Month: April 2017

Our last full day in Provence started at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, just outside of St. Remy.  Following a lifetime of over-indulgence and belligerent behavior, Vincent Van Gogh voluntarily spent a year in this asylum.  He said, “I feel happier here with my work than I could be outside. By staying here a good long time, I shall have learned regular habits and in the long run the result will be more order in my life.”  He managed his vices in the asylum and painted about 150 paintings during the year he spent there.  It is such a calming and beautiful place; I can understand why he found peace and solace there.  Unfortunately for all of us, he died of his demons at 37.

Following our morning at the asylum, Allan and I spent some time wandering St. Remy, and all of us rested for a few hours after lunch.  I chose to skip the early evening event.  Having witnessed a bullfight in Mexico in the 70s, I had no desire to see another bull killed by a pompous matador.  I took a walk to town and spent most of the time reading.  Connie, Clay and Allan drove back to the amphitheater in Arles which was filled to overflowing for the Spanish style corrida.  In this event, three matadors fight (and kill) two bulls each.  They returned home after watching the first two matadors each fight one bull.

We walked to our final dinner in St. Remy at Cafe de La Place and enjoyed a bottle of wine from the Chateau Romanin winery.   The next morning we woke early, finished packing, cleaned the refrigerator and drove to Gare TGV (train station) in Avignon, where Allan and I took one train to Charles de Gaulle airport and Connie and Clay took another train to a station near their apartment for the next week in Paris.  We are spending Sunday night in the airport Sheraton, leave early in the morning and arrive in New Orleans mid afternoon. It has been a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Provence with our dear friends,  but we are ready to return to the regular routine of day-to-day life in New Orleans.

Eygalieres is one our favorite nearby towns so we started our day at the Friday market there again this morning.  It is a quiet town with lots of greenery and flowers.  Many of our favorite vendors were there, the people are pleasant to be around and friendly.

We had a nice lunch at Les Gilles after Allan and Clay warmed up with some raw oysters from a lively market crew and we drove back to St. Remy for a short rest.

This evening we attended one event of the Féria, a local city-wide celebration in Arles marking the start of the spring bullfighting season.  The Féria is simply a three day party with a lot of Spanish music and festivities. The Friday evening event follows a Camargue bull run through the streets, controlled by Guardians (cowboys) on Camargue horses (we opted to miss the bull run).  Warming up to the event, we enjoyed a spirited band on the steps of the amphitheater and again on the floor of the arena.  Clay commented that he could not remember ever seeing anyone enjoy their job more than this bandleader.

The 4:30 PM event in the Roman amphitheater in Arles is one of several events throughout the year that make use of this structure built in 90 AD. The seats at the top have, of course, been built and added to the amphitheater–they block the arched entryways.  Today’s event was the Course Camarguaise, a contest between man and bull where the men (razateurs) try to remove strings and rosettes made of yarn from the base of the bull’s horns.  At this razet there were two teams of eight (6 razateurs and 2 young men who enticed the bull) competing with each other and a small but strong and agile Camargue bull.  Each bull competed for 15 minutes and we saw 6 different bulls.  Mignon, last year’s champion bull and Joaquim Cadenas were the stars of this year’s show and it was thrilling and interesting.

Attached to the base of the bull’s horns are strings and two rosettes made of white yarn.  The razateurs are trying to remove the rosettes; the bull is trying to stop the razateurs!  We had many close calls, but no bulls, no razateurs, and no spectators were seriously injured today.  Two of the bulls did repeatedly jump the fence and trot around the outer ring sending spectators into hiding or the center ring!  We were fortunately in the second row and safe from stray bulls.

We enjoyed the two and a half hour event and along with everyone else cheered both the razateurs and the bulls.  In the end, Joaquim Cadenas (razateur) and Mignon (bull) were this year’s champions.

Arles was quite busy after the event, so we drove home and walked to Bistro Decouverte for a late dinner.

