Holiday in Provence: Sur le Pont d'Avignon On y Danse, On y Danse

In the last few years, I almost never take holiday in the summer. The summers in Holland have been quite nice lately, warm and sunny, the evenings on the beach are long, the sea is calm, the sun stays up until after 10 p.m.

So we usually travel in the fall or in winter to get some energy from the sun and the warmth of the southern seas. In February of this year, for instance, we went to the Portuguese island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, which turned out to be a warm and sunny place all year around. Its natural beauty is fascinating, its Carnival (which we were lucky to witness) is probably only second to Rio. Our long walks along the levada's (irrigation canals in the mountains) revealed the beautiful flora and majestic landscapes of the interior of the island. Certainly a wonderful destination to come back to!

The school holiday this fall was in the second half of October, and it took me some time to figure out where to go. Germany and the Czech Republic didn't promise any good weather. Spain is too far to drive to (and I did want to drive). So I hesitated between the Italian Riviera and Provence in the South of France. Finally I spotted a nice accommodation in the center of the medieval village of Rochefort-du-Gard, a few kilometers west of Avignon and technically no longer part of Provence, but of Languedoc. And there we drove!

We decided to take a slow route via Belgium and Luxembourg and visit Dijon on our way to the South. Leaving the highway after Nancy, we drove through the lush countryside of Lorraine and Burgundy, through beautiful towns and villages, with beautiful panoramic views and the Vosges mountains at a long distance.

Dijon turned out to be a beautiful, medieval city with rich history as the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy and with many young people (students) on its streets. We followed the special owl signs on the pavement that took us to old churches, historic buildings, the magnificent Ducal Palace, and to the irresistible Notre Dame cathedral with the frightening rows of gargoyles above the main entrance.

The next morning we left Dijon to drive along the wine domains and chateau's, where the world-famous Burgundy wines are grown, produced and bottled. We stopped in the nice city of Beaune to breath in the atmosphere of the Saturday market, and headed towards Lyon along the river Saone. After Lyon we drove along the picturesque river Rhone, passing Valence, Vienne, Montelimar and Pont-Saint-Esprit towards Avignon. On the way, we listened to the audio book of the famous novel "The Three Musketeers" by A. Dumas (in Russian of course!)

We arrived at Rochefort-du-Gard after dark and were pleasantly surprised by our hosts offering us a much better accommodation for the same price, which included among other things a private roofed swimming pool 10 by 5 meters!

I woke up early the first morning to go for a run to explore the town and to get a few baguettes and croissants for breakfast. It felt like summer with temperatures above 26 C! I found myself amidst the wine groves of the famous Côtes du Rhône wines and the plains of the Rhone on the one side, and hills leading to Nimes on the other.

After the breakfast of bread, cheese, jam, coffee and tea, we spent an hour or so in our swimming pool. In the morning I discovered a beautiful church and former monastery nicely perched on the rock above our residence. It was the Notre Dame de Grace. A very friendly gentleman inquired in broken English if I was a tourist and a catholic :) He offered to give us a tour of the Church and of the monastery later in the day. So there we went up the hill and got a marvelous tour of the inside chambers of this medieval place with historic and religious references. Then we headed for the city of Avignon.

Avignon is a majestic city on left bank of the river Rhone. It is famous for the fact that the Popes moved there from Rome for about a hundred years in the 14th century, making it the religious capital of the Catholic world. The thick medieval city walls, the grand palaces of the Popes and Cardinals still bear witness to those illustrious times. And then of course there is the bridge, Le Pont d'Avignon, protruding half way across the river. And our daughter Anne Sophie would sing the famous "Sur le Pont d'Avignon On y Danse, On y Danse" song, which she learned at school, over and over again (until the end of the holiday). And we would just roam the streets and multiple squares of this city (Place du Palais, Place de l'Horloge, Place des Carmes, etc) drinking in their air and their spirit, trying to keep Anne Sophie from getting bored :) We visited these places 10 years ago or so, and it was nice to be back again!

