Provence
Day 16, 9-24-10
“House rental” - Isle Sur la Sorgue
We were up early this AM, and off by 6:30 AM for the hour drive to Rennes to catch our train. Ian drove us to the train station. We said good bye to Dick and Dorothy who were headed back to Paris, then got on board our train for the five hour ride to Avignon, which is in the Provence region of France. We had seats on the upper deck of the train which really provided us with a wonderful show of scenery on the trip. Some will say when travelling by train there is not much of a difference between first class and coach, but we have enjoyed the first class travel, and the seating is amazingly comfortable, but finding space to store luggage is a bit of challenge! We left Rennes at 9:20 AM, and arrived in Avignon around 3:00 PM. Bad news, I messed up the car rental dates and we were not reserved until tomorrow. Good news, they had a car today. We packed up and turned on our trusted GyPSy and made almost made it to L'Isle Sur la Sorgue, when we realized GyPSy had been running on battery because the plug connection did not work in the car. Yes, we ran out of battery and ended up just parking the car, and aimlessly wandering until we found someone who gave us a map, then we found our rental. Herve, the owner, was waiting for us. He was a delightful young man, who teaches school in Avignon. He was so sweet, he came to help us find where we had left the car, then drove with us to a Hertz repair shop to get the connector fixed. We then got back, just as a rainbow painted the sky. We toured the house, then headed off into town. The house is adorable, set up with two stories, and a large outside balcony, and a courtyard. We consumed our day intake of red wine, then headed into town and had a great meal of pasta next to the river. It has gotten quite chilly here so we bundled up for our stroll tonight. The center of town where we are is surrounded in a circle by a river, with bridges to access the island. The street we are on is accessed by meandering through alleys as a short cut to the section where the restaurants are, and was very confusing at first in the dark. Luckily Jon not only is travelling with his pedometer, but also with a flashlight, so we did find our way back home. We discovered that if you walk long enough, you will always end up at the river’s edge, then if you just head in one direction or the other, because it is a circle, all roads eventually lead back to our new abode ! The river is full of ducks, and working waterwheels that lazily turn, and are covered with moss - it is very serene and pretty.
Day 16, 9-24-10
“House rental” - Isle Sur la Sorgue
We were up early this AM, and off by 6:30 AM for the hour drive to Rennes to catch our train. Ian drove us to the train station. We said good bye to Dick and Dorothy who were headed back to Paris, then got on board our train for the five hour ride to Avignon, which is in the Provence region of France. We had seats on the upper deck of the train which really provided us with a wonderful show of scenery on the trip. Some will say when travelling by train there is not much of a difference between first class and coach, but we have enjoyed the first class travel, and the seating is amazingly comfortable, but finding space to store luggage is a bit of challenge! We left Rennes at 9:20 AM, and arrived in Avignon around 3:00 PM. Bad news, I messed up the car rental dates and we were not reserved until tomorrow. Good news, they had a car today. We packed up and turned on our trusted GyPSy and made almost made it to L'Isle Sur la Sorgue, when we realized GyPSy had been running on battery because the plug connection did not work in the car. Yes, we ran out of battery and ended up just parking the car, and aimlessly wandering until we found someone who gave us a map, then we found our rental. Herve, the owner, was waiting for us. He was a delightful young man, who teaches school in Avignon. He was so sweet, he came to help us find where we had left the car, then drove with us to a Hertz repair shop to get the connector fixed. We then got back, just as a rainbow painted the sky. We toured the house, then headed off into town. The house is adorable, set up with two stories, and a large outside balcony, and a courtyard. We consumed our day intake of red wine, then headed into town and had a great meal of pasta next to the river. It has gotten quite chilly here so we bundled up for our stroll tonight. The center of town where we are is surrounded in a circle by a river, with bridges to access the island. The street we are on is accessed by meandering through alleys as a short cut to the section where the restaurants are, and was very confusing at first in the dark. Luckily Jon not only is travelling with his pedometer, but also with a flashlight, so we did find our way back home. We discovered that if you walk long enough, you will always end up at the river’s edge, then if you just head in one direction or the other, because it is a circle, all roads eventually lead back to our new abode ! The river is full of ducks, and working waterwheels that lazily turn, and are covered with moss - it is very serene and pretty.
