Provence Trip Diary, Part 1
Added 21 March 2009. Pictures and stories from our trip to Provence, France, from February 21 to March 2, 2009.
Pauwell's is a travel company we first heard about on our second trip to Iles-de-la-Madeleine, where we met up with some other people from Waterloo. They told us they had been on a couple Pauwell's trips and had really enjoyed them. Ever since then, we'd kept an eye on their offerings, but this was the first time a trip of theirs seemed to match our timeline, budget, and interest.
Booking a tour seemed to bring on a certain lethargy, because having decided and handed over our credit card number, we then did virtually no trip prep work at all. After Italy, we knew our passports were in order, and the tour included flight, hotel, activities, and several meals, so we felt there wasn't much else to book. For maybe the first time ever, we didn't even buy a guidebook about the area. We just booked the cat sitter, arranged airport parking, suspended the newspaper delivery, and went with the flow.
View of the pont d'Avignon in Provence
Saturday, February 21 — Leaving
Departure day, and all went well. The ride to the airport went extremely well. Our Skyway parking lot, when we arrived, was as busy as we had ever seen it (maybe word is getting out), but they still got us into the transport van in good time. We had prebooked our seats, yet somehow ended up not being seated right beside each other. But it proved moot as the seat between us was empty, so I just moved over. As with previous Air France experiences, we found the staff very friendly, the food rather good for airline (economy) food, and we had those personal TVs that let you pick your own movie. (I watched Burn Without Reading, which was pretty funny.) A storm did start brewing just as we were about to take off. This resulted in a slight delay for de-icing, but also kicked up the wind, so in the end, the flight still arrived on time.
I managed to get some sleep on the flight, which seemed to have much more comfortable seats than Alitalia (though tall people did not look comfortable). Jean, on the other hand, made the mistake of having coffee at the end of dinner, and therefore couldn't sleep much.
Sunday, February 22 — Arriving
We landed early morning in Paris at Charles de Gaule airport, and had a long wait before our flight to Marseilles—something like four hours. The tour group gathered. At this point, we had Inge, Liz, Larry, Lorrie, Umesh, and Venna. The last four, both couples, we ended up dining and touring with a number of times on the trip.
Larry, a neighbour of Jacques Pauwell's (our tour guide), had been put in charge of ensuring the group made their connection. Grumpy with lack of sleep, trying to stay in a group at this point kind of got on my nerves, and concerned me about the rest of the trip. But fortunately, I mostly got over it later on, along with the jet lag.
Anyway, there isn't much else to say about the transfer. We had plenty of time for passport control, new security check, breakfast, a bit of shopping, and just sitting around waiting. We also met up with another tour participant, Vi, who was coming from Burnaby, BC and therefore had already had a much longer travel day than the rest of us. She ended up being someone we quite enjoyed talking with later on in the tour.
The second flight was on time and about an hour's duration; Jean and I both slept through the whole thing.
On arrival in Marseille, we were met by Diane, a tour participant who is also a Pauwell's Travel associate and a friend of Vi's. We actually had to wait a bit for the rest of the group to arrive, as they were coming from Sicily. So were put on a bus and given a bit of a tour of Marseille.
Marseille is a port town, and the third largest city in France. It had some rough-looking parts, but also some pretty scenic bits around the water. We were dropped off at a lookout point where a willingness to do some stairs did lead to some nice views and a peak into a church that had definite mosque influences, with striped columns adorning it. (We were too sleepy to take any pictures of anything).
We then were driven back to the airport, where we got some sandwiches and met up with the rest of the group, Les and Jean, a wonderful older couple whom we came to enjoy talking with, and a group of four: Brian, Janet, Shirley, and Pearl, some of whom had lived in Timmins for a while.
Tour leader Jacques Pauwell and escort Joanne Mayhew also joined us at this point. On the bus ride to our hotel in Avignon, we did get a bunch of the history of the region. Not too much of which I've retained!
