Provence!

The next morning we met Jeff at the train station and were off to Provence! I didn’t want to sleep as I didn’t want to miss a second of the French countryside whizzing by at over 300 MPH. Those trains are fast! It was cool to see all the little villages along the way, with their old buildings and always near a hill with either a cathedral or a chateau perched on top of it.

At Aix-en-Provence which would be our home base, we picked up a rental car and then went o check in at our hotel. Then we were off once again, this time to Avignon. Jeff has a spiffy little hand held GPS that was cool and I got to play navigator. Funny is that it looks for the shortest route, tho it may not be the “best” route. A few times it took us on what Jeff likes to call “goat paths” but I love those kinds of wrong turns…lol…it’s where you see the most interesting things.

There we went to the Papal Palace, an impressive castle type building where, you guessed it, the Popes used to reside. It’s unfurnished though it has displays about, and you can get the guided tour thingie and hear about the history of the palace. On top there’s a nice view overlooking Avignon. I managed to take several pictures before some French woman came at me shaking her finger and saying “ no no no no no”. I took a good guess then and there that taking pictures is not allowed…lol…

In the cellar of the palace is the “Bouteillerie”, a wine cellar that sells Côtes du Rhône wines from grapes grown along the Rhone river. They boast over 40 wine choices and you can have a “tasting” of any one that you like poured by the incredible piece of man flesh they had working behind the counter. Oh la la! This was MY kind of place! You had to pay for the tastings but they gave you a good half a glass. I could have spent the entire day there…lol…or at least a bit longer but not wanting to hold my traveling companions up, I bought some to go and we got outta there.

Then we went to have a quick boo at the famous Saint Bénezet bridge. In 1177 some shepherd by the name of Bénezet came to town and told the bishop that god told him to get a bridge built. Why? I dunno…but there ya go, they built it and it’s quite nice…lol

Then we were off to see Le Pont du Gard, the Roman aqueduct probably built in the middle of the first century A.D. Designed to carry the water across the small Gardon river valley, it was part of a nearly 50 km (31 mi) aqueduct that brought water from the Fontaines d'Eure springs near Uzès to the Castellum in the Roman city of Nemausus (Nîmes). Where we were is where it passed over the river and is still standing. It’s absolutely amazing that they built something like this so long ago, and amazing still that it still stands and is in such good shape. Trish and I walked up the bank along one end of it, while Jeff stayed behind to have a snooze in the sun. From the top of the bank we could look down onto it and see the actual “aqueduct” part. It was way cool.

Then we drove to Vaison-la-Romaine where you find the old original “medieval” type city built up on a hill topped with, you guessed it, a château. The narrow streets were all cobblestone, the buildings all stone as well with vines growing along the walls in places. It was like taking a step back in time and was truly beautiful. The château at the top is in ruins basically, and not open to get inside. But the top had an amazing view of the surrounding city and country side. We roamed the streets for a while then made our way back to the car and then back to Aix to call it a day.