4. ST. REMY DE PROVENCE, GORDES, AND ISLE SUR LA SORGUE

The trip is starting to come together great: Lynn’s planning the past 1 1/2 years was worth it! After a spectacular French breakfast at Hotel de France in Aix, in probably the prettiest dining room we’ve ever seen at any hotel, we hit the road in our rental car, bound for St. Remy de Provence. About an hour or so later we found it (well, the GPS navigation device found it!), and drove a couple of circles around the centre villa…NO PARKING spots to be found anywhere, as it was market day. People come from miles around on market day at these small towns, to get their fresh produce, meat, and all kinds of other stuff like clothes, gifts, tools, etc. Hard to describe a market day, there’s not an equivalent in the USA. Anyhow, on market day, cars are parked EVERYWHERE, almost like a hurricane had blown them into every open crack and crevice. We were getting frustrated not being able to park our car to explore…so we gave up and headed on down the road to Gordes. What a road! It was lined for miles with big ancient Plane trees, making a shady covered arch for our drive. These tree-lined roads define the perfect French roads for me.

Gordes is an incredible sight from afar: an ancient stone city sitting high on a stone precipice overlooking  the gently-rolling Provence lowlands. Spectacular site, which is up a long steep road. You have to park your car partway down the hill, and walk into town: almost no place to park up there!  It was a beautiful walk, the scenery and weather were ideal, so we climbed up and down and all over every nook and cranny we could find. We ran across a cafe where Lynn had eaten lunch with her school buddies 20+ years ago - and it still looked exactly the same. There were a fair amount of tourists walking around town…but we stumbled across the most tranquil and deserted beautifully-tended public garden at an old church/retirement home at the top of the town. What a wonderful place to relax and recharge. Then, a sidewalk cafe sandwich, and we hiked back down. There were LOTS of cyclists conquering the ride up to Gordes…I’ll keep this as a future possible destination for a day ride.

GORDES

  

Lynn with the valleys of Provence below in the distance

Finally we headed for Isle sur la Sorgue, only about 15 km. away. Beautiful drive, and we used our navigation system to guide us exactly to our rental apartment. Man, what an adventure: it is buried in a nest of narrow winding streets between old historic 3-4 story buildings, that were probably designed for donkey carts, not autos! So THIS is why Europeans drive such little cars…nothing else will fit! We made it, parked in a lucky spot a block away from the apt., and dragged our stuff inside with the landlords leading the way. Delightful people, with some limited English, so Lynn got lots of French-speaking practice  with Clair the landlady, while her husband and I talked with our hands about “le velo” (bicycles)…he’s a rider too.

They left, and we headed out the door to explore. Town center  is only a few blocks away, with an ancient church and town hall fronting a square with cafes and shops scattered all around. We got a drink at Cafe France, took in some people-watching and ambiance, then kept going. On the other side of this small island, about 5 minutes from our place, is the most beautiful little riverfront promenade you could ever imagine: restaurants, shops, cafes, etc., all with this peaceful  clear river flowing by the tables and sidewalks. We tried some Vietnamese food for supper, solely because they had the best waterside seats available. It was a good choice. We explored some more after eating, and headed home about 10 p.m. just as all the cool kids were coming out to party!

We made it to Isle sur la Sorgue, time to relax

Tomorrow is the BIG market day in this town, it’s supposed to be huge. Will let you know. 

LINK TO all the photos we took so far, if you'd like to see more stuff:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104261232464745572476/ProvencePhotos?authuser=0&feat=directlink