France Adventure Days 18 and 19

See The World

with BILL'S EYES

The Abbey had many original stain glass windows this being the largest but not necessarily the prettiest.

Trying to be arty.

Many yachts and boats to keep the rich and famous busy and poorer.

The main open area is unusually the location of a Hotel de Ville.

One small side view of the Palais Des Papes.

Many of the street footpaths are like those shown above.

Day 18 is devoted to walking about Avignon and then getting further along the track we are making up as we go along. However, before proceeding with the description of today I need to record some of what we did yesterday.

Gordes is often depicted as a must see town and is placed on the itinerary of bus tours and even taken as a side trip as part of the riverboat cruises and all for good reason. We were fortunate to arrive on market day, so the car parks located at the top of the town and the starting point for most visitors had been taken over by stall holders who had set up very early that morning.

It would seem that market days fall on different days for each of the local towns so that the people providing the market produce and wares effectively set-up in a different town each day.

There were at least 80 traders offering - scarves, olives, cheese, cured meats, paintings, photographs, carvings, jewelry, baskets, jams, hats, trinkets - you name it. Lee and I walked about for an hour or so, as we had plenty of time before we walked the street of the town of Gordes, which is actually on a rocky out crop on a hillside. We both bought scarves and it would not be hard to guess that the scarf that Lee liked was one of the more expensive ones.

I did not chose quite the best pictures yesterday and Lee has many better ones on her camera so they may become available later in the 'best of' selection we may post. However, it may suffice to say that the town is replete with picture possibilities mainly because of the juxta position of buildings, the stonework of the walls, the flowers in bloom in window boxes and adorning the sides of buildings, cobble stone paved streets, striking window treatments, imposing and sometimes quirky doors and door ways, and many lanes that yearn to have the camera lens pointed along them, some with more buildings in the background, some with blue sky, and others with the country side stretching into the distance.

Driving to this location was a bit of a challenge but Lee had done her research and we easily found the best place to park which was an Aires, so we had to pay a fee to stay the day but that was acceptable as there was very little parking that day in the town and what was available required payment as well.

However, the next point of call was the Abbey Notre Dame de Sénanque, which is the often used background for pictures of fields of lavender. The Abbey is located some 4 kms from Gordes in a valley but the road getting there is narrow and winds erratically especially when an oncoming vehicle requires space to get past the beast. Unfortuntatley, it is not the lavender flowering season so rows and rows of flowering lavender is missing from our pictures of the Abbey but the history and striking building is still great to see, and what I remember most about the building is that the rooves are made of an array of rocks. As we head down the hill away from the Abbey beyond Gordes and down the hill we see a road side sign pointing to the Village de Bories.

The camper van was prohibited from driving the road to the village so with some absence of sense we started walking what turned out to be 1 and 1/2 kilometers of roadway just to the get to the carpark and then walked about the village for some time and then walked back. Our total walking distance for day 17 was just under 10 kms. As yesterday's pictures show of the Village de Bories the buildings were made using rocks laid one on the other but no mortar to bind them. This is a historical site and is not inhabited but it does provide a sense of the stark reality of the living conditions (snow in the winter and searing heat in summer as evidenced by many of the buildings being for housing sheep and pigs) of rural people who could not afford housing any other way.

Once back in the van we made our way to the Museum of Lavender and listened to the audio track that was supplied to us on a handheld device so we could move about the museum at our own pace. The making of lavender essence and the way it developed over the years and the two types of lavender were of great interest to us both.

We did some more grocery shopping and then made our way to a riverside camping site in walking distance of the city walls of ancient Avignon, ready for our visit the next day.

Up the next morning to walk the streets and by-ways of Avignon and we were soon crossing a bridge over the Rhone taking pictures of a small portion of the some 5 kilometers of 14th century ramparts that circle the old town. This alone is an impressive structure but the Palais des Papes standouts even more and was the first thing we visited. Lee encouraged me to listen to the audio tour and there is much to see and appreciate in this vast building. There are many facts that make up the history of this structure and the seven Popes that created the headquarters of the Papacy in France in Avignon in the 1400's but the one fact that I remember most vividly is the deal done with the Queen of Naples to have the Church purchase Avignon (then owned by the Queen) in a deal done by a reigning Pope as part payment for absolution or a pronouncement of innocence of the Queens' alleged murder of the King of Naples. Makes me think that Popes are not just high end clergy they are high end wheelers and dealers.

Enough history and walking so we found a lovely square and sat down for lunch while the shops were having their midday break and we enjoyed letting the day and the tourists go by. The rest of the day was spent walking the streets and very clean and again full of picture opportunities they were.

