town and up the hill. We had our picnic lunch on the grounds of Saint-Paul Asylum where Von Gogh stayed. After peeking into the inner grounds of the Aslym, we were off by 1:30. Josie had us o a schedule. We were to do the hike for about 2.5 to 3 hours, arriving in Les-Baux-de-Provence in time for the 4 PM Chagall show. Then we had dinner reservations at Hostellerie de Reine-Jeanne in Les Baux. We wandered up and down around, we just couldn’t find the path that was to connect us to the main trail. Finally we ended at a Hotel/Restaurant Villa Glanum to see if they could give us better directions. Josie and Joan went inside to get the directions while the rest of us waited outside. The longer we waited, the more we talked about skipping the hike and getting taxis to take us to Chagall. In the end, that is just what we did. Apparently one of the men in the Hotel who had lived all his life in the area and knew the trail well, advised against doing the hike. It would actually be a very long walk up the long winding road to connect to the trail, and then have the 2.5 hour hike. Consensus by all … Babes as well as hotel employees… was to skip the hike and NOT miss Chagall.

You must look up http://www.carrieres-lumberers.com. It is a limestone quarry excavated over the years in order to build various buildings in the region. Tall columns are left in the quarry. And since 2012, they have been using the space for multimedia shows of music and art work that is projected up onto the columns, walls, and floors. Each year is a different artist, this year it was Chagall: Midsummer Nights Dream. It was just so amazing that,despite the cold, I could have sat there and watched the show for hours. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Words are so inadequate when we try to describe it. The experience was   SPECTACULAR!!!

The area of Les-Baux-de-Provence is breathtaking  There is a mideavel fortress on top of the hill as part of the village. We didn’t go inside the fortress but wandered the streets of the village, stopped for a coffee (some for a beer) at an outdoor cafe overlooking the scenery.  

Dinner was lovely. Most had the plat du jour, shared a bottle of wine, and lovely desserts. We returned home happy and satisfied.

One of the highlights of this trip was to be a wine tour for 8 of us in the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region. Francois of Avignon Wine Tours met us at 9AM this morning to begin our wine tour. As we were traveling down the gravel driveway he set the tone by playing  Nat King Cole belting “Unforgetable” and Francois joined in singing that our tour and our tour guide would be “Unforgetable in every way.” And it certainly was.

Our first stop was in a vineyard. We learned all about planting the grenache vines. The ground is cobblestone providing distinct growing conditions. It forces the roots to grow down deep to reach the nutrients and the sun heats the cobblestones to warm the vines at night. The wine growers keep the vines short so they can absorb the heat of the rocks. There are set perameters that must be met in order to be considered an official Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine. Some include once the vines are planted they can’t be harvested until they are 3 years old, and can only be watered once in July and once in August. So the weather conditions year to year are very much a part of the quality of the grapes and wine. Each vine can produce up to 8 bunches of grapes and it takes 3 bunches of grapes to make 1 bottle of wine. 

We tasted wines at four different wineries, but my favorite was the first winery Roger Sabon. That is where we had our initial introduction to the 6 steps of wine tasting. We learned about color, first nose, second nose, third nose, legs and tasting. It was interesting to me that it is during the various “noses” the characteristics of the wine … fruits, flowers, soil, spices,etc. … are identified. I was absolutely terrible at identifying the smells, but many in our group were very good. We also learned that you only serve wine in a stemmed glass and you always hold the glass by the stem. Never, never have fingers on the glass!!

Besides Francois, the highlight of our day was our lunch at Le Verger Des Papes. Chateauneuf-du-Pape was the summer residence of the Popes. It sat high on a hill overlooking the countryside. Le Verger Des Papes means “the orchards of the Popes.” The views were magnificent, the food excellent, but best of all, today is Gretchen’s Birthday and we had a wonderful celebration. When I made the arrangements for the tour, I told Francois that the day of the tour was also Grtchen’s Birthday. He did a wonderful job of providing special birthday surprises throughout the meal. We started our lunch with champange from Champagne for a birthday toast! Then we enjoyed a lovely lunch, which included white wine with the first course, red wine with the second course, a special lemon meringue cake with a sparkler mini torch, and espresso for the end of the meal.

