July 12 Provence

July 12

We spent the day in the city of Avignon. This is a 45 minute drive from where we were staying in Beaumette. Avignon is not in the Luberon vallay, but it is still in Vaucluse, and is the capital of the Departement. The photo above is the famous pont d'Avignon from the French children's nursery rhyme. Actually this is what is left of it. It was built in the 1100's, but in the 1600's a huge flood took most of it out.

Paulette and Claude took a walk on bridge.

This is the other famous structure in Avignon, le Palais des Papes (Pope's Pallace). For various reasons Pope Clement V moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309. The pallace seen today was built in 1335 for the Popes and 8 Popes in all resided in Avignon. The Papacy was moved back to Rome in the early 1400's.

Here we are looking from the ramparts at the view below.

Here is one view looking out to a castle across the river.

This is a view looking down at part of the main town square.

Avignon is the location for a major music, theatre and arts festival every summer. All these posters are advertising various acts you can take in. Because of this now famous and popular festival, Avignon is jammed with people in July. So much so that we had to park across the river and walk in. We had planned to stay until evening, but the crowds got the best of us and we left by mid afternoon.

Here is one of many street acts you can take in. I think Paulette bought a cd from this band. I would love to visit Avignon again someday, but it would be during the off season to avoid the crowds.

July 11 Provence

July 11

Our first full day visiting in Provence. We concentrated in one area called the Luberon. Provence is a Region, equal to a province or a state. We were in the Department of Vaucluse, which compares to a county in Canada or the U.S. The Luberon is a valley in the department of Vaucluse. The town in the first photo is Menerbe.

This is the view from Menerbe, of the valley below. Almost all the villages and towns in the Luberon (and most of Provence) are perched, which means they are built on top of hills or on mountain sides. This was done in medieval times to protect them from attacks and most were walled. Some walls are still visible today. The Luberon is full of vinyards, olive groves and other produce.

This is a street in Menerbe, everything is made of stone: buildings and streets.

The next village we visted that day was Lacoste, another perched village.

This is actually a street in Lacoste. Click on the photo to blow it up and notice the vehicle further down the hill! Most of these villages have very narrow streets, built hundreds of years before the automobile. Most of them have a parking lot at the entrance and encourage or insist that visitors park there. This limits the traffic to locals and is more pedestrian friendly.

Lacoste's claim to fame is that it was the home of the Marquis de Sade. This is his now ruined castle, at the top of the village.

The temperature that day was well above 30 C, so we stopped at this Lacoste cafe for a bottle of water, a beer (needed both) and lunch. Notice the view below. The perched village in the background is Bonnieux.

Not far from Lacoste was this Roman bridge, called Pont Julien. It is about 2000 years old and was part of the Roman route from Italy to Spain. (The railings at the top are modern, for protection of pedestrians)

One crop that is common to the Luberon is lavendar.

We are back in our village. After a dip in the pool, we are heading to the nearby town of Gordes for dinner.

This is the view from Gordes. Gordes is the most famous and probably the biggest perched town in the Luberon.

Jul 10 Travel day to Provence

July 10

Today we leave Canet in the Languedoc-Roussillon region for the village of Beaumettes in Provence, about 400 km. This is the car we rented, sort of a cross between a minivan and a hatchback. Plenty of room for 4 plus luggage, and really good on gas.

After about 3 hours of freeway driving, we get on to more local and prettier roads. Slower driving but nicer to look at.

About an hour away from destination, we stop for lunch in a village in Provence.

Really relaxing place with great food. (Claude shaved his mustache!)

Provence is not only wine country, but also olive country. Paulette is having a close look at some still on the tree.

We finally get to our new home and we are impressed. It's a 15th century home that has been renovated into a B&B and is a great place to stay. This small patio is by Claude and Paulette's room and is where we had breakfast every morning.

Darlene and I had an upstairs room and this is the view from our window. We had access to this pool, which we used every day, after a hot day of visiting the area.

Another view of the pool. The school of fish in the back was actually made from old motorcycle gas tanks.

This is the view from the pool of Claude and Paulette's patio, in the background.

Here we are, late afternoon, after a cooling dip, relaxing with a beer and resting until dinner. I am checking out a map for the next day's excursion.

July 09 Languedoc-Roussillon

July 09

On our last day in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, we visited a village in the foothills of the Pyrenees called Castelnou. This is a walled village, with a castle at the top. The castle was built starting in the year 993!


This is the entrance to the walled village. You have to park outside the gates.

This is an example of the homes in the village. Notice the modern plumbing attached to the outside of the homes.

Decorated stairway (actually street)

This is one of many suits of armor on display in the castle.

One of the passageways in the castle, leading to the upper ramparts.

A view of part of the castle from the ramparts, with the Catalane flag flying. Catalonia was an old kingdom, that is now split between Spain and France, the biggest part being in Spain. Barcelona is the largest Catalane city. Most of the people still speak Catalane, as well as Spanish or French, and the Catalane flag is seen everywhere.

Paulette standing in the castle courtyard.

A 1000 year old tower next to a modern swimming pool.

July 08 Languedoc-Roussillon

July 08

We drove back into Spain for a day, to visit a small coastal town called Cadaques. It's about a 60 minute drive from the French/Spanish border. Here is a shot looking back into France, just before crossing into Spain. The border area is beautiful, located where the Pyrenee mountains meet the Mediterranean sea.

Cadaques is approached by inland route to the coast. Notice a sneak peek at the Mediterranean in the background.

The town is built right along the coast. This ia the view from the restaurant where we had lunch on arrival.

Paulette and Claude, relaxing while waiting for the food to arive.

All the buildings in Cadaques are white, giving it a Greek appearance. It has a nice beach; this is just a small portion of it. There was a fogbank rolling in the day we were there.

This is the view from the churchyard, higher up. Beautiful view, but the fog is now really coming in.

Darlene and Paulette did some street shopping for jewelry from this young artist. Darlene is trying on a few and did buy a piece from her.

Cadaques is the home of artist Salvador Dali. This is the house that he lived in in his later years. You can visit the home for a fee, it's now a museum, but we found out that you need to reserve in advance, and they only allow a smal number of visitors per day. We were out of luck.

July 07 Languedoc-Roussillon

July 07
We decided to stay close to home this day. Here we are having breakfast in our kitchen/dining room, in what was basically a 2 bedroom apartment. We cooked our own meals as much as possible at the time share, because it was going to be the only week we had a kitchen. Groceries in France are surprisingly cheap and good quality, so we saved money for the other 2 weeks, where we would be eating out.

By crossing this tunnel under the highway that runs by the resort, we discovered that Canet has an older and more interesting section, where the locals actually live. We spent the morning walking around this old part of town.

It was very nice, and more laid back then the resort side.

Very nice town square.

This is inside the town church, which was centuries old.

Lots of plants decorated the homes.

A lemon tree growing in a front yard.

This photo is of the grounds at the resort.

This is the view from our balcony. The pool we can see is a large shallow pool used mostly by smaller kids and their parents. The deeper adult pool was to the left, out of sight.

We spent a good part of the afternoon back at the beach in Canet Plage, then came home for a home cooked evening meal. Finally used the timer on the camera, to get us all in the picture.