Nancy

 

 

Slow to get started today, we had gotten used to the relaxing pace of the last few days.  Of course, once we got moving there was much to see!  Last year we happened upon a fun restaurant called Aux Ateliers when on a quest for a tourable olive processing farm.  We headed there for lunch but arrived a bit early so we made a reservation and walked toward the small village of Maussane.  

The requisite bell tower and town square were present and soon filled with people having lunch or cafe.  We strolled along the tree-lined main street past restaurants, shops, a fish market, wine stores.

In an alley I couldn’t resist photographing the beautiful irises.  We found an interesting structure which we surmised was a spring fed bath that Connie described as an “infinity pool” since the overflow went to a drain that we assume was recirculated.  It looked to be ancient.  And lo and behold, not too far long we came across another market–much like the other markets, but the venue beneath the towering trees was glorious.

On the return walk back up the main street toward the restaurant we found Le Jardin dus Alpilles, a market full of beautiful fresh vegetables and fruit, with wine organized by AOC, canned goods, a cheese and olive counter–everything you’d find in a big supermarket.  I found the courgette ronde particularly interesting–round zucchini…great for stuffing!

We returned to Aux Anteliers for an enjoyable lunch, complete with a bottle of local rosé wine and a delicious dessert of fresh strawberries with verbena glacé (ice cream) and chantilly cream.  After dessert we were presented with a giant glass dish of meringues. The grounds of the restaurant are loaded with fun yard art but we didn’t think we could get any of it home, so we left empty-handed.  The pétanque court was empty too.  Driving home we were near Les Baux so we explored the area and found perfect spots for photographs.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like to live in the days when Les Baux was thriving.

Dinner was designed to clean the refrigerator, but we didn’t succeed.  It is still quite full of all of the produce we’ve purchased at the markets and we likely won’t eat at home for the remainder of the trip.

Nancy

The last two days have been rest days for us.  Yesterday, we slept late, read novels, travel books and news reports from home.  We followed up on emails and just generally relaxed in this beautiful quiet countryside.  Dinner was in a Michelin starred restaurant in St. Remy–L’Auberge is a small inn and restaurant owned by Fanny Rey.  She and Jonathan Wahid(shown) are the chef and pastry chef, respectively.  It was a 3-hour experience and we enjoyed every morsel and minute.

Today was a little more lively…Wednesday is market day in St. Remy so we went to town. Allan wanted to bring home canned duck confit, but Paul was out of the 4-piece cans by the time he tried to purchase so we moved on.  Clay and Connie purchased everything we needed for our dinner of oyster stew and salad.  We bought jambon (ham), croissants and a baggette to make a tasty lunch.  This small park in the center of St. Remy with its spreading (and blooming) chestnut tree is a lovely spot to sit quietly on non-market days.

After lunch, we all napped before returning to some of our favorite local places–the olive mill/grove/processor, Calanquet and Domaine Romanin.  We all purchased a few souvenirs and of course, more wine.  While at Domaine Romanin, we saw a glider, pulled by a small plane, take off and soar over the mountains. Another very peaceful site to behold. This mountain with the vineyard in the foreground is one of my favorites.

Following our afternoon drive, we returned to our villa for cocktail hour and to make (and eat) the oyster stew.  We enjoyed a white wagtail in the yard.  Another lovely day.

Nancy

 

Today we spent the day in the Camargue, the delta region between the Grand Rhone and the Petite Rhone.  It reminded me a lot of south Louisiana.  When we drove a few minutes south of Arles we all noticed the different environment immediately–flat land without mountains, grasses, only a few tiny vineyards, no olive trees, lots of water.  The area is known for white horses, black bulls, several varieties of rice (red, black among them), flamingos and other migratory birds.