Some of the countryside with a view of Mont Ventoux (you’ll see the mountain again as part of the Tour de France)

 

After lunch, we walked under the restaurant into a cave where the owners had discovered wine making vats from Roman times!

So many adventures, laughter, opera music and contests in the van!

We came home to a special Provençal dinner provided by Josie and Joan of escargot, French cassoulet made with duck confit and another pistachio ice cream birthday cake.

Tomorrow we are off to St. Remy!

It was a wonderful lazy Sunday morning. No timetable, no schedules … Just the “mistral” the strong north wind that roared and had us looking for an extra sweater.  Right at 12:30, the last of the babes arrived from Paris and the noise, hugs, laughter and sharing of stories reached a crescendo as we all interrupted each other sharing at once. 

Josie, our master chef, calmed everyone down and got us seated for a toast and a typical Provencial lunch which included wonderful fish cakes made from the leftover fish, asparagus and mashed potatoes with celeriac. What a delicious use of leftovers!!!! and to the fish cakes she added tossed salad with homemade French dressing and the quiche that we bought from the Boulangerie. Yummy! Nobody eats better than we’ve been eating!

Our big event was a fascinating tour of the grounds with the history of Moulin de la Roque given by Guy, Baron Guy Fallon who is an absolute delight and owns the property with his wife Gabby.

As Guy told us, Provence was not originally NOT a part of France but ruled by their own nobility which kept total control of the land and what was produced. This land had been owned by a Duke and leased to the tenants, but the tenants were not permitted to have a mill that ground wheat for flour… why? Because flour is made into baguettes and in France, whomever controls the bread controls the French :)! It is also the reason why the Popes were placed in Avignon. Avignon was the Capitol of Provence, separate from both France and Italy, and with trouble in Rome, it was decided to move the Papal palace to Provence. Once things calmed down the powers that be tried to move the Pope back to Rome. It took some “arguing and discussion” to get a common Pope proclaimed and relocated to Rome. But now I have a better understanding of the reason for the Palace de Papes in Avignon.

The whole society changed with the French Revolution. The Duke lost his rights to the property and it became the possession of the tenants. It also lifted the restrictions on building and operating a flour mill. That is when this mill was built and the buildings were expanded. Guy purchased the property about 23 years ago and things were pretty run-down. Still, it is amazing how much of the mill, as it existed since the late 1800s, is still here on the estate. He has lovingly restored the stable, warehouse, house, and the main millers cottage. The tour was full of many wonderful stories and information.

Dinner was under the direction of Josie and her sous-chefs. We had foie gras on buttered toasts, a homemade fruit compote served on endive and Sauternes wine. Dinner itself was a chicken and mushroom dish served with a rice pilaf and asparagus with hollandaise. Dessert was an apple tart purchased from the boulangerie. Angels were dancing on the tongue!

Saturday was our transfer day from Avignon to the Villa under the wonderful care of Phillipe. Phillipe and his wife own the apartment where we stayed in Avignon. And Phillipe has been our driver and tour guide on Sat. and will continue to take care of as we explore Provence. He is a gem!

But, with suitcases packed and groceries bagged, we set off to explore the countryside on our way to the villa. our first stop was Nimes to see the Roman collosseum. Apparently it is better preserved than the collosseum in Rome, but I couldn’t tell you that from experience because we never made it inside. This weekend they were having a Cleopatra extravagance with multiple performers dressed in costume. It would have been such fun, but we had our schedule so after finding the ATM, off we went. I am so glad that we were not navigating the streets ourselves… traffic, traffic, ROAD CONSTRUCTUION similar to the “Big Dig” as they are installing a whole new tram system in Nimes, and crazy fast round abouts everywhere!

Next stop was Uzes for the market. Josie and Joan, our head chef and treasurer, were in charge of most meal planning and grocery shopping so they had a list of fresh produce to purchase at the market. The rest of us just savoured our coffee at one of the little shops and then wandered around enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of the market. I haven’t looked at a map to see exactly where Uzes is located, but it is such a delightful picturesque village. It still has the feel of a medieval town with old architecture winding stone streets. I would have loved to spend most of the day there, even without the market, to explore and soak in the ambiance. 

 

 
Leaving Uzes we stopped at a typical Fench bakery for baguettes, croissants, quiche and all things yummy!!