Avignon (Pope's Palace)

The next day, after a lot of swimming in the pool, we drove towards another major attraction of the area, which is Pont du Gard, an incredible 3-level aqueduct across the river Gard built by the Romans more than 2000 years ago to take water from a source near Uzes to the city of Nimes. We parked the car some 2 kilometers away and walked along the remains of the aqueduct towards the bridge. Anne Sophie and I used the Nordic walking sticks as fencing swards in the spirit of the Three Musketeers and had a number of duels along the way :) We also found some good mushrooms, which we used for dinner later that night. The bridge was glowing in the sun and the clear waters of the Gard flowed swiftly under the huge arcs of the bridge. After getting back home, we took a plunge into the swimming pool, ate the mushrooms with pasta, and watched the first part of the Russian movie about the Three Musketeers.

Pont du Gard

On Tuesday, after our usual swim in the pool, we explored the beautifully preserved medieval town of Les Baux-de-Provence, built as a fortress on a rock overlooking the plains going all the way to the sea, at a cite inhabited by people as far back as 6000 years ago. We walked for about 45 minutes around the rock exploring Celtic remains and the wild plants. The city itself has a very fine museum of santons, terracotta hand-painted figures traditionally used in Provence in nativity scenes at Christmas.

From there we drove through the city of Arles to take a plunge in the Mediterranean Sea at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The road went through the natural reserve of the Camargue, a flat, swampy area famous for its white horses, of which we saw plenty. The sea was quite warm, I guess at least 22 C, and we watched the evening sun go under the water. On the way back we listened to our Three Musketeers and sang their songs from the afore-mentioned Russian film. Driving in the dark was quite an experience, as the roads are not illuminated in France as they are in Holland.

On Wednesday we started to feel the first blows of the powerful Mistral wind rushing into the Rhone valley from the mountains and plateaus of the North and North East. The wind is said to take away all clouds and dust, making the air extremely clear, which is what the impressionist painters loved so much about Provence.

After our regular swim in the pool, we decided to explore the Luberon mountains, east of Avignon. We visited the gorgeous medieval towns of Oppède-le-Vieux, Bonnieux, Roussillon with its ochre quarries and ochre colored houses, and Gordes, with beautiful views of the Mont Ventoux, an enormous lonely mountain of almost 2000 meters high, dominating the whole area, which I incidentally climbed by bike a few years ago.

Roussillon and Mont Ventoux in the background

On Thursday, the Mistral blew unabated, the sun was dazzling, but the air temperature dropped significantly. So we stayed at home, reading, learning the French language, enjoying the pool and the French cheese. In the late afternoon we walked to the city, wandered the old streets, and finished the evening off by eating a famous French duck (canard) in the only restaurant still open in town at the close of the tourist season.

In the restaurant we met our hosts and had a nice conversation with them in their broken English and our broken French. They were very kind to offer to drive us home, as it got really dark and the wind was still blowing. Their house is right next to our residence and they have fishes and turtles, and the lady of the house paints santons (the Christmas figures I mentioned above), and they are generally very nice people! Joseph & Brigitte, our heartfelt thanks to you!

My experience was that the people in Provence, at least in the countryside, are very relaxed and helpful. There is no rush, and la vie est belle!

On Friday, yes, after the swimming pool, we drove to explore the area North of our town, visiting Saint-Laurent-des-Arbres, Laudun l'Ardoise, and a well preserved medieval castle of Chateau de Gicon on a hill overlooking the rivers Rhone and Ceze, which took us about an hour to climb on foot.

Chateau de Gicon

Friday evening we bathed in our swimming pool for the last time and packed. After a nice breakfast on Saturday morning we left, taking a slightly different route via Bourg-en-Bresse and Vesoul. We spent the night in Nancy, and in the morning explored this beautiful capital of the Dukes of Lorraine, with its Ducal Palace, the old gates La Porte de la Craffe, the Grande Rue street and the marvelous Place Stanislas and Stanislas Palace. Then we drove through the amazingly green and hilly countryside of Luxembourg and then via Liege and Maastricht back home!

This was a very fine, relaxed holiday with historic, culinary, nature and swimming highlights! Also I got inspired to learn French, which I have been doing now for a couple of weeks: Je m'appelle Leonid. J'habite à La Haye, à Pays Bas. Je suis informaticien. J'aime les chats, les pommes, les baguettes, le confiture et le chocolat. Ma femme s'appelle Luda et ma fille s'appelle Anne Sophie. Elles sont très belles! Nous avons une chatte, Kissy. À bientôt!