Day 17 Sat. 9-25-10 L'Isle Sur la Sorgue We quickly realized that we have absolutely no plan on what to do, or where to go, so we headed off to Chateauneuf De Pape. You may have noticed, we love wine, well we covet wine from Chateauneuf de Pape, so this seemed like the logical first stop on our visit to Provence. We were breezing along nicely, visiting Domaines, tasting wine, buying bottles, and we then went to Domaine Mossette. The women there asked me what kind of wine a liked, I told her we usually drank Pinot Noirs. She then told me that was not what she asked me, what kind of wine did I like ? I told her I liked wines that were not too sweet or fruity tasting, to which she replied, but of course, all wines are made of fruit, and therefore all taste like fruit, your english vocabulary is not suited for wine tasting, and voila, just like, that I encountered my first french wine snob ! Needless to say we did not buy any wine there. We then decided on a whim, that we must see the Pont de Gard, so we headed south with our trusted GyPSy, and finally stumbled upon the parking area for Pont de Gard. Let me tell you, once we walked the 5,000 miles to the Pont De Gard it was really a masterpiece, a three layered aquaduct that stretched over the river with quite a majestic presence. We ended up spending the afternoon there, hiking, watching the boats on the river, and really enjoying being outside and the natural beauty of the area(and, racking up more of those dreaded steps on Jon’s pedometer)I will not spend too much time telling you about what effort it took us to get out of the parking lot at the park, but just let me advise you, pray your automated ticket for exit works, or you will need an additional hour to get out of the parking lot. We drove home through Beaucarie and Terrascon and finally rolled into L’Isle Sur la Sorque, just at sunset. We sampled some of our new wines, then headed into town to find a restaurant with indoor seating, and ate pizzas with red wine.
Our little kitchen
staircase up from living room to bedrooms
Dinner at a local cafe
AM walk around L'Isle Sur la Sorgue
One of the canals located on L'Isle Sur la Sorgue
Heading out of L'Isle Sur la Sorgue
Arriving at our first winery
Road up to the Chateau
Close up of the grape vines
Scenery around the Chateau
Wineries everywhere
Our all time favorite - Chateauneuf du Pape
Domaine Marcoux wine cellar
There were some narrow streets driving around
At times narrow and windy
Behind a grape truck
Close up of all of the grapes in the truck
Finally arrived at Pont Du Gard
Below is a quick video of the area
There were lots of stairs to climb
This was the top of the bridge
This was the path we walked back down - steep and rocky
Day 18, Sun. 9-27-10 L’Isle Sur La Sorgue
Today started off with the total madness of the town market. This market is best known throughout France for it's antiques, but it also had every food item known to man. I was most excited to find a CD of the Edith Piaf version of "la Vie en Rose," along with her greatest hits - think a deep throaty voice like Ethel Merman. We then stocked up on bread, cheeses, roasted chicken potatoes, and baked tomatoes topped with fresh herbs for dinner. After the market we dropped our food off at the house, then hit the road and drove north to Orange to tickle Jon's fancy for roman history. In Orange we toured an old amphitheater, that was fantastic while seated on the top row, imagining what productions took place oh so many years ago. I should add that today was downright cold with winds at a steady 20 MPH with gusts up to 40. You know it is windy when the emergency overhang flashing announcement boards on the highway are cautioning to be prudent because there are severe winds. We continued on our roman empire theme and tracked down an arc of triumph that was constructed B.C., then decided to head to Avignon. In Avignon we decided to go to the Palace of the Popes as it was Sunday and we thought the traffic would be less than a week day. Surprise, as I have mentioned, the French love their bicycles, and low and behold every street we needed to access was closed for a bike race - poor GyPSy did so much recalculating, I thought we may loose her from exhaustion. We finally just parked and set out on foot. We eventually stumbled upon the Palace, and took the audio guided tour. I decided on a whim that I just must dance on the Pont D'Avignon, or else, my life would just never be complete. We should have just walked, but unaware of how close the bridge was(actually right next door to the Palace), we drove over a half hour as poor GyPSy kept trying to figure out where we were on the tiny winding streets. As my impulse dictated, once on the bridge, I did some dancing, and sang the song, "Sur la pont, D'Avignon -on y danse, on y danse" (On the bridge of Avignon, one dances - one dances) I even coerced Jon into making a couple of dance moves...... After the bridge, we headed home and arrived again at sunset. We then embarked upon a feast of red wine, and our abundance of fabulous we food we had stocked up at the Market - one of my favorite meals !!!!
