Friday 27th of May:
We departed Bonnieul an hour later than expected at 7 a.m. The trip back south to Provence was uneventful, and we managed to skirt the major cities that had taken time on the trip north. Our late departure meant we were unable to reach Avignon in time to pick up our friends John and Leslie arriving from Italy on the TVG. We finally arrived at around 3:30 p.m. locating the hotel fairly easily, unloaded and parked the car underground several blocks away. On the recommendation of our friendly host we enjoyed a local restaurant Les 'Artiest a short walk away. The food and service provided another fine French dining experience and after we weree glad to call it a night.
Glanum-St Remy, one of the oldest towns in France!
St Remy in Roman times known as Glanum was situated at the junction of three major roads, and down the centuries has become famous for its cultural history and in later times the beautiful light effects exemplified in the works of many famous artists. This has produced a city famous for it's culture and wealth of artistic works, and for a city of inhabitants with appreciation of natural beauty and a zest for fine living.
St Remy is famous as the birthplace of Nostradamus in 1503 and in 1889 was home to the renowned artist Vincent van Gogh for the last year his life during which he painted 150 of his most memorable works. Numerous artists settled in or around St Remy and today more than 150 have established their presence here. The city has many artists' studios in the town center. The natural beauty of the surrounding areas with the pointed cyprus hedges and the ruggedness of the limestone mountains certainly give visitors an appreciation of the development of a special artistic culture.
St. Remy de Provence, a town of 10,000 inhabitants is a mecca for tourists being central to a number of major cities and villages that have a wealth of culture. It is surrounded by the famous landscapes including the limestone Alpilles mountains and on the outskirts of the city of the ruins of the ancient town of Glanum. The Wednesday morning market is one of the most popular in the region and stalls abound with local produce, artifacts, fabrics and pottery in the vibrant colours of the sunflower. The population of the city expands with people demonstrating happiness as they purchase produce from stall holders who appreciate the buzz in the atmosphere. It would be remiss if I did not mention the popularity of the cicada, representing the coming of summer, and the lavender bee that are the sort-after mementos by tourists to the region. For more detailed information we suggest you visit to www.saintremy-de-provence.com
As with Uzes once again we have stayed a week, but regret it was not longer as there is much to see and appreciate. |
Saturday the 28th of May:
Saturday morning after breakfast I left for St Remy- de-Provence with all the luggage as there was not room in the car for four people and traveling luggage. St Remy was roughly 30 minutes south and the return trip was made to pick up the travelers. We spent a number of hours doing the tourist bit before returning south to St. Remy and finding our accommodation. This was an adventure in itself as the instructions left a little to be desired. Our cottage is part of a main house and is indeed comfortable with great outdoor living area including pool and barbecue. After shopping for provisions at the local supermarket we settled in relaxing with "Margaret's French cooking" and a number of John's selections from the Vin Cave (or bottle shop). The evenings are already long, as it is light until round 10 p.m. Enjoying the evening to midnight is no problem at all.
Sunday the 29th of May:
The plan for the day was to take in some Roman ruins located on the outside of the town, but a strange thing happened on the way,, the town was closed to traffic! Obviously something was happening, so we joined those parking vehicles some distance away and walking to the town center. After several attempts to find out what was going on, I was finally able to find an Englishman who informed us that he had interpreted a sign stating that it was a festival celebrating St Aloi, and that following the Mass in progress in the church, the priest would be blessing the horses as part of an annual festival preserving local tradition. It was indeed a bonus, as eventually a very energetic regional band led a parade through the town that included a group of children in regional period costume riding in various antique carriages drawn by horse. This was followed by a group of some 25 to 30 young locals dressed in uniform and cracking horsewhips in unison, synchronized to the rhythm of local village music. The climax was some 30 horses harnessed in single file pulling the festival coach bedecked in flowers and all were blessed evoking good fortune for the coming harvests.
Returning to a cottage we enjoyed a fine "French Bakery" lunch accompanied by a chilled Rose' (at cost of one euro). Then it was off to to explore local art and in history.
Van Gogh spent several years in St Remy prior to his premature death and produced 150 works based on local scenery and events of the day in this period. An exhibition set up in the Maison de St-Paul, which still operates as a psychiatric hospital with the staff and patients taking an active interest in the history and supporting and contributing work to the exhibition. Van Gogh admitted himself to the institution and remained there for1 year in 1889. It was here he found peace and understanding by the staff, and the works produced in this short period were amongst the most important painted by the artist. Our day came to a close with another fine meal prepared by our resident chef, Margaret.
