Our first Wednesday in L'Isle, and it turned out to be as cool as the other days so far. There’s a small public kindergarten next door to our apartment, so giggling kids and smoking moms (all standing there in that insouciant French way with elbow in the ribs, arm vertical, and cigarette sticking out of the hand casually dangling to the side…but I digress!) greeted us at breakfast (parents all seem to walk their kids to school and stand with them until the school gates are opened). Lynn tried a new boulangerie today, so we had superior breakfast croissants fresh out of the oven, with a new baguette ready for lunch. Some yogurt, some fruit, and I was ready to head out for a ride. Lynn stayed behind to do chores and shop for a few needed items. Our plan was to meet up later for lunch and a hike.
My ride route today was intended to be a visit to Bonnieux, another reputedly beautiful town hanging atop a mountain bluff. I escaped L'Isle, took the earliest small road after clearing the city limits, and ended up on a good surprise route to Lagnes (little country town, narrow streets, just rode through) Cabrieres-d’Avignon, Coustellet and finally Maubec. I accidentally rode to the coolest thing I saw today: “Oppede-le-Vieux”. When I saw that name on a few signs, I assumed it was for an overlook view (I SHOULD learn some French...), so rode up a steep mountain road to take some good pictures (mostly for Frank Kessler, who has been demanding more scenery pics of the trip). Turns out "Vieux" means OLD: this is an ancient village, arranged vertically, high on the side of a mountain on the Massif du Luberon (a line of mountains that jut up from the Provence valley). It was a tough ride to get up there, and even tougher once I got inside the village: felt like I was riding on a cobblestone goat path some of the way. I eventually had to hike it with the bike on my shoulder…that got old FAST, so I hid the bike in some bushes by a crumbling church wall, and climbed on up on foot. Wow, some view (I mean “Mon Dieu, un vieux magnifique!”…or something similar to that.) I took some pics and asked a nice lady to shoot me too. Notice off in the distance is Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence, visible from seemingly everywhere. That mountain is on next week’s riding schedule!
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| Oppede-le-Vieux clinging to the edge of the mountain, like it has for many centuries |
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| High atop OPPEDE-le-VIEUX, with Mount Ventoux looming in the distant background |
Nothing was going to top Oppede-le-Vieux, and I was getting hungry, so headed for home. I love navigating here: you just get on a road, ride to some intersection, then look for the sign pointing to the next town you want to ride through. For instance, I rode back to Maubec, then looked for the arrow sign to Robion, and once I got there followed the arrow signs to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Makes sense once you understand it, and if you have a map to
predict what town you need to go through next. Always look out for “Toutes Directions” signs…they mean “Turn here for EVERYWHERE”…and later on you’ll see a street marked for the place you want to go.
predict what town you need to go through next. Always look out for “Toutes Directions” signs…they mean “Turn here for EVERYWHERE”…and later on you’ll see a street marked for the place you want to go.
This ride was particularly agricultural: I passed every kind of crop you can imagine, and some I don’t know: apples, pears, squash, pumpkins, vineyards, corn, etc. etc. Provence is truly the farm center of France. No wonder: sun shines here all year long, moderate climate, controlled development of cities, and apparently everything will grow here!
I got home just as Lynn got back from shopping. She met a lot of folks trying to find a better pair of casual walking shoes, and got to have lots of French conversation. This place is nice for that, as most people don’t speak English, and are happy to converse in French. Anyhow, result was a new pair of shoes, and two blouses. She’ll have to describe the shopping experience, I am inadequate!
We made sandwiches for a picnic, using the baguette and some ham, cheese and veggies Lynn bought earlier. Then, out for a hike to a riverfront park I found on yesterday’s bike ride: PARTAGE des EAUX. It’s a beautiful public park on the banks of a wide curved stretch of the Sorgue River. More of a hike than Lynn expected in new shoes! We ate our picnic, and fed some of the pretty ducks paddling all over this river, then hiked back home. On the way in and out, we could see over the gates and fences around the homes in this neighborhood: some of them were tres chic and obviously owned by the uber-wealthy…other homes were working-class and looked like regular people could live there. There were even some working farms scattered around. Interesting mix.
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| Partage des Eauxs Park with free-flowing river and lots of beautiful ducks to be fed breadcrumbs! |
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| Idyllic place for a picnic today |
Supper was a blast: we decided to try "LOU BURGER" across the street from the river...sit facing the street and watch the traffic and people go by, while diving into a French hamburger. Hey, it was a GOOD experiment...best french fries EVER I think, and we talked to the chef...he'd just come back from a 6 month stay in Miami,where he said he ate every kind of burger in sight. We found it was a great burger, especially with the local VENTOUX wine. Good one, we'll go back!
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| Lou Burger, we enjoyed our American roots tonight! |
We’re in for the day now, and ready to crash for awhile. Tomorrow is market day here, so Woo Hoo!!! Thanks for reading this stuff. We are having more fun than we deserve, pretending to belong in this unique little town.
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
How funny to just want to eat a burger but still need that wine!!
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