Avignon is a walled city, with many streets inaccessible to large vehicles like buses. Our hotel was right in the core of the city, which was great, even though it meant we couldn't be dropped off exactly in front of it. Not far at all, though. Rooms were assigned when we arrived. They were quite nice, if small. We were staying there all week, so we decided it would be easiest to unpack everything than to try and find a spot to keep the luggage accessible. We did have a brief rest, but there was a group dinner at 7:00 PM.
The restaurant was a few blocks away and had nice atmosphere. We were in our own room upstairs, with white linen tablecloths and all. Good white wine was included with the meal. We sat with the group of four with Timmins connections. Our meal started with a spinach-Parmesan cake, then we got a salad with balsamic dressing. Our main course was chicken with a mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, and tomato with bread topping. Last was a tarte tatin with raspberry coulis. Except for the chicken being slightly overcooked, everything was delicious. There was, however, long breaks between courses, which weren't so appreciated by we the sleepy.
Here the final group member joined us—Rita, a Canadian now living in Vienna, teaching music and doing ethnographic research into classical music greats like Beethoven.
After that, sleep!
Monday, February 23 —Avignon
Daily breakfast at the hotel was included, and it was great—fantastic coffee warm milk, lots of fresh fruit and yogurt, good little croissant and chocolatine, cheese... There were also vats of eggs and bacon, but I never bothered with that. (Jean did occasionally.)
On the agenda today was a walking tour of Avignon. It was a sunny day, with reasonable temperature range (2-15), but very windy! Le Mistrale, a north wind, made its presence felt all day.
No need for wind machines during Mistrale season in Provence
We started at Avignon's central square, which is right by our hotel. We learned a bit about the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) building and the city itself, which was of great importance in Roman times. Currently, it's a common stop not only for Provence trips, but also other parts of France (Cannes) and Italy. This makes it a very busy place in summer. We also noted the beautiful Clock Tower overlooking the city, which is lit up at night.
Central square in Avignon, with clock tower and carousel. Our hotel was right in this area as well.
Next we walked to the Palais des Papes, which is huge! And here we got a bit of the history of the Italian popes who took up residence in Avignon in the past. They were often at war, so the Palais was fortified like a military installation. In fact, it was used by the French military before becoming the museum it is now.
The imposing Palais des Papes
The next stop was supposed to be a walk to a lookout over the city, behind Palais des Papes, but it was judged just too windy to do that. So instead we went to a church, where we got our first of several lessons about symbolism within religious art, necessary to convey the gospel message in an era of mass illiteracy. It was pretty interesting.
Religious iconography
Finally, we walked to the famous pont d'Avignon, which is partly washed away. Although they are many interesting fables about what happened to the bridge, the truth is simply that it was broken off by powerful water currents. It was easy to believe that on this windy day, which injured me as well, by slamming a door on my arm. The bridge also had this little shrine to Saint Bénézet, the bridge's builder, in its lower parts. The little gift shop there was also nice, and we bought a couple books there.
More aerial view of the pont d'Avignon
On the walk back to our hotel, Jacques pointed out some of the shopping, art, and market districts for us to visit later.
We were then on our own until dinner. We went for lunch first, in the art district, at a place called Restaurant des artistes. We'd been advised that the menu (fixed-price multi-course dinners) were often the best deal, so we went with that. Jean started with the fish soup, which was delicious, but contained no chunks of fish (we later learned that was Provencal typical), while I had nice escargots de provence. Jean continued on the fish theme with his main, a seabass in aioli with rice, while I had guinea fowl. And for dessert, Jean had these interesting creamy mild cheese with honey, while I went with crème caramel. As wine, we just had the house white.
We had been given tickets to see the inside of the Palais des Papes (as part of the tour), so we did that next. As warned by Jacques, the interior is impressive in size but not decor; it was quite bare, having long ago been stripped of much of its finery, and with no restoration of that attempted to date. The audioguide was also included, but we soon found that this was really giving us more "pope-y" information than we felt we needed! We did get nice views of the city at one point, after climbing a bunch of stairs up to that locale. And there was an interesting shop attached, including a full wine cellar. Guess the popes have never been against wine.
(Did you know the Italians taught the French to make wine?)
We next tried to visit some of the art galleries, but many were closed, because it was Monday. Despite the persistent wind, we did head up to the viewpoint behind Palais des Papes. It was nice, and it was windy!
Park area behind the Palais des Papes
We also made a stop at the Tourist Office, and picked up a few brochures, then found a wine store where many samples were available. It was just a few steps from our hotel. So we tried a number, and made mental notes of our favourites, but didn't buy anything just yet.
Dinner was another group affair, and it turned out to be at the exact place where had we lunch! Not to mention being the exact menu we had selected from at lunch. No matter; it had been good, so we just made different choices this time.
I started with this puff pastry thing that looked appallingly creamy to me when it first came out, but turned out to be quite tasty. Jean has a nice chicken paté. As our main course, we both had the lamb stew with pasta—nice and tender. For dessert, I had Jean's soft cheese thing from lunch while he went with peach compote and raspberry. Wine was not included with this meal, but we splurged on a Chateauneuf-du-pape, to the waiter's delight. Although a more pricey item on their menu, it was still much cheaper than you'd pay for it here! And quite delicious. We ended with nice espressos and cappuccinos.
Our dinner companions were Les and Jean, and Larry and Laurie. We compared various trips; the older couples had travelled more than we had, obviously. It was pleasant evening, and with very prompt service (even though we'd been warned it could be slower, what with us all ordering different things).
We had a little walk before settling in for the night. It proved difficult to sleep right through; we weren't quite over the jet lag.
Avignon Hotel de Ville (City Hall) at night
Tuesday, February 24 — Carpentras, Orange, and Chateauneuf-du-pape
Today was a day to tour by bus, which left at 9:00 AM. On the way, we learned more about French history, including Jacques' argument that the French revolutionaries were not all bad guys; after all, they wanted liberté and égalité for all. Sure, they killed a few people, but the aristocracy weren't all that benign themselves.
Our first stop was Carpentras, a medieval town. Once again, the day was both very sunny and very windy. The town was neat. Sights we saw included a fountain, a church that had a mix of architectural styles because as tastes changed, the original structure got rebuilt and redecorated in the new mode. The result was interesting, but not always that appealing. We also saw a synagogue, which wasn't so interesting in itself (it was pretty plain), but its history was. It was a very old synagogue. Jews had been encouraged by the Church to come and establish themselves in this town. The reason? The church needed money to be lent for some of its projects. Christians were not allowed to lend money. Hence, they needed Jews to do that.
The "church of many styles" in Carpentras
We had a little stop at a coffee shop, where the bathroom proved to be one of those "hole in the ground with handles" deals. Hadn't seen one of those since our honeymoon trip! Fortunately, I was able to wait. It was kind of amusing seeing the expression on some of our travelling companions. “That was different.”
Next stop, Orange, a city with a very complicated history, involving the Belgians, who then annoyed the French, who retaliated by taking Orange away, and obviously the Romans got all mixed up in there as well.
The first stop was the huge Roman Arche de Triomphe, which turned out to be under renovation. Therefore, although we could appreciate the size, we couldn't see any detail beneath the construction tarp (except, at one point, when the sun hit it the right way from the bus view).
So we didn't spend too much time there, but instead, went on to the ampitheatre. I first I thought it was a coliseum, like the one in Rome, but the purpose of this building was theatrical productions, not gladiator fights. The audioguide for this sight was really good at giving you an image of what the theatrical productions were like at the time. My favourite was the history of the pantomime, the first type of theatre that women were allowed to participate. Later on, someone decided they would be even more interesting productions if all the actors performed nude! That did increase the popularity, and the whole thing sort of escalated until they were basically presenting live pornography. Until one of the more religious emperors put a stop to that.
Well-preserved Roman ampitheatre in Orange. Used for non-lethal arts and entertainment.
Oh. those Romans.
Roman artifacts on display in the small museum by the ampitheatre
At the top, the views were great, but the wind was incredible! You felt in danger of it pushing you over.
Ampitheatre from above
At the same site, we also saw the ruins an ancient temple. Then it was time for lunch, which was on our own. We found a little restaurant nearby. I had the special, which started with eggplant and tomato pesto. Quite nice. Jean had an enormous salad with pine nuts, ham, and chicken liver! My main was fried chicken with sides of root vegetables and an endive salad. All good. Jean had a pasta with walnut sauce, which was good, but more than he could eat after that salad.
Next up is a drive to Chateauneuf-du-pape village, which is very picturesque. We drove by several vineyards, which are characterized by rocky soil. Jacques gave the history of the appellation, which came about after the French wine industry had been destroyed by a parasite, then revived by a grafting technique. Vintners in the area agreed to limit their production, and to follow certain rules to ensure the wine was of high quality.
Chateauneuf wines grow under difficult, rocky conditions, producing small, sparse grape vineyards
Turns out the pope did once have a chateau in this village, and we stopped to visit that first. Another interesting ruin, and a nice lookout place.
A Roman ruin in Chateauneuf-du-pape
The view from this area
The village itself is full of wine-tasting places, but we took this winding road up to the winery that does the Père Anselme chateauneuf, familiar for its twisty, dusty-looking bottle. On arrival, Jacques had a big debate with our tour guide, who complained that he hadn't been warned we wanted to taste the white chateauneuf, and none was chilled. But Jacques won the debate, arguing that you can better assess the qualities of a white wine if it's not too cold. And of course, the wine was still cool, not room temperature. It was our first time trying a white chateauneuf, which is made from pretty much the same grapes as the red, only without their skins. If not the most spectacular white we've ever had, it is a nice, complex beverage.
Both of us in front of the winery we visited
Next up were a couple reds—one “regular”, one “reserve”, which indicates a particularly good year. But he also told us about the wine in general, including the surprising fact that although three main grapes make up this varietal (grenache, syrah, mourvedre), there are something like 10 others that can be included, if necessary, to get the right balance. And he also said that 1/3 of their Père Anselme wine goes to Québec and Ontario: a stunning amount for such a small population, he said. Most of their other wines are not exported.
Anyway, both reds were very good—the reserve probably was better. He said while these wines can be aged, they don't have to be. When sold, they are ready to drink.
In the end, we didn't buy any wine here, figuring we'd do that later at the wine-tasting store near our hotel.
We had one more stop on the way back to Avignon: Villeneuve. The main attraction here was actually Avignon, as you can get a very nice view of it from Villeneuve. The bus also drove around Avignon more before pulling in, so that we could see more of its walls.
For dinner this night, which was on our own, we decided to try a nice-looking restaurant that Jacques had pointed out on the Monday tour. It turned out to be very good, with lovely presentation and excellent service. Jean started with a goat cheese ravioli, while I had a shrimp curry appetizer thing.
I had the dorade au planchette as my main course. It was plain but very well-prepared. Jean had foie gras. We were both surprised at the size of the serving; quite large pieces compared to what you get in Canada. (And no surcharge for it.) While very good and with excellent texture, it was also definitely milder than the Canadian variety as well. As our wine with this, we had a 1/2 bottle of white chateauneuf-du-pape (a wine generally not available in Canada, by the way).
Although we thought we were too full for dessert, we got the list, we couldn't resist. I had a tarte tatin sort of thing, with this just amazing caramel ice cream, and brown sugar crisp topping. Jean had the house specialty, a very light-tasting cheesecake. And we had coffee, of which we were told: “Je vous assure, madame, c'est vraiment du décaf, pas comme dans certain restaurant français.” [I assure you it really is decaf, not like in some French restaurants.]