Provence and the French Riviera (Part Two)

Domaine de Rhodes is a family run bed and breakfast with a beautiful main building and 3 one room cottages set in idyllic surroundings.  We rented one of the cottages which had a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom, and was only 80 euro a night!  The place was absolutely adorable and had the added advantage of providing us the ability to cook our own dinners for the next three nights.  Wednesday night we took a dip in the pool and then cooked up some pork chops in tomato-garlic sauce with asparagus and dined outside.

our cottage:

The next morning we made our way to Beaucastel for a scheduled tour and tasting.  We left plenty of time to get there but the main bridge across the Rhone was closed and we had to follow a diversion about 20 km north of where we needed to go so we ended up being 10 minutes late.  Our tour guide was very nice and didn't seem to mind at all.

Beaucastel is one of the most prestigious wineries in the Chateauneuf du Pape AOC (an AOC is a specific geographic region with controlled practices for producing wine.)  There are tons of AOC's along the Rhone river valley but Chateauneuf du Pape is one of the most well known.  Beaucastel is owned by the Perrin family and they have vineyards in Chateaneuf du Pape, Cotes du Rhone, Gigondas, and several other AOC's.  They are extremely detailed and strict about their processes and it was really interesting to hear how it all worked.  We tasted some amazing wines, including their 2006 white and a 2001 red.

the rocky terroir (soil) of this area is great for preventing flooding and the rocks help absorb heat:

 this picture is a little dark but there are thousands of bottles in this cellar:

After our tour, we drove to Orange, famed for it's Roman ruins.  The Theatre Antique d'Orange still holds concerts and is one of the best preserved in Europe.  Orange also has a well preserved Arc de Triomphe celebrating Julius Caesar's conquest of the Gauls.  Aside from the Roman history, Orange is not much of a town but it's worth a visit to see the theater.

Theatre Antique d'Orange:

 Arc de Triomphe:

After Orange, we headed for some more Roman history and visited the Pont du Gard.  Built in 19 BC, the Pont du Gard is part of an aqueduct that carried water from Uzes to Nimes and was the tallest in the Roman empire.  We had lunch along the Gardon river looking up at this impressive site.

After another amazing day, we headed back to our cottage for another home cooked meal and evening stroll around the orchards and wheat fields on Isle de la Barthelasse.

The next day we headed back to the Chateauneuf du Pape area to visit the village of Chateauneuf du Pape and their Musee du Vin (museum of wine.)  From the Chateau des Papes at the top of the hill are amazing views of the valley, filled with vineyards as far as the eye can see.  The museum had some interesting info about the history of wine production in the area and they have free tastings.  After the museum we had lunch at a great spot recommended by a colleague of Dan's, Les Verger des Papes.  Not only was food amazing but the views were incredible.  We had a leisurely 2 hour lunch, in no rush to leave our table:)

view from Chateau des Papes ruins:

 covered in vineyards:

 our lunch restaurant:

 Chateauneuf du Pape old town:

 where we bought our Beaucastel:

 Les Verger des Papes:

 views from lunch:

After buying some Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone from a cute shop in town, we popped into another domaine, Vieux Telegraphe, for a tasting and ended up buying a yummy 2011 white there.  We then headed to the nearby town of Pernes les Fontaines, known for its 40 fountains, of which we only managed to find about 2. Pernes was nothing to write home about but we did stumble upon a Friday afternoon old men's boules tournament which was pretty entertaining.  From there we drove to L'Isle sur la Sorgue, an adorable town on the river Sorgue which once had 70 watermills, of which 9 remain.  We found all 9 and had a nice stroll through the town.

L'Isle sur la Sorgue:

That night we had another delicious homemade meal, complete with our nightly bottle of wine and tried to soak up our last night at Domaine de Rhodes.

The next morning we packed up, checked out and headed to Arles.  Arles was another important Roman city and shows evidence of that.  The most impressive site is Les Arenes, the ancient amphitheatre that is one of the largest and best preserved monuments in this area.  A combined ticket let us explore Les Arenes as well as the Theatre Antique next door.