Today started off with the total madness of the town market. This market is best known throughout France for it's antiques, but it also had every food item known to man. I was most excited to find a CD of the Edith Piaf version of "la Vie en Rose," along with her greatest hits - think a deep throaty voice like Ethel Merman. We then stocked up on bread, cheeses, roasted chicken potatoes, and baked tomatoes topped with fresh herbs for dinner. After the market we dropped our food off at the house, then hit the road and drove north to Orange to tickle Jon's fancy for roman history. In Orange we toured an old amphitheater, that was fantastic while seated on the top row, imagining what productions took place oh so many years ago. I should add that today was downright cold with winds at a steady 20 MPH with gusts up to 40. You know it is windy when the emergency overhang flashing announcement boards on the highway are cautioning to be prudent because there are severe winds. We continued on our roman empire theme and tracked down an arc of triumph that was constructed B.C., then decided to head to Avignon. In Avignon we decided to go to the Palace of the Popes as it was Sunday and we thought the traffic would be less than a week day. Surprise, as I have mentioned, the French love their bicycles, and low and behold every street we needed to access was closed for a bike race - poor GyPSy did so much recalculating, I thought we may loose her from exhaustion. We finally just parked and set out on foot. We eventually stumbled upon the Palace, and took the audio guided tour. I decided on a whim that I just must dance on the Pont D'Avignon, or else, my life would just never be complete. We should have just walked, but unaware of how close the bridge was(actually right next door to the Palace), we drove over a half hour as poor GyPSy kept trying to figure out where we were on the tiny winding streets. As my impulse dictated, once on the bridge, I did some dancing, and sang the song, "Sur la pont, D'Avignon -on y danse, on y danse" (On the bridge of Avignon, one dances - one dances) I even coerced Jon into making a couple of dance moves...... After the bridge, we headed home and arrived again at sunset. We then embarked upon a feast of red wine, and our abundance of fabulous we food we had stocked up at the Market - one of my favorite meals !!!!
Good morning - out on the balcony of our apartment
Sunday market in town - they sell everything !
Beautiful dried flowers
Tables go on forever......
The artichokes looked like flowers
Salted Cod
The largest pole beans I have ever seen
and there were fresh flowers
Cheese, cheese and more cheese
Handmade soaps
A little french humor
All of the water wheels in the canals were working, but covered with moss/algae
Garlic
Green and black olives
Things that make you go hhmmmppphhhh.....
Headed home to feast on some of our market finds before we had out to Orange then Avignon
Driving out of Isla Sur La Sorgue crossing canals
The alleys, tiny streets of Isla
En route to Orange to see the Amphitheater
Orange above ground cemetery
Windy streets of Orange
The amphitheater
Part of the dig
Our wheels
Entering Avignon
Yep, I'm loving it......
Palace of the Popes
Palace of the Popes
Look at those doors.....
