Once again we woke late with loose ambitions: go see the Roman ruins Lynn remembered from her studies in Provence 20 years ago at Glanum, and check out the fantastic hilltop village she remembered at Les Baux de Provence. Both are just outside the town of St. Remy de Provence - which itself is reputed to be a beautiful small town with lots of ancient buildings and features to see. We tried to hang out in St. Remy almost two weeks ago, before checking into our apartment here in L’Isle…but it was St. Remy’s market day, so the entire centre ville was crammed with people and parked cars and traffic and insanity, so we carefully drove on through and didn’t stop. Maybe today would be different.
We got a late start after breakfast, but made it to St. Remy just in time to realize that TODAY was also market day…AGAIN! Same insanity, jammed with people and cars and vendor stalls and traffic, with no parking to be had anywhere. Sooooooo…..we passed again. Decided to buy a St. Remy postcard or two to record the sights! On through town to GLANUM.
 |
| St. Remy de Provence market day AGAIN _ no way to stop and look around |
Glanum hove into view as two ancient Roman remains, visible from the highway: a ”Municipal Arch” and a nearby dome supported by some Roman columns. We paid to park in a big dirt lot, and hiked back to the remains. After circling them a few times, and taking some pics, we decided we were kind of under-whelmed (French tourist description coined by our friend Alan Tays some years ago) by the Glanum experience…not near as great as Lynn remembered! Finally, we realized the main deal was across the road, up a walkway, inside an admission-only site. We went, we paid, and we were blown away! The site was MUCH bigger now than when Lynn visited 20 years ago.
This is an active archaeological site, still being dug out and catalogued and reconstructed. We got to walk around what has been done so far, over the past 30 years or so. This place dates back to more than 700 years B.C. - it was inhabited by Gauls, then later by Greeks who built their own town using the older buildings and adding their own improvements. Later, Romans took over the site and added onto the existing construction, plus built their own homes , cathedrals, meeting areas, etc. It’s so cool to see how the workere are now systematically digging through all this complex history, and preserving the remains in a way you can understand. Good climbing on the steps and paths above the ruins to take some photos. Time to go see LES BAUX.
 |
| Worth the hike up the mountain to see this view of the ruin! |
special supper tonight in L’Isle, so didn’t give in.
 |
| Cross at church yard in Les Baux - so pretty against the blue sky. |
I’d parked the car wayyyyy down the mountain from Les Baux, so we carefully hiked back down and drove off, back to our little home in L’Isle. A short nap and we were ready for supper at Le Mistral. This is a simply decorated and located small restaurant, run by a husband-wife team that we’d been recommended to by several people…and tried to eat with several times, but missed out because of no reservations. This time we reserved, showed up on time, and had a spectacular night. We ate next to a German couple who spoke French, German and English, and another couple from Paris who stuck to French. Lynn got to have prolonged conversations with them in French, which made her night. Not to mention that the food we had was probably the best we ever remember having anywhere in France. Line-caught swordfish for me; Veal Provencal for Lynn, with appetizers that were specialties of the chef, some nice local wine, and spectacular desert. Minna, the owner/hostess, spoke to us a long time: she's a cyclist, gave some Ventoux warnings, and was a delight. The evening went on for hours, and we will always remember it. Simple stuff works best for Lynn and me, for sure.
We’ll post pics, and see you again tomorrow…market day in L’Isle, oh boy!
LINK TO all the photos we took so far, if you'd like to see more:
No comments:
Post a Comment