Our first stop was at the Camargue Museum, once a large farm, now with views of the land and a walking tour of some of the wilder areas (which we did not take).  The origin of the Camargue horse is not well known, but it is believed to be one of the oldest breeds in the world.  These horses are seen running wild in the marshes and are used by the local cowboys to manage herds of black bulls.  The bulls are small, agile and intelligent and are used in the French-style bullfight, where the bulls are not killed (more about this later in the week when we attend a huge festival of the bulls in Arles).

We took a small ferry barge across the Petite Rhone, saw more flat, marshy land and the unimpressive, but peaceful beach before arriving at the main attraction for me, the Parc Ornithologique du Pont de Gau.  This is a private park, maintained by the sons of the original developer and managed to attract the wildlife that lives and migrates through the Camargue. A rookery (nesting colony) of herons and egrets was our first view of the park with the loud raucous cries of the various birds and their beautiful spring breeding plumage.

The next and most impressive site was ponds full of flamingos and other mudflat loving birds.  I have some stunning photos of a Eurasian spoonbill, avocet elegante, black-winged stilt, grey heron, great egret, cattle egret, various ducks, some turtles, an otter and a nutria…too many to post here.  So, I’ll stick with the flamingos. Clay was fascinated by the flamingo anatomy.  What looks like their knee is actually their ankle! And, he wanted to know more about the tendon and ligament structure.

There are six different varieties possibly here, but I believe most of these are the Flamant Rose or possible Nani.  When they feed they shuffle their feet to disturb the small creatures in the sand and they ruffle their feathers and fuss at each other for getting too close.

The prettiest site of all was the way they ran across the water and took off in flight.

After leaving the park, we continued down to the coastal town of Saintes Maries de la Mer–typical coastal town of small hotels and restaurants–where most of the buildings are Spanish style and very light colored, right on the beach.  From here we traveled to Salin de Giraud where we saw and learned about gathering the salt from the sea using the salt flats (tables) and a process of moving the salt water from flat to flat, sometimes by pumping, and over time, reducing the water and leaving the salt.  The salt is stored in a camelle (stockpile).  The water in the flats looks pink because of the high concentration of microscopic algae high in beta carotene, Dunaliella Salina.

We headed north to our villa from here after a full day of driving (for Clay) and the natural world of the Camargue.  I’ll leave you with a lovely moment of nature…

 

 

Another beautiful day in St. Remy…temperature starts in the high 40s, reaches the low 70s in mid afternoon and is back down to mid 60s before sunset.  We haven’t even had many French clouds to admire!  This morning we drove to L’Isle sur la Sorgue where antique dealers added to the typical Sunday market.

 

The Sunday market has been in existence since November 9, 1596!  L’Isle sur la Sorgue is a beautiful village, surrounded by the Sorgue River with canals from the river throughout and 14 water wheels still turning.  The water wheels were important for the strong textile and paper industries and have been turning since the 12th century.We had lunch here at Le petit frere; walked around the old town one more time and moved on to our next destination, Fontaine, only 7 km from L’Isle sur la Sorgue.  There is not much to see in Fontaine except for the spring from which the River Sorgue emanates and the rocky outcropping surrounding the village.  We found so many cars in the small village that we decided to only drive through and see what we could see from the car. We missed the spring, but the cliffs and the castle ruins were spectacular.

 

We added Jocaus to the GPS and continued through forested countryside, some vineyards and some olive trees on the way down to the Luberon Valley where we saw cherry trees, more vineyards, a soccer game in progress and the renovated village of Gordes on the top of a mountain.

At Jocaus, a smaller village on a mountain, we admired the art–this one is called “The Fury of the Mistral”.  The Luberon Valley is in the background.

Continuing through the Luberon Valley, we headed to another tiny village, Goult, where we happened upon a Pétanque tournament in progress.  Pétanque is similar to bocce but only because balls are tossed on an open field.  Pétanque is played by men, women, young and old, but mostly by old men.  It is played on a field that has no defined size and is usually ungroomed by anywhere from 2 to 6 players, usually divided into two teams.  The first player tosses a very small light ball called the bouchon and everyone else tries either to get their balls closest to the bouchon or push other balls away from the bouchon.  I’m sure there are more subtleties involved, but that is the gist of the game.