Palace of the Popes
Looking down over the Pont D'Avignon
Jon
Love this gargoyle
Yes - that is an elephant balancing on my hand
I love the clear blue sky above the arch, then the clouds framed in the arch
Walking over to the bridge
The bridge
Sur la pont, D'Avignon -on y danse, on y danse" (On the bridge of Avignon, one dances - one dances)
and dances......
Looking back at the palace of the Popes from the bridge
My most favorite dance in the world
Go Jonny B.
and one final dance...
Back home for R and R
Day 19, Mon. Sept 28, 2010 L’Isle Sur La Sorgue
After a steamy pot of coffee, off we went to tour the "Luberon." I had one mission on my mind today which was to get to Manosque to go to the L'Occitane who make my favorite shea butter lip gloss in the world ! We were off early and started in Gordes which is a town perched on a hill top with winding narrow cobble stone streets, and vast views. We walked about hour, but retreated earlier than planned because there were very gusty winds and it was downright cold ! We then drove to Roussillon which was one of my favorite stops so far. The town is bathed in earthen colors of ochre, and various shades of red, yellows and oranges. It is a real treat to your visual senses to be surrounded by so much glorious color! We took a hiking route through some of the ochre rocks, surrounded by deep green hued pine trees, then meandered through the town. The red hued buildings painted with green and bright blue shutters was right off of a post card. I can not imagine a town more stimulating with color and pleasing to the senses. We spent several hours there just walking, and absorbing the pure joy of the town - remarkable !! We then picked up some baguettes, and stopped for a picnic en route to Manosque. Our ride to Manosgue took us deep into hills, back dropped by even higher mountains, complete with deep valleys, awash with fall colors, pastures, fields, and a crystal blue sky. We wanted to stop every mile to take more and more pictures, but finally realized we needed to push ahead if we were ever going to make it to the L'Occitane factory. We had no idea where the factory actually was, and GyPSy was not having much luck either, so we stopped at the ever friendly post office, and managed to get directions to the factory. We finally found the factory which had a store open to the public which to my dismay, looked like any other L"Occitane store in the States. I took comfort that I was at THE L'Occitane center, then assisted Jon with his Christmas shopping for me, because I am very thoughtful that way. It was quite late in the day at this point, so we headed back to L’Isle Sur la Sourge. Once home, we drank the required red wine, then made big salads of fresh produce, accompanied by chunks of bread and various cheeses and finished off with chocolate eclairs. Another perfect day in France for us!
After a steamy pot of coffee, off we went to tour the "Luberon." I had one mission on my mind today which was to get to Manosque to go to the L'Occitane who make my favorite shea butter lip gloss in the world ! We were off early and started in Gordes which is a town perched on a hill top with winding narrow cobble stone streets, and vast views. We walked about hour, but retreated earlier than planned because there were very gusty winds and it was downright cold ! We then drove to Roussillon which was one of my favorite stops so far. The town is bathed in earthen colors of ochre, and various shades of red, yellows and oranges. It is a real treat to your visual senses to be surrounded by so much glorious color! We took a hiking route through some of the ochre rocks, surrounded by deep green hued pine trees, then meandered through the town. The red hued buildings painted with green and bright blue shutters was right off of a post card. I can not imagine a town more stimulating with color and pleasing to the senses. We spent several hours there just walking, and absorbing the pure joy of the town - remarkable !! We then picked up some baguettes, and stopped for a picnic en route to Manosque. Our ride to Manosgue took us deep into hills, back dropped by even higher mountains, complete with deep valleys, awash with fall colors, pastures, fields, and a crystal blue sky. We wanted to stop every mile to take more and more pictures, but finally realized we needed to push ahead if we were ever going to make it to the L'Occitane factory. We had no idea where the factory actually was, and GyPSy was not having much luck either, so we stopped at the ever friendly post office, and managed to get directions to the factory. We finally found the factory which had a store open to the public which to my dismay, looked like any other L"Occitane store in the States. I took comfort that I was at THE L'Occitane center, then assisted Jon with his Christmas shopping for me, because I am very thoughtful that way. It was quite late in the day at this point, so we headed back to L’Isle Sur la Sourge. Once home, we drank the required red wine, then made big salads of fresh produce, accompanied by chunks of bread and various cheeses and finished off with chocolate eclairs. Another perfect day in France for us!