Arles:

 Les Arenes:

 Theatre Antique:

We explored the town, walked through the Arles Saturday market, which was another great food market, probably the largest we'd seen.  Unfortunately it was our last day otherwise it would have been a great place to shop for dinner.

After a picnic lunch next to the Theatre Antique we got in the car to head to our last destination of the trip, the hilltop town of Les Baux de Provence.  We only had about 30 minutes to explore but it was great to finish off our trip with one more adorable provencal village.

This was an amazing trip filled with everything we love: adorable villages, beautiful scenery, and delicious wine.  Our love affair with France continues:)

Provence and the French Riviera (Part One)

This is THE trip I have been dying to go on since we moved to Europe and it was just as amazing as I anticipated.  Dan and I flew into Nice, picked up our rental car and immediately started driving along the coast.  Our first stop was the adorable hill top town of Eze.  Eze was not originally on our agenda, but recommended to us by several people, so we decided to stop in for lunch and I'm so glad we did. Adorable cobblestone streets and great views made it a great start to our trip.  We also had a delicious lunch and bottle of rose before continuing on our way to Monaco.

We parked right next to the Monte Carlo Casino and started our walk around Monaco there.  We followed the Grand Prix race route down to the harbour, checked out the ridiculous yachts, and then continued up the hill to the Palais Princier.  It was late in the day so we didn't tour the palace but we checked out the old town area up there and the Cathedrale, and then walked back along the water to the casino.  Monaco was gorgeous and you could definitely tell it is a vacation spot for the wealthy.  Unfortunately, because they have so little space (the hills run straight up right behind the city) they have had to build upwards and there are a lot of not so attractive high rises.  After drooling over some more yachts, we grabbed our first gelato of the trip before heading back to Nice.

Monte Carlo Casino:

 Palais Princier, Monaco's official seat of government:

We checked into our Ibis hotel in Nice (our cheapest night of the trip but a huge room and very centrally located.)  We went to dinner that night at a great restaurant in the old town area.

 Nice at night:

The next day we explored Nice.  We started by visiting the Cathedrale Ste-Reparate, which was conveniently located on a square with the largest gelato place I have ever seen, and this wasn't even Italy! They must have had over 60 flavors.  Anyhow, from there we walked down to the Cours Saleya where they hold a daily food/flower market.  It was incredible!  So much amazing food...we bought saucisson (salami) there that we ate for lunch all week.  Cheese, bread, veggies, herbs, everything you can imagine.  After getting our fill of the market we walked along the beach towards the Colline du Chateau.  We took an elevator to the top of the hill, site of the old city castle, for amazing views of the city and beautiful park spaces to walk around.

 Cathedrale Ste Reparate:

 Place Rossetti:

 Nice market:

 waterfront (Colline du Chateau in the background):

 Les Ponchettes (row of buildings along the seafront once used by fishermen):

 views from Colline du Chateau:

 waterfall on top of Colline du Chateau:

 Colline du Chateau:

After climbing down the hill we picked up the car and drove up into the Cimiez district of Nice.  This is a gorgeous part of the city, considered the more fashionable area, with huge private houses and architecture reminiscent of Paris.  We drove up to the Monastere de Cimiez, a working monastery with beautiful gardens and great views of the city.  Right next door was the Matisse museum, which was free but pretty underwhelming.  

view from the monastery gardens:

 Monastere de Cimiez:

When we got back into our car to head to Cannes, we saw the sky to the west (the way we were headed) was completely black.  After driving about 10 minutes we found ourselves stuck in one of the heaviest thunderstorms I have seen in a long time....pouring rain, hail, lighting.  We actually had to pull over and wait for it to pass.  After arriving in Cannes and checking into the gorgeous Croisette Beach Hotel, we headed out to explore Cannes.  We strolled along the Promenade de la Croisette along the beach and down to the Palais des Festivals, site of the Cannes film festival.  After checking out some more yachts, we stopped for dinner at Le Dauphin, where I had Provencal prawns and Dan had the traditional fish soup this area is known for.