There is a lot of spectating, cogitation the next throw, and though we didn’t see it at this game, pastis is the beverage of choice. The tiny village of Goult has a lovely square town center and is surrounded by forests and rocky terrain.  We continued back to St. Remy from here along tiny roads, straight downhill with stone walls along both sides–hoping no other vehicles came our way!

It was another full day.  We opened a bottle of wine, sliced some French cheeses, started cooking dinner, sat on our patio in the waning sunlight and talked about plans for tomorrow.

Nancy

Our goal today was the Chateauneuf-du-Pape Spring Wine Festival.  We drove up toward and around Avignon then northeast to the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  As soon as we passed Avignon, the environment changed from urban and suburban sites to vineyards on rolling hills as far as we could see.  Our arrival was a bit early for wine tasting, about 10:15, so we strolled through the town. Clay looked at all of the many wine shops and I found two gift/clothing shops.  Allan and I found and bought a furry ceramic chicken, but Clay did not buy any wine.  We sat for a few minutes in a small cafe and had espresso and cafe au lait and began meandering down the hill toward the festival.   The festival was in a school gymnasium and filled with people, vintners, wine, and one very beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback.  About 80 domaines from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC  were represented.  According to Wikipedia…An appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC)  or “controlled designation of origin” is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut national des appellations d’origine, now called Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO). It is based on the concept of terroir.”  And terroir is, very simply, the site-specific natural climate and soils.  For instance, stress is good for the wine and in Chateauneuf-du-Pape the soil is very rocky causing deep roots that absorb minerals and other nutrients.  The rocks also control the amount of water the plant receives and heat the roots when the sun beats down on them.  It is against the rules of the bureau to alter the terroir of an AOC which typically means that herbicidal and insecticidal chemicals are forbidden.

Back to the Festival…For ten euros each we received an entry ticket and a wine glass for tasting.  We tasted as many wines as we could manage for about 2 1/2 hours, purchased a total of five bottles among us, and decided to take a break and have lunch.  We hiked downhill to the car to put away our purchases and warm clothes and right back up again to lunch at La Mule de Pape.  After the long lunch we decided we had had enough wine tasting and climbed back in the car, entered the address for Clos du Cailliou into our trusty GPS and set out again, right through the middle of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC on some VERY narrow roads.  What a view–vineyards on either side of the road, an occasional farmhouse, a few trees, Mount Ventoux and the Luberon mountains in the distance.

We had been to Clos du Cailliou on our last trip to Provence and we recognized it immediately.  It is one of Clay’s favorite wineries and he was ready to purchase some wine.  He spent a lot of time developing a method of communication between him and the lady working at the winery–she spoke no English and he spoke no French!  We ultimately tasted several excellent wines but Clay decided to order wine by phone at some later date.

On the way back to St. Remy, we took more photos of vineyards and the new leaves on the vines–the vines are heavily pruned in early spring according to the rules of the AOC. Another beautiful and enjoyable day in Provence.

Nancy

 

Another adventure filled day in Provence!  The morning started off cool (high 40s) and calm, but warmed up as the day progressed (low 70s); sort of like Camelot.  Thursday is market day in both Eygalieres and Loumarin.  Eygalieres was our first stop mainly in an effort to find another spoon made with horn for Clay.  Within the first block we found it!

The market starts at the top of a long hill and the small village is quite charming with stone buildings and lots of greenery. We meandered through the market and enjoyed the peaceful walk.  Loumarin looks close on the map, but it took awhile to travel there.  This village, while beautiful, is much more lively.  The market is bigger and there are many more people.  We bought into the vegetable coring man’s demonstration and purchased both a vegetable corer and special scissors.  We’ll use these to make slices of carrot stuffed potatoes for our dinner (in New Orleans) which will include brandade with our pretty vegetable concoctions.We lunched at L’Orneau after Allan and Clay shared a dozen fresh, salty oysters at the market.  One of the highlights of Loumarin is the 15th and 16th century castle.  We moseyed though the village back to our car and drove up to the castle.

