Provence: Avignon, Arles and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

We did two additional day trips from Avignon, to Arles and Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. In each case, we visited the city on its weekly market day. Markets in Provence are serious business. They include all sorts of local products (including food, of course), and the market in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is also known for its antiques.

Arles is another city with excellent Roman ruins. The city was an important site in Roman times as it had the first bridge over the Rhone river, and was an important stop on the Via Domitia -- the Roman road that connected Italy and Spain.

The Roman Arena in Arles is so well preserved that it is still in use today (it appeared to be set up for bullfighting when we were there). Although not as large and impressive as the arena in Verona, we especially enjoyed the ability to climb up on the tower for views of the city and the Rhone.

The other famous thing about Arles is that Vincent Van Gogh lived and worked there for about 15 months from 1898-1899. During this time, Van Gogh was extremely productive, creating hundreds of works. We found a couple of the easels that are placed to show scenes that Van Gogh painted, and we stopped in at the Espace Van Gogh cultural center, which is at the site of the mental hospital where he was admitted after the famous ear-cutting incident. The courtyard (which Van Gogh painted) is still extremely lovely and tranquil. You can see why this would be a good place to relax and recover.

One other thing we saw in Arles was a wedding party outside city hall. What made this wedding interesting was it was a Muslim wedding (we saw both Morrocan and  Algerian flags), so we were able to observe a bit of their customs as they celebrated the bride and groom before they went in to the building.

Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a little town that is sometimes known as the Venice of Provence because the Sorgue River divides around the city resulting in little streams of extremely clear water everywhere. It is still famous for its mossy waterwheels, which in the 1800's drove its wool and silk industries, as well as its market, which draws locals and tourists alike. We enjoyed just wandering around the town and grazing at the weekly market.

On our one full day in Avignon, we visited the famous Palace of the Popes. In the early 14th century, the Papacy, which had been driven out of Rome, bought (literally) the small city of Avignon, and established itself there. As a result, Avignon was Vatican territory, while on the other side of the Rhone River was French territory. Over the next 100 years (1309-1403), seven Popes were based in what became a much larger city dominated by the Pope's palace. For a period after that, during what is known as the Great Schism, there were actually two Popes, one based in Rome, and the other in Avignon. Ultimately, the Papacy reunified and returned to Rome.

The Palace of the Popes is impressively huge.

When we were there, there was an art exhibition by a Korean artist who covered the floor of one room with slate pieces (as seen in the photo on the left above). Although much of the art was difficult to interpret, it was an interesting addition to the ancient building.

Although still impressive, the Palace of the Popes was even more impressive when the Popes actually lived there as most of the walls were covered with paintings and designs in bright colors. You can still see what it used to look like in a couple of the building's chapels.

The other major site in Avignon is the Pont St. Benezet, which was originally built between 1171 and 1185. During the middle ages, this was one of only three bridges crossing the Rhone River, and was important for pilgrims, merchants and armies. After the Papacy purchased Avignon, the bridge connected Vatican territory with the territory of France.

Although the bridge was damaged multiple times by storms, it was always rebuilt, until 1688 when an icy flood knocked out all but four of the original 22 arches of the bridge. For the last almost 350 years, the "bridge" has just been a jetty over the river.

As much as we enjoyed the sites in Provence, the real star was the food. We ate multiple fantastic meals at very reasonable prices. Shana and I continue to debate if we prefer French food or Italian food. Although we are currently leaning toward French food, we agree that more research is never a bad idea.

That concludes our brief trip to southern France. We will have more from our next trip to the US and Mexico soon.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Pont du Gard and Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Provence is an area of France that I have wanted to visit for a long time. In fact, we had a trip planned there to celebrate my 50th birthday in April 2020, which had to be cancelled because of Covid. I would definitely say the region did not disappoint.

We used the ancient city of Avignon as our base in Provence, but did many day trips to other cities and sites. Before we actually checked in to our hotel in Avignon, we picked up my sister Karyn and brother-in-law Jim there and drove out to the Pont du Gard, a truly spectacular Roman-era site.

