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Senanque Lavender
This is a famous view of the Abbey. Their major source of income is lavender. 1 July 2014 - Today we decided to go to the lavender fields around the area we are staying, which included Gordes. In doing research, I was thinking Gordes looked familiar and, indeed, we had been here before, on the last trip. Kevin had to remind me this is my third trip to Provence. But Gordes is the jumping-off point for The Abbaye de Senanque, which is VERY FAMOUS for its lavender pictures. It is part of the Cistercian Order of Monks, with vows of silence, so a tour guide shouting at the top of her lungs to her group was a little shattering. The Romanesque abbeys built around the 1100s are wonderful in their simplicity. We had experienced this at Fontevraud in the Loire Valley, but this one was better in the tour information. Visitors are only allowed until noon. We were glad to get there early, so we could get a parking spot and not have tourists in all our pictures. And we were glad to leave to get away from all of them.
Off we went to Gordes, getting there about 11:30, but not early enough…It turned out to be Market Day - works for us! It
The Perfect Pose
We asked an Asian gentleman to take our picture - WHAT A PRODUCTION!!!! is so much fun to see all the things for sale from food to clothes to household items. Because we had bought up large on Sunday, we came away with few bags. We did stop for lunch at a creperie and each had a crepe, salad and desserts.
In the afternoon we went to the Musee de Lavande, http://www.museedelalavande.com/en/ , which I highly recommend. They have a wonderful audio-tour and it is very informative. I found some wonderful copper pots I would love, but wasn’t allowed to take pictures, so I just guess you will have to go yourself….Their farm is over by Sault, so we missed it.
We returned home, absolutely exhausted.
2 July 2014 - Today was mainly shopping for a couple of items. Wendy had taken a shine to an item here in the house, so, after finding out the name of the store where it had been purchased by the owner, we took off in search….Little did we know we had been directed to France’s answer to IKEA (which happened to be in the same complex). http://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.maisonsdumonde.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmaison%2Bdu%2Bmonde%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DLKQ%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dfflb Anyone who loves French décor, this is the place for you! We were wanting to buy
A vendre
My favorite sign, just outside of Gordes. It comes complete with its own religious cross on the wall. a place here just to decorate it! The complex, outside of Avignon, was massive and basically only carried home furnishings stores. Oh, and a Food Mall…Lunch was at Bo-Bistrot. I had filet mignon of porcelet roti (roast pork tenderloin) with potatoes and a salad, and Profiteroles, while Wendy had a lovely Chicken Caesar salad which was HUGE! and Pot de Crème, a sort of custard, with a lovely (she said) caramel on top. We both loved our desserts.
After a little more shopping we decided to head up to Orange on our way home and stop to see the Amphitheatre, built by the Romans and a World Heritage Site. And it was easy to see why. The history of the theatre is fascinating, and there was a good audio-tour to listen to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_antique_d%27Orange . I wasn’t thrilled climbing up to the top and was less thrilled to come down again, but there was a handrail for the downward trip so it was ok. After leaving there we went across the street for ice creams, or, rather, sorbets, before returning home.
As an aside, I love driving in France, especially with the GPS. Sure, you run into a couple
Wendy with bouquet
This bouquet was made from wheat with lavender center. of French Dicques, but for the most part they are very patient. We were blocking a crossroad today while trying to find directions on the GPS. I looked up to find a man in a truck across the road smiling patiently at me. We all laughed at the situation and then we drove off.
We have had lots of good laughs on this trip so far. The food hasn’t been all that great yet but the lavender has been wonderful. And that’s what this is all about right now…more tomorrow…
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Marybeth Chapman
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Sounds (and looks) like you are both having a ball! I am enjoying the blogs.