About 6 rooms in the renaissance part of the castle have been restore and we were able to explore them.  The fireplace above was built in the 1500’s and used motifs reminiscent of the 1492 discovery of America.  The harpsichord is in the music room which also is warmed by a huge fireplace.  The interior was quite cool, well insulated by the limestone walls and I would surmise that the big fireplaces do a pretty good job of warming the huge place.

The fierce dog gargoyles functioned as drains for the gutters as well as protectors of the castle.  And we learned that in medieval times, spiral staircases are usually built clockwise so that enemies coming up have a hard time swinging their swords whereas defenders coming down have plenty of room.  This part of the staircase did not adhere to the general rule, probably because it is so wide.

Part of the adventure in the next leg of our journey was getting there.  Clay drove up and over the Luberon mountains, along tiny winding roads and switchbacks that were quite difficult to maneuver.  We hoped at every turn that no vehicle would be coming our way. We rode through Bonnieux and other small towns on the way to Oppede le Vieux.  This lovely, quiet village was all but destroyed several times, but more recently people are beginning to return, renovate and repopulate the area just outside of the old walled city.  The rest of the adventure involved getting from the parking lot halfway up the mountain to the village that was perched on a rocky outcrop about an hour’s hike up.  The path was beautifully maintained with wildflowers all of the way up–it was wonderful to be out in the open air and the bees enjoyed the sweet smells of the flowers as much as we did.  The view of Mt. Ventoux and the Luberon Valley from the path was breathtaking.

The church and an old castle are at the top of the climb.  The ruler lived in the castle and the people in the walled city below.  The castle is still in ruins having last been all but destroyed in an earthquake in the 1700s.  The church as been restored as have the paths, but everything else in the walled city is as it was left years ago.

Clay found a walking stick to help with the hike down the mountain and we piled in the car and headed back to St. Remy.  Clay and Connie cooked duck confit, baked sweet potatoes, fresh asparagus and salad and after hors d’ oeuvres and wine on our patio in the beautiful evening air with frogs to serenade us, we ate the gourmet meal and retired.

Nancy

The first stop on our full day tour with Marlene was at the Moulin du Calanquet.  A calanquet is a small protective hill like the huge ones we saw in Cassis.  Behind the olive mill is a small outcropping that protects the olive trees from strong winds.  There has been farming here for 5 generations and before planting olive trees they grew petunias, silk worms and cauliflower.  Following our very informative talk from Helen about the process of growing, pressing and bottling olive oil we had a tasting of the five varieties of olives they grow here, the oil they produce, jams, and other products. Yummy way to start the day!  This mill uses every part of the olive;  the pit is pressed with the fruit since it contains the antioxidants and helps to preserve the oil.  Nothing is wasted—-ground pits are ultimately burned for fuel; hulls, twigs and skins are composted to fertilize olive trees; twigs from trimming are used to make baskets; and bigger limbs and trunks are made into bowls.  Clay and Connie sent home a box of oils.

In Nimes the best preserved Roman era buildings in France are found as you can see by the perfectly preserved ornate columns and cornices of the white limestone Maison Carree.  We learned that denim (du Nimes) came from Nimes and that it was a big textile center.  The amphitheater here was built by Augustus in the first century A.D.

We had a Provence favorite and the house specialty, brandade de morue–an emulsion of salted cod and olive oil for an appetizer at lunch at L’Ancien Teatre.  This version was so well prepared it made want more.  I’m wondering where we might find salted cod in New Orleans…

The indoor market reminded me somewhat of the market along the Ramblas in Barcelona.  Allan thought it more like a supermarket with each counter managed by a different vendor.  I had never seen artichokes that were so pretty–I think they would make an excellent centerpiece!

