We woke from deep, quiet, uninterrupted sleep in our country B&B, a nice change from the urban sleeping lifestyle we had in L’Isle. The most wonderful breakfast of the trip happened here: it was in a common room where everyone ate together, totally usual food fare, with Martine's homemade yogurt and hot chocolate . The gentleman in the room next to ours ate with us, and spoke only French. Lynn had an hour or so of conversation, covering (among other things) our trip, his trip, his home in Brittany, cycling, Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond, the 1992 Tour de France finishing stage in Paris, plus vivid descriptions and suggestions for our drive today around the Gorges du Verdon. What a treat, he was so open and interesting, and was so happy with Lynn’s abilities in French. So was I … I caught the gist of the conversation, but missed a lot of nuance for having no French vocabulary!
Our breakfast friend produced a map and exact directions for touring the Gorges, which we promptly followed, not expecting much of a thrill. What a smashing surprise - this place really grabbed us! The roads were twisty and climbing, not crowded at all because of our early start, and scenic as could be. We stopped at overlooks, and were constantly amazed as the scenery just kept getting better. DEEP canyon gorges have been carved by the River Verdon over the eons of time, like in our Grand Canyon. The rock and mountain formations are just fantastic, and not susceptible to description in words. Pictures will have to suffice, and they are a poor replacement for what we actually saw. The Gorges goes on for MILES, photos don't show the side canyons and immensity of this place. Crystal turquoise-colored river water WAYyyyyyy down at the bottom of the canyon, flowing fast enough for white-water stretches visible from our high viewing points. Tall majestic limestone mountains jagged and jutting randomly from the earth, with roads and tunnels cut through to allow us to drive and see. Small towns spaced far apart, with working farms growing hay and other stuff in the open fields back from the Gorges. TONS of sportscars, motorcycles, cyclists, mountain climbers, hikers, kayakers, and every kind of outdoor person you can think of enjoying this place. I can’t think of enough to say, it is just so wonderful. OF COURSE it’s not the Grand Canyon, nothing could match that size, power and majesty, but holy cow, this is just awesome, and for us was totally unexpected. Who knew?
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| Awesome overlook, a guy took our pic together - NOT another selfie! |
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| Perforated tunnel across the canyon - we drove through it later today! |
We spent 5 or 6 hours driving the Gorges roads, including the most spectacular: Route des Cretes. It’s a loop road about 2 hours long, with the most stunning views and
narrow stretches…two cars won’t fit, so it’s one-way most of the time, except sometimes when mountain guys are going between climbing spots! We saw a group of climbers setting out, with one guy blaring John Denver’s song “Country Roads” from his car stereo - what a surprise! I “spoke” to him about it - he spoke only German, and we finally concluded we both like John Denver, that Denver's real name was German (Dusseldorf?), we’re sad he died in a self-inflicted airplane crash, he was a singer guitarist & amateur marine biologist who knew Jacques Costeau and wrote a song about Cousteau's ship "Calypso", and that this guy’s father built furniture for John Denver … or at least, I THINK that’s what we talked about! See, it HELPS if you know a few words of some languages outside English...but not absolutely necessary.
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| Another overlook at another part of the canyon |
We stopped at a place to see a fantastic sight, we thought. It was called “Point Sublime”, so what would you expect? Well, it was interesting, but mostly a collection of rocky shale walking paths, with an overlook of the Gorges that showed nothing particularly great…we must’ve been missing something. I added a stone to the stacks of memorial rocks sitting there at the Point, then we did the most important thing: bought a sandwich “to go” (a emporter) for lunch and hit the road!
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Adding one more rock to the stacks at Point Sublime!
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We were determined to eat our picnic lunch somewhere on a table where we could sit down, with a beautiful view. The drive kept being fantastic, and eventually we came to a beautifully-designed arch bridge spanning the deep gorge, “Pont de l’Artuby”. It had a workable road pull-off and big stones for sitting and eating. Perfect for our picnic…except while we were eating, I noticed a guy crawl up on the bridge and JUMP OFF into the gorge!!!!! We’d stumbled upon a bungee-jumping business, dumping people off the Pont into the Gorges du Verdon as fast as they could. The jumper would leap, bounce a few times making all kinds of happy or terrified noises, then be lowered to the floor of the gorge, and the rigging cranked back up to the bridge for another customer! Amazing! Lynn tried to get some pics, hope they came out OK.
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| See the guy horizontal at the bridge? HE JUST JUMPED OFF attached to the bungee cord! |
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| Driving through the "perforated tunnel" later in the afternoon |
On our way back to our B&B, we passed through the little town we accidentally visited last night, Aiguines. Today, it was charming and the businesses were OPEN, so people were milling about and the town’s beauty was apparent. Fantastic views of the mountains, the lake, and the 14th Century Chateau overlooking it all up on a higher part of the mountain. Not to mention, it had the nicest public restrooms so far in France…with a VIEW just outside the door! We took advantage of the restrooms, because that is our one iron-clad rule when traveling in Europe: ALWAYS use an available bathroom when you see it, because they are usually NOT available when you’d LIKE them to be!
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| One of my favorite sportscars of all time: Westfield-Lotus 7. This guy ripped the mountain roads all day, passing us several times! |
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Looking down to the 14th Century Chateau at Aiguines. overlooking the huge lake below...notice the intricate beautifully colored tile roofs on the cone-shaped turret tops.
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The drive finished, I dropped Lynn back off at Moustiers Ste-Marie, so she could finish looking at the town and all the Faience artists and shops and whatever other stuff there is in the little businesses there! I came back to the B&B, mangled my way through a conversation with our hostess to arrange reservations for supper tonight, and typed this up…while sitting at a shaded outdoor table overlooking the mountains and (the owner SAYS…) the fantastic lake. Supper ended up being a lot of fun, AND we found the only beer Lynn really likes: Leffe Ruby, on draft at our restaurant. Classy!
Our trip is winding down for sure, and we are the luckiest people alive to be able to pull this stunt. Thanks to all our friends, family, and my co-workers who have made this possible. We loved doing a month-visit trip three years ago to Brittany, and believe that this trip has even been better. Thanks for being interested in our trip enough to read this stuff. It is humbling to think we are something anyone would want to read about!
LINK TO all the photos we took so far, if you'd like to see more:
Quel plaisir de lire vos impressions de voyage ! Bien que français, je découvre ces magnifiques régions du sud de la France. On ressent votre profond amour de notre pays quand on lit votre bonheur de vivre à la française pendant 1 mois.//What a pleasure to read your travel experiences ! Although I am a frenchman, I figure out these stunning regions of south of France. We are feeling your deep love of our country as we read your french-style joy of living for 1 month. Philippe ( from Lyon ).
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