Images of Avignon (10/06)

After our visit to the bridge, we had a nice long stroll around Avignon. This was my first visit there, and I wasn't disappointed. Avignon is a very feminine, elegant city. While it is not as fast paced as Paris, you definitely feel an upbeat vibe - helped by the student atmosphere. It is a cosmopolitan city without being at all pretentious. I can't wait to go back!

The Saint Benezet's Bridge ~ Avignon (10/06)

Our first goal was to find The Saint Benezet's Bridge - The bridge of Avignon. It proved a little tricky to find the entrance but thanks to some handy sign postings, we were on our way.
The building of this bridge started in 1177, all because (as legend has it) Saint Bénézet heard a voice telling him to build a bridge over the Rhône at Avignon. He decided to follow this advice, and much to the amusement and ridicule of the locals, he started making this vision a reality. It took around 8 years to complete, and here are the results...

... and yes, this is the bridge from the famous song: "Sur le Pont d'Avignon"

On the bridge of Avignon

Everyone's dancing, everyone's dancing

On the bridge of Avignon

Everyone's dancing in a circle.

The handsome men go like this

And they go like that

On the bridge of Avignon

Everyone's dancing, everyone's dancing

On the bridge of Avignon

Everyone is dancing in a circle.

Pretty ladies go like this

And then they go like that!

Our Market Treasures (10/05)

We ended up back at La Colombe d'Ocre for a nice, relaxing dinner that night were we sampled some of the treasures that we found at the market. We had some lovely jambon de montagne from the local charcuterie in Roussillon. It was total heaven, not too thinly sliced, and divinely smoked. This was joined by some beautifully marinated olives, conrichons (Maille, of course), radishes, and a few other gems that didn't make it into the photo. This was finished by the macarons that were left over from L'Auberge du Pere Bise and the boulangerie in Duingt.

Ah, what bliss!!!

Le Sénanque Abbey (10/05)

We also stopped at the iconic Sénanque Abbey that is located just outside of Gordes. A familiar image seen in many a calender, travel book, and postcard, it is famous for their stunning lavender crops and prosperous honey bees.

We unfortunately missed the height of lavender season, but were able to see the plants that would produce the tranquilly fragrant flowers next year. There was still a hint of lavender in the air, so it wasn't all bad.

Images of Gordes (10/05)

Not far from Roussillon was Gordes, a beautiful, ancient hillside village. There was a carnival on the day we were there, so once we got past the music, bumper cars, games and carnie food, I got to see exactly why people flock to Gordes.

Any village with olive trees growing throughout is alright by me...
especially when it's also surrounded by vineyards...

and has dogs roaming solo...

Market Day at Coustellet (10/05)

Sunday was market day in Coustellet, a town not far from Roussillon, so we decided to go and explore. I have to admit we were slightly disappointed when we first got there. Parking was insane - so we expected an amazing market, only to find what looked like a flea market with a few food stalls. Don't get me wrong, a French flea market is a shopping dream come true, but at that point of the trip I was limited in packing space and we wanted produce, cheese, and bread. There was a good olive stand, spice stall, and baker whom was nearly sold out. We decided to split up - so J and I had a good wonder around. My in-laws quickly found us as they had just discovered that the main part of the market was across the street, hidden behind the buildings on the main road. This all made sense: all of those cars, there had to be some place for everyone to go! The market didn't disappoint. By the time we got there some of the vendors were packing up. There were still loads of stands with autumnal produce: root vegetables, pumpkins & gourds, apples, squash, potatoes... you get the idea (sadly, I didn't take any photos). There were also stands with home made jams, honey, local wine producers, and my favorite: the nursery stand. It was really hard for me to walk around knowing that I couldn't buy an olive or fig tree to take home. They were so healthy looking and were really reasonably priced.
It was also hard for me to pass up some more of my favorites: rosemary, lavender, and violas. I was in absolute heaven, and if there is one place on earth that has all of my favorite things: it is truly Provence.
To make matters worse, I spotted this Citroën HY. Now I was in seventh heaven. Ever since I first spotted the Citroën 2CV in "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown"; many, many years ago - I have had a fetish for Citroëns.
It was hard to tear myself away, but lunch was calling. As I walked away with images of owning a vineyard (complete with olive and fig trees, of course, oh... and obviously tons of lavender and rosemary) and driving to the market in my Citroën HY to sell my wine - and probably jams, chutneys, etc... we were off to find somewhere for lunch. The first thing we spotted was this pizza van...
Now if you didn't know (and I didn't), the French LOVE pizza! I have never in my life seen as many pizza establishments as I did in France. Annecy was over run with them. Literally 4 on every corner. Even small villages that we had driven through had several pizza places. Where the UK have fish and chip vans (that you don't actually see all that often, in comparison), France has pizza vans. We even spotted on outside of Roussillon called "Pizza Chris". Bizarre. Anyway, as curious as I was to know what sort of pizza would come out of one of these vans, we had been walking all morning so obviously deserved a sit down meal. And a glass of wine. Obviously. We were in Provence after all! We found a cafe with tables out front, and chose a nice sunny spot for lunch. My first course was a bacon, leek, and goat cheese tart. Wash down with a nicely chilled glass of Provençal rosé.
This was followed by tagliatelle with roasted chicken, tomatoes, and aubergine. Ah, what a way to spend a Sunday.

A Local Bar for Local People ~ Roussillon

This was the beautiful image that greeted us as we went out to dinner. The street was lightly illuminated and the sky was a deep blue.
This is how the street looked after dinner, and several drinks later...

It was still fairly early after dinner, and J wanted to go explore the night life of Roussillon. We went out the front door, to the left, towards a nightclub. They were playing very loud techno music - not a type I would consider cool - Eurotrash would be a more accurate description. Now I know that the drinking age is way younger in France, but the first few people we spotted looked around 14. Or am I just getting older? When the ambulance pulled up to this "Restaurant by Day - Nightclub by Night" establishment to tend to a girl who looked more like she should be working on book reports, we decided to have a quiet drink at the bar next door to the house, to the right...

When we walked in, it looked like a safer bet. There were still people dining in the back, and the people at the bar looked our age. Now I should tell you that by day, Roussillon is completely overrun by tourists. By night it dwindles down to a few, but is mainly inhabited by the locals, which explains the reaction when we entered the bar: Everyone looked at us like it didn't occur to them that someone out of the clique at the bar might possibly enter. This was far too amusing to walk away from, so we stepped up to the bar and ordered our drinks. Service from then on was pretty much non existent. We were given our drinks and there was a minor to-do about shutting the door so no one else would wonder in. We took our time drinking in the atmosphere and the fact that we were having a drink in a small bar in France, as opposed to our local watering hole. It was very dimly lit, there was a wide screen television which was playing the National Geographic channel - something about a ferry that had sank in the '80s, listening to various jazz and blues legends like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and the likes. And even though we were not accepted as part of the bar group, their laughter and warmth towards each other really seemed to emit throughout the place. When we were finished with our drinks we had to call attention for the bill. The reaction from the man behind the bar was almost Oscar worthy - like he had totally forgotten that we were even there - despite the fact that we were only 5 feet away. Now did I really need another drink that night? No, but it left me with a memorable evening.

... and this was a more accurate vision of the street that night as we were leaving.