Post card of Gordes
All kinds of honey in Gordes
Pastry shop
Yes, I need more eclairs
Happy with my eclairs
Hordes
Store front Gordes
Leaving Gordes
Olive tree
Pumpkin patch en route to Roussillon
Arriving at the town center of Roussillon
A beautiful cemetery
This explains the pictures to follow of the red earth evident not only in it's natural state, but also in the buildings constructed in town..
We hiked through this area - the colors were surreal
Could not get enough of the scenery.....
Back in town, all of the buildings are beautiful with the varying tones of orange, red and yellow
Beautiful mural on wall
Church
Altar inside of the church
Inside church
Color everywhere in Roussillon
Vibrant purple lavender
I love the riot of color in this picture
Postcard stand
Leaving Roussillon en route to Manosque
Finally L'Occitane - woo hoo !
Day 20, Wed. 9-29-10 L’Isle Sur La Sorgue
I woke this morning with the thought of, could there be a more perfect place on earth for me - a place where eating bread, cheese, pastries and drinking wine is a way of life........... yes, it is the french way of life I truly adore, and I must admit - quite excel at ...... We decided that since GyPSy is doing such a great job, that instead of taking the train to Nice, we will drive tomorrow. Our first mission of the day today which proved to be our most difficult was to find the closet Hertz office to make the appropriate changes. We drove to where GyPSy indicated one would be, but learned it had moved. I found a woman in an employment agency who I was able to communicate with between french and english, and she was able to find the new address for us, and off we went. I will not mention that it turned out to be the same we place we took the car to get the GPS connection fixed last Friday. Finally we were off. Today we planned to drive to Camargue, with no specific destination, but with the goals of finding, black bulls white horses, and pink flamingos. I am pleased to say we were successful on all all three, and I have 500 more photos to prove to it. The only other "wild" flamingos I have seen were in Ecuador, so I may have taken about 300 pictures too many of them. We spent the morning in the seaside town of St. Maries de la Mer, wandering around and ate a lunch at a very good little cafe. We then decided to drive to try to reach the other side of the marsh where the Rhone river empties out into the sea. We ended up driving quite aways and found ourselves in the town of Salin de Giraud. This was one of favorite surprises of the of day as they had the largest salt mining operation we have ever seen, complete with miles of salt fields, the trucks transporting the salt that was harvested, then a long conveyor belt system that transported the salt from the truck’s drop off area, to the salt processing center - I know it sounds boring, but it truly was fascinating. We then drove till we could drive no further and the road ended. There we were treated to one side of the road that was a vast marsh full of flamingos, and the other side was fresh water from the Rhone river, that was full of giant white swans. We then headed off and somehow ended up on car ferry and went across the Rhone river. We then found ourselves in the port town of Port St Louis. This was a town dedicated to marinas, and large cargo transport shops - again, very interesting to us. The last goal I had for the day was to go to St Remy, to the asylum Vincent Van Gogh went to after he cut off his ear. For any Trivial Pursuit fans, if you are on the brown category, one of the questions is which ear did Vincent Van Gogh cut off and the answer is his left ear. Van Gogh painted many of his masterpieces while in Arles and St Remy, one of my favorites being "Starry Night." The asylum is still open and treats females, so we were only allowed in a small section but it included the cloister that Van Gogh use to pass his hours in, as well as beautiful gardens. We also stopped in Ganum and viewed some of the ruins there. It was a full day and we got back late, so we literally ate bread and chesse for dinner (with wine of course) and headed to bed at 10:00 PM. It turned out to be a mostly unplanned day, and we really enjoyed the landscapes that we saw today including the vast salt marshes, the sea, craggy rocky hills, and fields of olive groves. The light really is magnificent in Provence, and everything looked like a painting waiting to be painted.