 Hotel Carlton, one of the most prestigious hotels in the world:

 Palais des Festivals red carpet:

 allee des Stars (Cannes' walk of fame):

The next day we slept in and then lazily made our way to the hotel's private beach.  Most of the Cannes waterfront is made up of private beaches owned by the hotels and at 20 euro per person, a day at the beach in Cannes is not a cheap affair.  But after laying out on our comfy lounge chairs under the hot Mediterranean sun, we both decided we would have paid much more....it was absolute bliss.  We had an amazing goat cheese salad for lunch, complete with a giant chunk of goat cheese baked into a little filo dough "sack", and a Cote de Provence rose.  

That night we took another sunset walk along the beach and got some good but somewhat overpriced sushi for dinner.  The next morning we were up early to check out and start our drive into the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region, or "High Provence."  After heading north off the coast, we started our drive through the Gorges du Verdon, Europe's Grand Canyon, at the town of Castellane.  This area of Provence is known for their faience (ceramics) and we found a really pretty olive oil dispenser in Castellane.  

 Castellane:

 Notre Dame du Roc overlooking Castellane:

                                

 Verdon river:

From Castellane we continued along the Verdon river, which cut out the gorge, to the Pont de l'Artuby, a bridge spanning the Artuby river which intersects with the Verdon.  

 Pont de l'Artuby:

We followed the gorge until the Verdon river meets Lac de Ste Croix, just past the town of Aiguines.  In Aiguines, we stopped and had a lovely picnic lunch next to the restored 17th century chateau.  After lunch we took a quick dip in the Lac de Ste Croix; freezing cold but refreshing!

 chateau in Aiguines:

 Aiguines:

 Lac de Ste Croix:

From Aiguines, we drove to the adorable hill top town of Moustiers Ste Marie.  The views from the Notre Dame de Beauvoir are incredible and well worth the hike up from the town.

 the star hanging above the ravine dates from the 13th century:

 Notre Dame de Beauvoir:

After a well deserved gelato in Moustiers, we made our way to Aix en Provence.  Aix is a university town and is known for it's many fountains.  It definitely has a student/old France feel to it and is a lovely place to just wander the streets.  After we'd had our fill of cute streets and fountains, we had dinner at Les Deux Garcons along the main boulevard, Cours Mirabeau.  Les Deux Garcons was a favorite of Cezanne's, who famously spent a lot of time painting in Aix.

 Place de l'Hotel de Ville:

 Cours Mirabeau:

 Fontaine de la Rotonde:

 Les Deux Garcons:

The next morning we were up early to hit the Aix wednesday market before heading out of town.  We picked up some great veg and cheese to use for dinner that night.  From Aix we drove to Abbaye de Senanque in Gordes.  The Abbaye is an active monastery surrounded by lavender fields in a secluded valley just outside the hill top town of Gordes.  We were able to tour the monastery and church and buy lavender products made by the monks on site.  Unfortunately, we were about a month ahead of when the lavender is in full bloom so the plants weren't purple yet but it was still a gorgeous place.  

Aix market:

 Abbaye de Senanque:

After the Abbaye we visited the town of Gordes.  Gordes was one my favorite towns of the trip.  We only spent about an hour there but the views were stunning, the town was adorable and we even tried some lavender ice cream, which tasted a little like soap ;-)  

 lunch with a view:

We left Gordes and headed west to Avignon.  Avignon is an impressive site.  Thick walls surround the town which lies right on the Rhone and the Palais des Papes dominates the city.  We explored the Roches Des Doms gardens and then toured the Palais des Papes.  Palais des Papes was built in the 14th century when the Vatican temporarily moved their headquarters to Avignon with the intention of creating a "New Rome."  Seven popes lived there before the Vatican moved back to Rome.  

views of the Rhone:

 view from Palais des Papes:

 Palais des Papes and Cathedrale Notre Dame des Doms on the left:

  

After touring the palace we visited the Pont St Benezet, the 12th century partially destroyed bridge with a chapel half way across (Chapelle St Nicolas.)  We then wandered around the rest of the city, checking our the main square, Place de l'Horloge, before making our way across the river to our home for the next 3 nights, Domaine de Rhodes, on the Isle de la Barthelasses, which is actually an island on the Rhone river.

Pont St Benezet:

 city walls:

 view of Avignon from across the Rhone: