Tim and Jayne's Adventure Germany II: A Week In Provence And Five Days In Paziols

Wow.....where to start....(Thank-you for your patience - sorry it has been so long)

A WEEK IN PROVENCE

Day 1

With our car loaded with our bikes and luggage, our first stop was Freiburg im Breisgau to meet up with Jocelyn and Roger Green, friends from Victoria who had flown into Frankfurt and then took the train to Freiburg (about 270 km south of Frankfurt).

Our plan was to meet them on the platform but somehow they slipped through our fingertips and we missed them but we accidentally bumped into them in the train station at Starbucks as Jocelyn was using their WiFi. Hungry and tired we went straight to a restaurant to eat.

Made it!! Jocelyn and Roger in Freiburg

Day 2

After a great nights sleep and a wonderful breakfast we all packed into our car and headed toward Simandre, France - our next stop. We had planned to drive along one of the most famous wine routes in the world - the northern part of the Grands Crus Wine Road - Burgundy's Champs-Elysées, the Côte de Nuits. We drove through Dijon and started our 'drive' in a little town called Marsannay-la-Côte. We arrived at Marsannay at lunch time and went into the first restaurant that we saw and it was perfect. Why? Because everyone in the café were locals (except us). We all ordered the Plat du Jour and enjoyed our first bottle of French wine. Magnifique!

We, of course, wanted to do some wine tasting and our first stop was the vineyards of Clos de Vougeot (planted by the Cistercian Monks in 1110 AD). Little did we know (as none of us are all that 'up' on wine) that this is the creme de la creme of wines and they only sell bottles that you cellar for up to 30 years. None of their wine is to drink now. With our tail between our legs we asked a few questions and then left without tasting anything!

Tim (the designated driver) was bound and determined to find us a Cave (wine cellar) so that we could taste some wine. Our next stop was Ropiteau Frères in Mersault. It was a wonderful stop. We all went down into the wine cellar before we tasted 4 wines (free of charge today - not many people out wine tasting as it was pouring rain).

Wine cellars of Ropiteau Frères in Mersault.

Ahhh, French wine!!!

Happily we drove on to our next night's accommodation - Le Taillet Chambres d'hotes en Bourgogne in the very small village of Le Taillet. It was an old renovated farmhouse with just four rooms to rent.

The owner, Brigitte, had made us a reservation at an amazing restaurant in Tournus called Le Bourgogne. More wonderful French food and wine.

Jayne and Jocelyn enjoying their wine:
'Pascal Pauget
2010
MACON
Appellation Contrôlée
Terroir De Tournus'

My escargot - I haven't had this since.....well, for a very long time.

Upon arriving back to the farmhouse, we were to stroke off our names that had been written on a chalk board and we were to close the gate if we were the last ones in and to be sure that the cat was locked out of the house!

Day 3 (1st June - Tim and Jayne's 23rd wedding anniversary!)

In the morning we had breakfast on the covered terrace - what a wonderful stay.

Once we loaded up we hit the road and by 3 pm we arrived in Pernes-les-Fontaines and to our rented villa for the week - Mas de la Laiterie

What a perfect place to use as a base for our week in Provence. By 5 pm Jocelyn and Roger's son, Russell, and his partner ('the woman Russell sleeps with' - wink, wink, nudge, nudge!), Venita, arrived and the week in Provence officially started.

Our kitchen.
Jocelyn, Venita, Jayne and Tim

Our first dinner.
From the top clockwise: Jocelyn, Jayne, Tim, Russell and Venita
We ate inside because there was a mistral.
A mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France,
coming from the north or northwest, which accelerates when it passes
through the mountain valleys and to the Mediterranean.
It can reach up to 90 mph and will last a couple of days.
There was a mistral when we arrived on Saturday
but by Monday morning it was gone.

Our Villa and our pool boy (Tim)

Jocelyn and Roger on the terrace where we ate dinner every night.

The pool house where Tim and Jayne slept!

Appies (and wine) on the terrace!

Russell pulling another cork!

Pernes-les-Fontaines

It is a small French town with 10,405 inhabitants in Vaucluse in the Region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur. It is about 25 km east of Avignon.

Roger and the view from Pernes Castle.

The streets of Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Tim and .....you guessed it, a baguette (a daily early morning purchase).

Here are the highlights of our 'Week in Provence'

Avignon

Palais des Papes
The Palace of the Popes stands as the mighty symbol of the church’s influence throughout the western Christian world in the 14th century. It was the residence of the sovereign pontiffs in the 14th century is the largest Gothic Palace in the world (15,000 m2 of floor space, which is the equivalent of 4 Gothic cathedrals). Construction started in 1335 and it took less than 20 years to build. The Palais des Papes and the historic center of Avignon is UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The rooftops of the old town of Avignon

The university on the old town of Avignon

Old Streets of Avignon

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

About 12 km south of Pernes-les Fontaines is the lovely town of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. The Sorgue river surges from the depths of the earth in Fontaine de Vaucluse (8km east). In the past fishing, grain, wool and silk were the primary economic activities and all were made possible by the vigorous waters of the Sorgue river.

Though no longer a source of power, the water wheels, found throughout the old town continue to churn along the Arquet canal.

Fontaine de Vaucluse

This is where the water of the Sorgue river emerges from an immense underground network. With a total of 630 million m³ per year, this spring is the biggest in Europe and one of the biggest in the world with respect to the volume of flowing water.

Where the river Sorgue emerges!
(sorry had to use a picture of the internet as
my battery died and my back up
was at the villa)

Town of Fontaine de Vaucluse (and Jayne)

One day we drove along the most beautiful Gorges de la Nesque and up Mont Ventoux....

Gorges de la Nesque

The Gorges de la Nesque is spectacular, one of the most beautiful hydro geological examples of the Midi. An imposing and wild canyon, with fantastic rocks which can be admired from the along the D942 from Carpentras to Sault, which is punctuated by tunnels and view-points, such as Castelleras looking onto the majestic “Rocher du Cire”.

Rocher de Cire

Just as we were admiring the Rocher de Cire a helicopter flew up the valley - amazing!

Where are we?

Not what we expected in Provence!

One of the tunnels along the Gorge de la Nesque.

Many of the large lavender fields of this area are found just outside of Sault, but we were here too early to see the lovely fields - pity!

Mont Ventoux

It is the largest mountain in the region and has been nicknamed the "Beast of Provence",the "Giant of Provence", or "The Bald Mountain". It is 1912 m above sea level and the Tour de France has ascended the mountain fifteen times since 1951.

Mont Ventoux!!

Mont Ventoux is featured in this years race - its 100th year of the Tour. The climb for the cyclists is 21 km at 7.5% grade!!! There were alot of people cycling up the mountain. We figured the average age of the cyclist we saw was around 55! Amazing!!

As the name might suggest (venteux means windy in French), it can get windy at the summit, wind speeds as high as 320 km/h (200 mph) have been recorded. The wind blows at 90+ km/h (56+ mph) 240 days a year. Luckily the day we ascended the Mont (by car and not by bike) there was hardy a breeze.

The climb......

up and up...

and up!

View from the top of Mont Ventoux.

Cycling Trip to Châteauneuf-du-Pape (roughly translates to "The Pope's New Castle")

Little did we know that Châteauneuf-du-Pape was the name of a town and the name of a wine region - . It is one of the most renowned appellations (legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown) of the southern part of the Rhône Valley.

The characteristic terrior of Châteauneuf-du-Pape comes from a layer of stones called galets (pebbles - which can be seen in a couple of our pictures). The stone retains heat (some 2800 hrs of sun a year) during the day and releases it at night which can have an effect of hastening the ripening of grapes. The stones can also serve as a protective layer to help retain moisture in the soil during the dry summer months.

The problem with cycling is that unless you have a talking 'navi' plugged into your ear, telling you where to go
(like we have in our car - we love you navi), you continuously have to stop to look at a map/directions
to figure out where you are and where you have to go.......Jocelyn thinks it is that way.....

Beautiful countryside......and Tim.

Oh!!!! Wine tasting again!
Tim was looking on as Jocelyn and Russell sampled €60 bottle of wines at this Vineyard.

Wow!

Oh.....this is Jayne and Tim's idea of a house and vineyard in Provence - love it!!!

At the end of the day we stopped for a well deserved cold beer.
Oh look, it is Jocelyn and Russell again. Hummmmm.

Cycling Trip to Mazans and St. Didier

Another cycling trip was through the vineyards, farms fields and through the little Provençal towns of Mazan and St. Didier. The cycling was on mostly paved quiet roads with little or no traffic - perfect!

Russell and Venita in the poppy fields.

And, of course, lunch in St. Didier in the courtyard of the most beautiful little restaurant.

Driving Trip To A Couple Of The Most Beautiful Little Towns In Provence

Jocelyn had read that there was a wonderful driving trip that took you through a couple of beautiful towns in Provence. All the towns are perched on hills. Each time we wanted to go to the next village, we typed it into the navi (we called her the navi bitch - as she was quite stubborn at times lol) and she took us on these amazing little back roads but always got us exactly where we needed to be. She really was wonderful - I take back the 'bitch' title.

The first town we drove to was Ménerbes.

Venita is having a short nap!

The view from Ménerbes.

Lovely castle courtyard.

We drove through Bonnieux (where 'A Good Year' was filmed) and onto Roussillon. Roussillon is noted for its large ochre deposits found in the clay surrounding the village. The large quarries of Roussillon were mined from the end of the 18th century until 1930. Nowadays the mining of ochre is prohibited here, in order to protect the sites from degradation or even complete destruction.