I woke this morning with the thought of, could there be a more perfect place on earth for me - a place where eating bread, cheese, pastries and drinking wine is a way of life........... yes, it is the french way of life I truly adore, and I must admit - quite excel at ...... We decided that since GyPSy is doing such a great job, that instead of taking the train to Nice, we will drive tomorrow. Our first mission of the day today which proved to be our most difficult was to find the closet Hertz office to make the appropriate changes. We drove to where GyPSy indicated one would be, but learned it had moved. I found a woman in an employment agency who I was able to communicate with between french and english, and she was able to find the new address for us, and off we went. I will not mention that it turned out to be the same we place we took the car to get the GPS connection fixed last Friday. Finally we were off. Today we planned to drive to Camargue, with no specific destination, but with the goals of finding, black bulls white horses, and pink flamingos. I am pleased to say we were successful on all all three, and I have 500 more photos to prove to it. The only other "wild" flamingos I have seen were in Ecuador, so I may have taken about 300 pictures too many of them. We spent the morning in the seaside town of St. Maries de la Mer, wandering around and ate a lunch at a very good little cafe. We then decided to drive to try to reach the other side of the marsh where the Rhone river empties out into the sea. We ended up driving quite aways and found ourselves in the town of Salin de Giraud. This was one of favorite surprises of the of day as they had the largest salt mining operation we have ever seen, complete with miles of salt fields, the trucks transporting the salt that was harvested, then a long conveyor belt system that transported the salt from the truck’s drop off area, to the salt processing center - I know it sounds boring, but it truly was fascinating. We then drove till we could drive no further and the road ended. There we were treated to one side of the road that was a vast marsh full of flamingos, and the other side was fresh water from the Rhone river, that was full of giant white swans. We then headed off and somehow ended up on car ferry and went across the Rhone river. We then found ourselves in the port town of Port St Louis. This was a town dedicated to marinas, and large cargo transport shops - again, very interesting to us. The last goal I had for the day was to go to St Remy, to the asylum Vincent Van Gogh went to after he cut off his ear. For any Trivial Pursuit fans, if you are on the brown category, one of the questions is which ear did Vincent Van Gogh cut off and the answer is his left ear. Van Gogh painted many of his masterpieces while in Arles and St Remy, one of my favorites being "Starry Night." The asylum is still open and treats females, so we were only allowed in a small section but it included the cloister that Van Gogh use to pass his hours in, as well as beautiful gardens. We also stopped in Ganum and viewed some of the ruins there. It was a full day and we got back late, so we literally ate bread and chesse for dinner (with wine of course) and headed to bed at 10:00 PM. It turned out to be a mostly unplanned day, and we really enjoyed the landscapes that we saw today including the vast salt marshes, the sea, craggy rocky hills, and fields of olive groves. The light really is magnificent in Provence, and everything looked like a painting waiting to be painted.