  Our last stop on Philippe’s tour was another Roman ruin Pont de Gard, the very large Roman aqueduct situated in a large natural park area. We had less than an hour there but it was so very lovely, it was worth the effort to get there and see the aqueduct in person.

The countryside has been lovely. Provence is gentle and agricultural so we passed many vineyards, orchards and olive groves. We learned on Sunday that Provence was a separate area, not under control of the French King. Therefore the local royalty had great power and it kept the area more Medieval and it was reflected in the architecture and the agriculture. And so late in the afternoon on Saturday we arrived at Moulin de la Roque … “Mill by the Cliff.” We are in one of the buildings known as “Les Cigales” or “the cicadas,” with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. We learned today that our building was originally the warehouse for the grain. So the heavy  ceiling beams are original, but the other rooms and walls were completed much later. 

We didn’t know any of the history when we first arrived. We just enjoyed our first toast and wonderful fresh fish dinner in Les Cigales.

Our first day in Avignon! It was a long day yesterday and we slept like a bunch of logs! We had agreed we were going to leave by 9:30 to start our day. The first time I opened my eyes was 8:45A! Then, we had this wonderful sunny breakfast on the balcony. So a little late with the agenda, but a such a delightful morning to enjoy. We split up into smaller groups for our day touring. Two of the group are staying in Avignon after the villa because they are meeting up with their husbands. So they decided that they would do just a general scout of the city and then do our food shopping for the villa. Darlene likes to do her own thing, so she was given the apartment key and promised to be back to the apartment by 5 to let the rest of us back in to the apartment. And then Colleen, Carol, and I did he town! 

We had a little trouble navigating the street names with the map, but we were meeting the nicest people who kept helping us. But our first stop had to be the bridge!!! Sur le Pont d’Avignon …l’on y danse! had been on Colleen’s “Bucket List” and so we danced.

 

   
One of the other famous places in Avignon is the Pope’s Palace. In the mid 1300’s there was a change of the Papal Capitol from Rome to Avignon. And those popes built a HUGE palace, but unfortunately during the French Revolution the rebels took over the Palais des Papes and destroyed much of the beautiful sculptures and frescos. They are in the process of restoring the interior, but the structures are massive.

 

   
We ended up walking about Les Jardin des Dom, a beautiful public garden that included ponds, fountains, playground and trikes for the children, and amazing views of the Rhone.

 

 
The evening ended with local wine, olives, a long walk because we got ourselves turned about, but a lovely dinner at a Cubano/Mediterranean restaurant. Early wake up call tomorrow as we head off to the market.

We left Wed. evening, flying out of Montreal, and arrived in Paris Thurs. morning and made our way to the high speed train terminal. Getting on the TGV was not a problem and we were seated across from a fun group playing cards who helped translate the train announcements. And we needed that, because shortly after we left the train station, we stopped, waited and finally headed back to the station. We were told we could stay on the train. Then we waited and waited and waited. Finally someone in our group decided to try and find out what was going on. We didn’t realize that she had actually gotten off the train, and of course 1-2 minutes after she left, the train pulled out of the station without her. So off we went … with her luggage, but without her! Another of our group missed her train connection in Paris as well, so we had 3 groups instead of 2, none of us arrived at the correct time, someone temporarily miss-placed her purse … But all is well that ends well!

We all got there eventually. We consumed 3 bottles of wine, Brie, foi gras, salad, pate, baguette and chocolates for dinner. And then the next morning, it was coffee and breakfast  on the balcony of the apartment. It’s a beautiful day to be in Provence!

 

   

 

 
Just about all ready to go! One of the last items on the “to do” is making sure I remember how to post. (This is my second try already, first one disappeared).

Tomorrow is a mani-pedi, lunch with David and then off to the airport for 10 days in Avignon and a villa in Provence. There are 5 hikin’ babes heading over to France tomorrow. From Paris, we have a high speed train ride to Avignon where we stay in an apartment for 2 nights. We meet up with one other babe in Avignon. Sat. we have a little tour of the area and then arrive at the villa “Les Cigales” part of Le Moulin de la Roque, Noves. Sunday afternoon the remaining 4 babes arrive at the villa. 

Then it is a week of good food, good wine, and amazing friends.