The Pont du Gard was part of a Roman aqueduct that ran 30 miles from a water source to the city of Nimes. Most of the aqueduct was underground or at ground level, but where it crossed the Gardon river, it forms a bridge that survives today, almost 2000 years later.

As you can see, the bridge is impressive, and we learned that the arches measure 80 feet across, much larger than the arches the Romans usually built. We did not visit the museum at the site, but definitely enjoyed a chance to see and walk across this amazing structure.

For our first full day in Provence, Jim and Karyn had planned a wine-tasting tour for us in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a region whose wines we all enjoy. Our tour was led by Celine, a sommelier who had previously worked at a three-star Michelin restaurant. It was fantastic. Although we had done many wine tastings before, we all felt that we learned something new about the process of tasting and identifying wine. 

We tasted at three different wineries, and the wines were all very good, but guided by Celine we felt able to make finer distinctions on which wines we each preferred. At one of the wineries, Shana posed with a container full of grape skins, which will be used as fertilizer for the vines.

During the tour we stopped for lunch in the small town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where we climbed up to the ruins of the city's castle, which was destroyed by allied bombs during WWII.

Lunch was enjoyable, and rather than drinking a bottle of wine, we drank glasses of the wines recommended by the restaurant to pair with the dishes we ordered. Of course, the pairings did a great job, bringing out the best in the various wines (and vice-versa).

Of course, we had to buy some wine to ship home, which we look forward to enjoying.

Adieu,

Jeff and Shana

Fontroide Abbey & Narbonne

We left Carcassonne to continue our exploration of the Languedoc, heading east. Our first stop was Fontroide Abbey, founded in 1093 as a Benedictine abbey, which then joined the Cistercian order in 1145. Abandoned in 1901, Gustav Fayet and Madeleine d’Andoque acquired the site in 1908 and undertook a 10-year restoration project. The abbey’s grounds are well-preserved and have a powerful sense of history. Hundreds of monks and lay brothers farmed, worked and prayed in this beautiful setting.

The statue of Apollo was a Fayet addition – he was a prominent art collector whose collection is currently on display in Paris at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. The gardens are impressively maintained, and we appreciated the accounts of monastic life provided in each room. We had a delicious lunch at the abbey’s restaurant, enjoying a bottle of wine produced on site, part of the abbey’s agricultural history.

We spent four nights at Le Clos’Art, a lovely bed and breakfast in Vinassan, a small village 10 minutes from Narbonne. It was a terrific location that allowed us easy access to the region’s beaches, lagoons, and trails. We had to abort a bike ride in Peyriac-de-Mer as the trails were too muddy to enjoy. But we made do walking along the scenic coastal trails there and in nearby Gruissan.

Learning about Narbonne’s ancient Roman history was a highlight. The settlement of Narbo Martius, founded in 118 BC, was one of the first Roman colonies established outside of Italy. The area thrived due to its port and strategic location, but very little was preserved as time marched on. The fabulous Narbo Via Museum does a terrific job displaying the ruins. It includes a giant gallery displaying 760 blocks of stone from the Roman monuments of Narbonne.

Sitting under Narbonne are the remains of Roman cellars that we explored – the majority are still unexcavated. And outside the city we visited Amphoralis, an archaeological site where a settlement of amphorae pottery makers lived in Roman times. The scale of the discovery and the scope of the work done is impressive. We loved that the archaeologists recreated the ovens and then experimented to find the right temperatures required to make amphorae in the first century AD.

Of course, we stopped in at Cathedral Saint-Just et Saint-Pasteur, built in the 13th and 14th centuries and which likely includes recycled stones from the Roman period in its construction.

The historic center of Narbonne is lovely. We had lunch at the market, tasting the local cheeses. Surprisingly, we did not do any formal wine tasting at any regional wineries, instead trying the local wines at lunch and dinner.

It was a laid back and relaxing time learning history, eating local products, and walking on seaside trails. What more can you ask? We even stumbled on a fun mural in the Narbonne city center.