Day 21, Thurs. 9-30-10 L’Isle Sur La Sorgue
Up early again, and on the road. Today we headed to Lourmarin of Peter Mayle. "A Year in Provence" fame. It was an adventuresome ride over mountains, with lots of hairpin curves. This challenging drive was made more complicated by the multiple bicyclists you can not pass because the roads are too narrow, so you end up trailing bicycles - uuggghhh We arrived in Lourmarin and toured a castle there. The grounds were actually more beautiful than the actual castle. We then walked through town. I bought my usual "pastry de resistance," and nibbled on it as we walked through the narrow streets. We passed several elders on the street, and one of them yelled out to me, Bon appetite ! To my horror, I then remembered reading in one of the 100 guide books I read before we left, that it is considered rude to eat while walking, and the exact quote was, "don't be surprised if someone yells out to you Bon appettite !" This of course was a tongue in cheek reprimand, and not an actual conveyance of wishes to enjoy what was I was eating. I just burst out laughing, waved to the gentleman, and in my limited French told him I loved Lourmarin and was having a wonderful visit, to which he also started to laugh, then wished me a good day - oh well.......After Lourmain, we returned back on the same route, so back over the hills and hair pin curves, through Bonnieux which was an amazing village perched on a hill top with views to match. We drove on to Menerbes, which was pretty, also hill top, but nothing special for us. Our next stop was heart stopping for us, and one of our favorite stops the whole trip - Vieux Oppede. Also on top of a hill, we walked up to the main square for lunch, then hiked up to the top which included a visit to a church that was being restored, then crawled and climbed through the ruins of a old fort. It was amazing for us, and we thoroughly loved the adventure of it, and also being the only ones there. Next back to L'Isle Sur La Sorgue for our last night. We realized we had not really spent any time walking around town, so that is exactly what we did. The town is surrounded by a river and we enjoyed all of the working water wheels, the groups of men playing bowling on gravel pits, similar to Bocci, the ducks, the people out strolling about, as well at the couple of water rats we spotted !! We headed back home for - red wine, then out to dinner. It was a wonderful close to our last night in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue and in Provence. We loved our time here, and especially being in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue as it is wonderful spot, and very central to all of the places we wanted to visit. Again, I must say that it is true what they say about the light in Provence, it was captivating, the colors, the hues and shadows,it is no wonder so many artists love to paint in Provence.
Up early again, and on the road. Today we headed to Lourmarin of Peter Mayle. "A Year in Provence" fame. It was an adventuresome ride over mountains, with lots of hairpin curves. This challenging drive was made more complicated by the multiple bicyclists you can not pass because the roads are too narrow, so you end up trailing bicycles - uuggghhh We arrived in Lourmarin and toured a castle there. The grounds were actually more beautiful than the actual castle. We then walked through town. I bought my usual "pastry de resistance," and nibbled on it as we walked through the narrow streets. We passed several elders on the street, and one of them yelled out to me, Bon appetite ! To my horror, I then remembered reading in one of the 100 guide books I read before we left, that it is considered rude to eat while walking, and the exact quote was, "don't be surprised if someone yells out to you Bon appettite !" This of course was a tongue in cheek reprimand, and not an actual conveyance of wishes to enjoy what was I was eating. I just burst out laughing, waved to the gentleman, and in my limited French told him I loved Lourmarin and was having a wonderful visit, to which he also started to laugh, then wished me a good day - oh well.......After Lourmain, we returned back on the same route, so back over the hills and hair pin curves, through Bonnieux which was an amazing village perched on a hill top with views to match. We drove on to Menerbes, which was pretty, also hill top, but nothing special for us. Our next stop was heart stopping for us, and one of our favorite stops the whole trip - Vieux Oppede. Also on top of a hill, we walked up to the main square for lunch, then hiked up to the top which included a visit to a church that was being restored, then crawled and climbed through the ruins of a old fort. It was amazing for us, and we thoroughly loved the adventure of it, and also being the only ones there. Next back to L'Isle Sur La Sorgue for our last night. We realized we had not really spent any time walking around town, so that is exactly what we did. The town is surrounded by a river and we enjoyed all of the working water wheels, the groups of men playing bowling on gravel pits, similar to Bocci, the ducks, the people out strolling about, as well at the couple of water rats we spotted !! We headed back home for - red wine, then out to dinner. It was a wonderful close to our last night in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue and in Provence. We loved our time here, and especially being in L'Isle Sur La Sorgue as it is wonderful spot, and very central to all of the places we wanted to visit. Again, I must say that it is true what they say about the light in Provence, it was captivating, the colors, the hues and shadows,it is no wonder so many artists love to paint in Provence.