We all thought that we would stop and have lunch here, but there were soooo many tourists and after a week of peace and quiet we drove right through and found ourselves in the lovely, tiny, unspoiled village of Murs. It was exactly what we were looking for. It is perched on the end of a butte in a beautiful area of forested hills....with one restaurant.

Our lovely little, one and only restaurant in Murs - but perfect!!!

Murs

Other Provençal Sights

One of our lunch stops - Châteauneuf-de-Pape, I think!

Someone's private courtyard.

Pottery shop!

OGM - I would have bought one if she had one for sale!!!

Shop in L'Isle sur la Sorgue

Wine cellar in Ménerbes

Food

Of course, our Blog isn't complete without food pictures......

Of course, baguettes! Many different varieties, but all delicious.

Appies one evening at our Villa.

Lunch, yes lunch, at the restaurant in St. Didier.
Duck breast with strawberry compote - absolutely to die for!

Dessert at lunch, yes lunch, in Murs!
Citrone tart with extras - umm, umm good.

Evening Of Wine And Cheese Pairings

Our last evening---wine tasting paired with cheese on the sidewalk in Pernes-les-Fontaines!
If you know Jayne, she doesn't like cheese. Yes it is true, she doesn't like cheese, but she
joined us anyway and the lady who did the wine tasting was wonderful and provided
Jayne with a plate of yummy appies instead of cheese.

After a lovely week full of cycling, food, wine and laughter we had to part our ways. We were heading to Paziols, a little French town in the foothills of the Pyrénées, where one of my British cousins has a holiday house that they lent to us for a while. Jocelyn and Roger caught a train early Saturday morning and went to Trier, Germany for a 7 day cycling trip along the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. Russell and Venita didn't have concrete plans but were thinking of driving down to Barcelona (we later learned that they drove to Andorra instead as the train station chaos - way too many people turned them off). Since Paziols was on the way, they decided to join us for a couple of days.

FIVE DAYS IN PAZIOLS

Paziols is a small little village in the foothills of the Pyréneés, about 40 km NW of Perpignan in the SW corner of France. My cousin Annie Mackenzie and her husband John, from the UK, have a holiday house there and we were lucky enough to be able to use it for 5 days.

Annie and John's Holiday House in Paziols

Their dining room through to the kitchen.

Tim and the roofs of Paziols.

Morning Cycle and Driving Trip to Villerouge-Termenès and Talairan

In the morning we got on our bicycles (Annie and John had 2 bicycles at their house so we dusted them off and pumped up the tires for Russell and Venita) and cycled around the countryside of Paziols.

It is beautiful countryside with hills, mountains and vineyards.

After a couple of hours it really looked like it was going to rain so we went home and hopped in the car and let the navi take us....where ever. We drove and drove and drove and not a restaurant to be seen. So we entered restaurant in to the navi and 'she' took us straight (the roads aren't exactly straight) to this wonderful little tavern in the gorgeous little town of Villerouge-Termenès.

Our restaurant - thanks to 'navi'

The view from our table!
Au Château Villerouge Termenès

Tim, Venita and Russell.

The view of our restaurant from Au Château Villerouge-Termenès.

After lunch we walked the streets of Villerouge-Termenès....

On our way out of town we stopped at the local cooperative which sold local wine, cheese, honey, pottery, etc. The woman working that day was the owner of Domaine La Rune and offered us a wine tasting as her winery, about 6 km away. We couldn't say no, so she got on the phone and told her son, Manuel, that we were coming for a wine tasting.

Domaine La Rune

Entry way into the wine tasting room.

Manuel had everything all ready for us!!!


Manuel (just returned from 8 months in Australian wine country and Napa Valley to learn about how they market their wines).

and the three musketeers (Tim was the designated driver)!!
We tried every one of their wines!

At the end of the day.......dinner......

Russell and Venita departed for Barcelona on the Monday. We late understood that Barcelona became Andorra!!

Cycling to Tautavel

I believe this is the Town Hall!

Our lunch stop - tapas at a Catalan restaurant.
This is one of the areas that alot of Spaniards (Catalans) fled to, to escape ....of I forget who.
Anyway, thus the many Spanish influences.

Beautiful scenery.

Cycling to Cucugnan and Driving Trip to Château de Quéribus

Amazing!

Picking cherries from the tree!

Opps, missed!

and then came home and drove to Queribus, which is just past Cucugnan but very high in elevation - not for cycling - well at least not us!

Picture perfect Cucugnan!

The streets of Cucugnan.

Lunch break!

Ruins of Château de Quéribus

What a beautiful area of France. Quite unexpected, but we aren't sure what we expected.

THANK-YOU Annie and John!!!

After five days in Paziols we headed home via the French Riviera. Our first night was spent in Menton, France, situated on the French/Italian border, just east of Monaco. Our second night was in Lake Como, in Italy. And our last day took us through Switzerland, Austria and then finally home to Erlangen, Germany.

Some of the sights along the way....