Following our visit to Nimes, we stopped at a winery that discovered Roman pottery in their vineyard.  So, they decided to learn all they could about Roman winemaking and in fact, have created a life size replica of a Roman press.  Every year they dress in Roman dress, tread the grapes by foot–which by the way is very tiring, add spices and other condiments (honey, cooked quince), and bottle it.  We tasted both their regularly processed wind and their Roman wine.  The Roman wine is not something you would imagine.  They say the Mulsum bottle (fermented juice mixed with honey, thyme, red pepper, ginger and cinnamon) is excellent with chocolate cake.  The Turriculae bottle (fermented juice mixed with fenugreek and sea water) tastes like curry and is good with oysters and fish as well as desserts with almonds.  The Carenum bottle (fermented juice mixed with grape juice cooked with quince.

Our final stop was back near St. Remy where we visited a fromagerie complete with goats, a horse and a beautiful rooster. I really enjoyed petting all of the goats–there were a few big sweet billy goats, lots of females for milking and many kids, some only 4 days old.  We tasted several cheeses and brought some home with us which Connie sliced and lightly fried to serve on top of salad.

We learned a lot today–all about olives and their processing, how to make Brandade de Morue, how to make Roman wine, how to care for goats and make cheese.  It was a very good day.

Nancy

 

 

Wednesday is the market day for St. Remy.  It is a far cry from the market on Monday in Cavaillon.  The wares range from antiques and art to handmade furniture to tablecloths to cheese and sausage to oysters to fruit and vegetables and everything else in between.  And, it all appears to be high quality.  We wandered through the streets of the center of town stopping to sample before purchasing olives, cheese and sausage.  Allan and I are bringing home tablecloths–one for Poplarville and one for New Orleans–and two more cigales for the kitchen in New Orleans.  It was cold so we each bought a soft, warm woolen scarf.  Connie and Clay bought paella, oysters, artichokes and everything else we might need for lunch and dinner.

The mistral is gusting today causing cool, clear and beautiful weather.  The mistral blows down the Rhone and through Provence to the Mediterranean around the Camargue often resulting in sudden storms in the sea.  This wind is helpful after a big rain because it dries the grapes which makes them happy!

After lunch, we took a quick ride to the coliseum in Arles to pick up our bullfight tickets for next weekend.  We think the tickets will get us into a Spanish-style bullfight on Saturday where they kill the bull with horns and the French-style bullfight where the cowboy takes a rosette from a young bull’s horn.  I expect to like the French-style much better…more next weekend.

Leaving Arles, we decided to follow Clay’s lead and he took us to a beautiful and relatively new winery just past St. Remy on the way to Cavaillon, Chateau Romanin.  The cave (cellar) is located below the ruins of a castle from the middle ages,  built into the side of a mountain and designed like a cathedral.  In building the cellar, great care was taken to not disturb the mountain (in the right photo below, the wine casks are against the rock of the mountain).  By building the cellar in this way, the wine stays consistently at 10 degrees Celsius all year round.

The winery’s motto is “fruit de la terre, du soleil, et de la lune…” —fruit of the earth, the sun and the moon.  They take all of these into consideration in the entire wine production process.  Following a tasting, we purchased two bottles of red and a bottle of white, some glass corks and a “drop stop.”  It was a beautiful facility and the entire 58 hectare estate appears to be well thought out.  In addition to the grape vines, there were cultivated almond trees and olive trees as well as wild scrub oak and small native shrubs and flowers, including wild thyme, rosemary, and cyste.

Dinner tonight was at L’Aile ou la Cuisse Bistrot and was excellent.  It is a small restaurant up an alleyway from the town center.  The entire menu is in French so after trying hard to read it using the little we know, we gave in and asked the waiter to help…which he did with a lovely smile.  Our walk home was uneventful and we arrived at Bleu to the calling of frogs and a beautiful starlit evening.

Bon nuit!

Nancy