Onward to Provence,

Shana & Jeff

Ancient Cities and Ruins: Carcassonne and Lastours

Renting a car in Toulouse, we drove toward Carcassonne. On the way, we stopped at an amazing site called Lastours. Almost 1000 years ago, Lastours was a fortified village surrounded by three castles. The village welcomed the Cathars, a heretical group of Christians that grew in this part of France between the 11th and 13th centuries. Unfortunately (for them), the Cathars did not adhere to the Christianity of Rome and the Pope. Therefore the Pope, with the assistance of the King of France who was attempting to consolidate his power, waged a genocidal war against the Cathars, the last of whom was burned in 1321.

As part of this war, the village and castles at Lastours were destroyed, and the French king built a new stronghold there. The ruins we visited are actually of the four French castles built after the Cathars defeat in around 1229.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day for hiking. Climbing up to and around these ruins made us wonder how people could have lived up there 800 to 1000 years ago, but the defensive benefit of the position is obvious.

Of course, given how good the defensive position was, the question arises: how was the original position conquered? It turns out that when all of your allies have capitulated, it does not matter how good your position is, and the residents of the Chateaux of Lastours gave up without a fight.

After our time in Lastours, we made our way to Carcassonne, and checked into our hotel. From our room, we had an amazing view of the medieval city on the hill above the modern city.

The medieval city, while impressive, has the same problem as many European tourist sites: too many tourists leading to stores catering to those tourists, taking away from the atmosphere of the city. We visited the medieval city the evening we arrived, and the next morning. Walking the walls of the city and learning about its impressive defenses was interesting, but we were not that impressed with what was inside the walls, although we found decent places for both dinner and breakfast (pastry).

It was fun to compare the intact castle at Carcassonne and the ruins at Lastours. More to come from southern France soon.

Adieu,

Jeff and Shana

Southeastern France: Toulouse & Albi

We’re just back from an 11-night trip to Southeastern France that encapsulated why October travel is the best, especially in places that are overrun in summer. We had fabulous early fall weather and hardly any crowds. While our trip started with a train cancellation that delayed our arrival in Toulouse by 4 hours, and then a dinner reservation cancellation, we rolled with it – we’ve certainly had worse delays and there’s always another restaurant.

Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France (by population), but it doesn’t feel too big. In our limited time there, we found it charming and spirited – it felt young based on the people we saw. It is known as the “Pink City,” based on how its many pink brick buildings look in the light.

The Capitole (city hall) dominates the main square. We saw several couples waiting to be or just married exiting as we passed by one morning. The Pont Neuf bridge, finished in 1632, includes openings – intended to resemble a lion’s mane and face – that allow flood waters to pass safely through the structure. The large domed building across the river is a hospital and has been the location of a hospital since 1197.

We peeked into the Saint Etienne Cathedral (or Toulouse Cathedral), tracing its origins back to the 3rd century. Having been rebuilt and modified over time, it is a mix of styles, including Romanesque and Raymondine Gothic.

Our favorite spot in Toulouse was the Marche Victor Hugo (market) where we found the most fabulous bakery, La Grange des Pains. I wished we were staying long enough to try every type of bread on display.

Many of our photos in Toulouse were taken at night as we spent very little time in the city, taking a day trip to nearby Albi by train.

Albi has two worthwhile sights that did not disappoint: the Saint Cecile Cathedral and the Toulouse Lautrec Museum (housed in the former archbishop’s fortified home, Palais de la Berbie).

The cathedral’s entrance and interior are both grand. The Last Judgment painting at the front dates back to 1474.

Toulouse Lautrec’s family donated his works to his birth city, and it was interesting to see how his art developed from his teen years until his death at age 37. Most notable was his use of cardboard, often intended as a first version material before working on canvas. The historic building was as interesting as the art inside. The gardens and riverside setting were especially beautiful on the sunny day we enjoyed.

Toulouse and Albi were a great introduction to the Languedoc-Rousillon region.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff