Driving through the Provence countryside

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  Sault, France
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Hello Everyone:

Today we had a lovely breakfast at Hotel l'Horloge and headed for the TGV train station to pick up our rental car which was a very small Renault Clio with a manual transmissioin (Roger - when Ryan got behind the wheel,  he had flash backs of when you taught him how to drive a stick shift in your Renault!).  We had HUGE Michelin maps in hand, but better than that, we had our GPS loaded for our journey.  Thank God the French drive on the right side of the road with us both driving a stick shift car while navigating the narrow windy lavender roads! Ryan was an excellent GPS navigator, telling Laurie when the next roundabout was and precisely which exit to take to our next destination. We are thankful we brought the GPS along!

Our first stop was Gordes where we enjoyed the lovely Abbey de Senanque which was founded in the 12th century

Abbey du Semanque - Gordes

.  The Abbey was quite the site because it is surrounded by lavender fields that were just starting to bloom.  The road leading to the Abbey appeared to be wide enough for one car, but we soon realized it was built for two when the large tour bus tried to pass Laurie. 

From the Abbey, we drove through Gordes and enjoyed the roadside view of the stone city.  We tried to park the car to do some walking around, but soon realized that was not going to be an easy task.  So we ventured off to Roussillion (Sammy/Karl/Jill - unlike our frigid winter visit, this town was hopping) where all we could do was circle around the top of the town due to the huge crowds and lack of parking, so we headed for Apt. 
We found parking in Apt, about 6 miles up the road.  Apt turned out to be a nothing stop except for a good lunch marred with an exceptionally rude waitress - - We are finding more of this aloof attitude the further South we go in France.  Quite frankly, Ryan has had his share of rude people and Laurie needs to keep reminding him that we are headed for the French Riviera and the cool sea breeze in our faces and to "just let it go".

Our goal today:  LAVENDER FIELDS.  We decided at lunch to take the direct route on the lavender roads - straight North into the Mount Ventoux region, where the town of Sault is located

Gordes lavender field

.  Sault is known as the lavender capital of France.  On our way to Sault, just outside of Apt is where we spotted our first lavender field.  Acres and acres of uniformed rows of lavender with red poppies dotted throughout.  Truly a spectacular site. 

We stopped on several occasions to capture the lavender with our cameras and enjoyed walking through the fields watching the butterflies and smelling the fresh scent of lavender in the air.  It was heaven.  We arrived in Sault around 3:00pm and were disappointed to see no lavender in bloom after climbing 2,700 feet into the mountains.  We went into the tourism office asking where the lavender fields were, and were greeted with a very snotty French woman who said we were 3 weeks too early to see the lavender.  Laurie explained to her that we had just seen 4 lavender fields in full bloom and she said "that is impossible - do you know what lavender looks like?"  Yet another example of a rude French person!  Laurie explained to her that "YES, I know what it looks like AND I know what it smells like."  She went on to tell the woman the approximate location of the fields that were in blume.  The woman was in denial and a little jealous that we had found lavender that she did not know about.   

As we approached our final lavender field of the day we circled back and forth in quite heavy traffic to find a good and safe parking spot

Gordes, France

. We spotted this great lavender and grapevine field and upon further inspection, saw an interesting woman who began to walk toward our slowly moving car and her pace quickened. Ryan found a spot to wait for Laurie as she walked down the side of the road with cars and trucks whizzing past her- the woman intently watched Laurie. As Laurie approached, this woman, who was the obvious lavender field owner, had walked all the way down her dirt road to make sure Laurie was not going to steal any lavender, or heaven forbid snap a photo of this beautiful field, one of only a few in full bloom on the "lavender road"! The farmer was harmless but gave Laurie the stare down, as you can see from the picture that Laurie took of her.

We saw as much lavender as we could find, so we ventured back down the mountain on our way to our last destination before turning in our rental car - Pont du Gard.

Before we arrived at Pont du Gard, Ryan looked over at Laurie and saw that she was fading fast!  She needed food and quick!  Laurie reminded Ryan that we didn't have our snack for the day and that she was particularly overdue for fuel.  Ryan said "I want my Dolly happy" so after passing several fruit stands, we finally stopped and loaded up with some fresh fruit snack.  Once Dolly was happy we headed off to Pont du Gard

Laurie happy in the fields of lavender

.

Built in B.C. 20, Pont du Gard is a perfectly preserved Roman Aqueduct built as the critical link of a 30 mile canal that, by dropping 1 inch for every 300 feet, supplied 9 million gallons of water per day (about 100 gallons per second) to Nimes -- one of ancient Europe's largest cities.  Pont de Gard spans a canyon on a massive bridge, one of the most remarkable surviving Roman ruins anywhere.  When we rounded the corner of the park and gazed upon the aqueduct - it took our breath away.  We had no idea it was as large as it is - each of the bricks that make up the structure weigh 6 tons and there was no mortar used in the construction - the Romans just used the "Roman Arch" made strong by gravity. 

We climbed up the panoramic trail which was 400 meters straight up and ended above the arch for sunset.  What a site - watching the sun set on such a spectacular structure.  We sat and enjoyed the beauty as the sweat evaporated off our bodies.  We made our way back to the car and struggled to find a way to get the gates to open and let us out of the now closed park.  We asked a Frenchman that spoke no English "Sortie?" and he pointed to the ticket and to the direction of the exit.  We soon figured out that you have to get out of your car, put money in a machine that validates your card before the gates will open to let you out

Lavender farmer guarding her blooming fields

.  It is amazing how much we have figured out, without our French dictionary.  This is a true "wing it" holiday.

We returned our rental car with no issues and went to the taxi stand that hour Hertz representative told us would have accessible after 9:00pm and of course there were no taxi's to be found and a line of 7 people waiting.  Fortunately, there was a city bus loading people (last one of the night) and it took us to Avignon.  We grabbed a Kebab for dinner and headed back to the hotel to eat and hunker down for the night.

Tomorrow we will travel by train to Villefranche sur mer, French Riviera.

Today's walk:  5.8
Total for the journey (148.7 miles, 27 days)

Love,

Laurie and Ryan
  

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Lavender field in Provence	Pont du Gard aqueduct - Nimes, France	Pont du Gard atop the panoramic viewpoint	Provence lavender field
Renault Clio rental in Provence	Ryan, the thinker, in the fields of lavender

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