We finished our traipsing about and headed back to the van to decide where we would like to stay the night. We have ended up on the coast of the Mediterranean at La Grande-Motte which is South East of Montpellier. It was supposed to take an hour and a half to get in the vicinity and parked but ended up being nearly four hours, partly because of the GPS Roads of France setting and partly because for the very first time the Aries we had planned to stay at was full and at least two more alternatives some distance away needed to be considered and driven to. Even then each of them was full so we have parked on the side of the road near the entrance to a caravan park- next to other camper vans that obviously have had the same experience as us. Strength in numbers we Caravaners say. It is not yet high-season but we are in the South of France and the sun is out and people are making the most of the great conditions.

I am sure they did not mow the grass in 1200 AD.

I placed my hand in the Mediterranean Sea and then took a stroll along the deserted beach.

Day 19 begins with a leisurely walk about Le Grande Motte which is a seaside resort on the Mediterranean Sea and the mooring location for luxury yachts and the playground for the beautiful people who parade along the esplanade or drink cocktails in the many bars. Oh and that excludes us as our camper van is parked in the all day free parking spot behind the yacht club.

We did some shopping and chose some T-shirts and shorts for me and blouses for Lee (not Versace or equivalent). The lovely shop assistant was very helpful and asked in halting English much better than our non-existent French, where we were from and as soon as she heard we from Australia she mentioned that it was a long way away and then indicated that she wanted to go there some day. This reaction is not unusual when French people found out we were not English and from Australia.

We then walked along the sandy beach and dipped our hands in the Mediterranean Sea. We are not beach people but the whole place had a resort feel to it, and we and the early risers were enjoying promenading beside the yachts and the very eye catching shapes of those yachts as well as the morning light reflecting off the still water.

All the hotels in the vicinity of Centre de Ville had a theme which seemed to be the shape of a cruise ship with the windows of hotel rooms adorned with coloured shades which made the whole place seem connected and synergistic with its green and blue environment. Whomever it was that had the foresight and influence has made all the developers toe the-line and the township is the better for it.

The people we saw were a mixture of the wealthy and the visitors and many of them were cycling, even the 3 and 4 year olds were into it. The kids had helmets the adults did not. The many dogs in bike baskets did not have helmets either but they did not seem to care as their tongues and fur drifted in the wind.

Today we intended to make some miles and head off towards Toulouse which is over 300 kms away. There are many ways to get there and we were confident about using the GPS to take us via toll-ways (as I finally figured out how to the tame the machine) and which we calculated would be quicker, although likely to be less interesting. We did however factor in a visit to Carcassonne the location of a Citadel of some note (although it helps when you are looking for signs as to where to go, that Citadel translates into 'La Cite').

The parking as usual is a challenge, though this time a little more convenient because we gained entry to a car park by taking a ticket - which did not seem to work on the way out until we located the payment booths. Anyway, the car park ended up being very close to where we needed to be, as we only walked a short distance amongst the houses at the bottom of the rocky outcrop on which a castle and associated city were built but up another set of stone stairs to the castle gates. Seems we cannot avoid stairs and just as well because we are eating very well.

The citadel is in fact a complete city protected by walls and fortification that has developed over the centuries. I was taken by the apertures made into thick stone walls at strategic locations from which archers would launch their arrows. Those points in the fences were called suicide points (obviously for the aggressors). There were also primary, secondary and fall-back positions within the castle some stocked with provisions for the long haul.

I imagine marauding hordes trying to scale the walls, firing their arrows at the turrets that are specifically shaped to deflect the arrows back at the aggressors. The slingshot projectiles, arrows and later cannon balls bouncing off the solid stone walls. I know the children are imagining these things as wooden bows, cross-bows and arrows are the most popular toys being carried as they explore the castle.

There are many people spread across the township taking a time-out in the many restaurants, enjoying the local fare which has a Spanish influence, indeed a Catalan influence, as this area is not so far away from Spain. One of the establishments is called the ADELAIDE RESTAURANT. Many people are enjoying the shops as did Lee and a lovely watch for a bargain price she is bringing home.

Time to move on as 4 pm is upon us and there are many kilometers to travel yet. Indeed we used the toll-ways most of the way and it cost just under A$80 today. This is part of life in France and many other places including parts of Australia.

We made it to Moissac beyond Toulouse and ensconced ourselves in an Aire right next to the river Tarn. We decided to open the VEUVE CLICQUOT and sit on a park bench next to the river taking in the surroundings, including families playing Pétanque on the flat area behind the many vans at this site.