Monday 15 December
The day dawns overcast but the rain appears to have stopped. We decide to venture far and wide through the mountains of Provence - specifically the Monts de Vaucluse and the Montagne de Luberon. Vaucluse and Luberon are d
épartments within the region of Provence.The drive is interesting - through floods, landslides, villages and mountains. After the odd detour or two, we eventually arrive in our first destination - Gordes. Gordes is among a select list of villages that are ranked in 'The most beautiful Villages in France' - and deservedly so. This village is built on the side of a mountain (goodness only knows how) with spectacular views in all directions across Provence. Next, on to Roussillon - renouned for the ochre pits and ochre coloured buildings in the town - and yes, this is another MBViF - and yes, deservedly so! Finally on to Lourmarin and then Aix-en-Provence - a pocket of left bank Parisian chic in Provence. Aix's primary claim to fame is that some painter chap called Paul Cézanne was a local lad here.
The whole region is spectacular - one could easily spend a month (or year?!) wandering around this country-side - spattered with olive groves, vineyards and lavender farms. A truly beautiful part of the world.
On the way back to Avignon we swing by a supermarket recommended to us - Auchon. Assumed that it would be like any other supermarket around, however, when the cash register aisles go up to register 67, you know you are in a pretty big supermarket. Not sure there was anything that you couldn't get here! And the size of the place - never seen anything like it!! We did manage to buy some groceries, the mandatory vin rouge a Cote du Rhone and cooked at home - wonderful meal, great company -who could ask for more!
this is the 4th time i've written this and it gets smaller each time
ReplyDeletegreat to hear all is wwell in spite of the rain shouldn't do that in france
you have a cousin in france don;t know where doctor by the name of adrienne doodie lol m/l/g