Sleepy Sunday in the Luberon

Today we sailed into the French port of Marseille, and since we were told that, being a Sunday, most shops and businesses would be closed, we arranged a private tour to Avignon and the Luberon, the area of Provence which is featured in the Russel Crowe movie ‘ A Good Year’ and the Peter Mayle book ‘A Year in Provence’.

Our guide Marion, met us at the wharf and we headed out to Avignon to visit the Palace of the Popes, where the Popes were exiled from Rome in the 14^th century. We parked along the riverbank and bought tickets for the two local attractions – the Palace and the half-finished bridge. Our first stop, was the bridge of St Benezet, made famous in the childrens song ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’. We all joined arms and danced on the bridge, just as in the words of the song.

The old city of Avignon is inside the city walls, so we walked through the village where a 10 km. race was just starting, and explored the palace. Lavendar is one of the most popular products of this area, and every store sold lavender in 100 different guises.

 

After our visit to Avignon, we headed to the Luberon and the hilltop village of Gordes. We had lunch in a café overlooking the square, the same one as shown in the movie and since we didn’t have time for the usual three course daily lunch, we opted to share a ‘planche’, a wooden board of local cheeses, cold meats, and salads – and red and white local wines, recommended by our café owner – delicious, and cold on a hot day. I was feeling very chuffed when I was able to order and converse with our waiter in French and he understood me  – Viv, finally all those lessons have come in useful, thanks so much!!! After lunch we wandered around the village and explored the market stalls, stopping at the bakery to share a delicious, light as air Strawberry Tarte – finger licking good!

 

The village of Rousillion was our next stop – built on red ochre cliffs, the whole village is coloured in shades of red and pick, as the ochre from the cliffs is used to colour all the paint – very pretty and unique. In all these small village, parking is at a premium - so our three guys - the three wise monkeys - jumped out and stood in the only available space while Marion drove around the one way street and around the block before any other car could take the spot!

The local speciality is lavender ice cream, so I took the plunge and tried it – it was a soft purple colour and a delicious light flavour – tasted exactly how I would have expected lavender to taste.

 

After driving through the lavender fields, olive groves and vineyards of the Luberon, we passed through Menerbes, Peter Mayle’s home village in Provence. We were supposed to have a winery tour, but the one we had selected was closed on Sunday, so we went to a substitute ‘La Citadelle’, but they weren’t really ready to serve us and couldn’t find the booking, and for once, the wine wasn’t to our taste – the only sale was for some fruit juice – we had planned to buy a selection of Cote de Rhone wines, so we were very disappointed. There is usually a 4 euro charge for the wine tasting, but I think that our guide spoke up on our behalf, because the charge was waived.

 

We are planning to spend a few weeks in France in 2014, so it was great to get a taste of this beautiful region, we will definitely be back next year.

 

Captain, throw off those ropes, it is time to visit Malta…….