Monday May 30th:
The Monday morning markets at Cavaillon, some half hour's drive away were the feature of today's sight seeing. We left a little later than planned, arriving at Cavaillon around 11.00am. We spent quite some time attempting to find a car park as the town was indeed jumping. We spent several hours strolling and taking in the atmosphere, before purchasing some local produce and adjourning to a small garden to enjoy lunch. Upon returning to St. Remy we had our first stroll through the ancient city and it was quite obvious that we would enjoy spending time exploring in more detail at a later date. It was time to enjoy an evening meal that included a roast chicken, and that in itself was another experience with the natural flavours enhanced by fresh vegetables.
The quantity of vin consumed with and after the meal by the male members of the group guaranteed a late start to Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 31:
Today it was a trip to Aix-en-Provence, a town we were impressed with when we stopped briefly on our way from Marseille to Uzes at the start of our time in France. As predicted we started a little later than planned and enjoyed walking with a narrow streets as well as the grand boulevards lined with numerous restaurants in a city catering for a predominantly younger population. Aix-en-Provence is a university town that retains much of its ancient architecture. Again we purchased local produce and headed for a park to enjoy the wonderful summer weather. After some navigation errors we found the destination and enjoyed watching groups of local school children playing. One group broke into fours and setup and played croquet which we believe was originated in France? A lasting impression was the well behaved manner of these children of late primary school age and another group of older teenagers playing football a little further away. This impression reinforced previous observation of a number of groups in public of the recent weeks. Returning to St. Remy there was relaxation time for other team members while I completed some diary updating and a quick reloading as my previous upload contained un-edited content including many spelling mistakes. Tutt tutt!
The evening meal was enjoyed at a local restaurant called Le France. And once again we were surprised at the size of the entrée dishes which were almost as large as main course serves. My entrée delightfully presented jambon and cheese crepe followed by a main course of a veal roll lightly herbed and accompanied by French scalloped potatoes and accompanying seasonal vegetables. I could not resist finishing the meal with a caramel custard [definitely not on my diet]. Dining generally is more expensive than in Australia, but fortunately this is balanced by the quality and lower cost of wines.
Wednesday June 1.
The ruins of Glanum: We finally satisfied Margaret who has been giving the chauffeur a hard time since the first day in St. Remy when he missed the turn into the parking bay of this wonderful attraction and refused to go back! These ruins are indeed inspiring as they are located in a narrow valley between natural walls of the limestone hills either side forming a natural fortress or gateway to the ancient city. Founded by the Celts and becoming a Greek town around 2600 B.C. the Glanum site is an archaeological treasure with Roman sculpture, Greek headgear and Gallic jewelry documenting the importance of the town in Provincia Romana. A large irrigation system in was ingeniously designed starting at Glanum with the first arch dam in the world being constructed in Roman times and this was strengthened in the 19th century. The dam still exists. From around 500 AD all French kings were baptized in the town using local olive oil.
We invite you to visit www.saintremy-de-provence.com
Thursday June 2rd.
Today our old mate Murphy's Law kicked in! Today started with a flat battery, not the fault of Renault, but inadvertently an interior light had been left on. True to their word Renault Eurodrive arrived within the hour, the car was started and checked and we were on our way. John and Leslie were leaving us, as they had to be in Madrid to commence their tour of Spain and Portugal on Thursday and we had decided to take them to Montpellier spending some time in Nimes on the way. You wouldn't want to know but Murphy was still around. Fortunately we decided to accompany them to the gare (railway station) but low and behold their train was not scheduled. Inquiries finally determined it was not running (NO SIGN UP) because of a general rail strike in Spain. An executive decision was made and we transferred to the Montpelier Airport. A fairly expensive exercise getting to Madrid as there were no direct flights and a booking had to be made via Paris. Having been in a similar situation some 10 years ago I was able to recall the benefits of travel insurance and there being no alternative travel arrangements that would get them to Madrid in time, air travel was the only available option. After relaxing with them for a time after the stresses of "Murphy's Day" at the airport hotel where they would stay overnight, we wished them Bon voyage and we returned to St. Remy to prepare for our last day in that wonderful city.
The next updatewill be at an undetermined date, but do return to find out more about Murphy's Law, as the blighter stayed with us for another day ???
The adventure continues!!
Si
la vie!
Friday the 4th (or is it the 13th) June 2005
