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Published: September 29th 2012
Uzes and the Luberon, 17, September Thru 28th September
Ed & Wendy had arranged a swap for us all just outside the Languedoc-Roussillon town of Uzes. This house built into the ramparts of the town was originally bought and re-furbished by a Swedish couple and their architect, it was subsequently sold to an Englishman, the current owner. Yes, it's pretty nice and very comfortable!
I'm not going to ramble on with a diary style blog, but am just going to mention the highlights. And, as always with us, it has a high food content. Caroline is doing a food blog, but personally I'm in search of the perfect Steak Tartare, and I think I found it in a restaurant in Aix. While traveling with Wendy and Ed, we have spent our lunchtimes in some pretty nice restaurants, and in most cases made a point of researching the restaurant online before we make a commitment. This works!!! And, we haven't been disappointed yet. You can get midday pri-fixe, 3 course meals in very nice restaurants between 20 and 30 Euro
Our normal day starts with a coffee and a patisserie, whether at our “current home” or on the
road. Then we're off, one day, Aix, the next Arles or the Pont du Gard. Of course, we get lost along the way, even though Caroline has GPS software on her IPAD. Normally, we do at least an extra 20km trying to reach our destination. It's all a part of the experience, but when in a large town this can be most frustrating for the driver.
I'll start with a quick run-down of Uzes. The town dates back to Roman times, and later in life turns into a weaving town, and during the 16th century it's a Protestant stronghold in the Religious Wars. The wars seem to have been caused because of friction and one upmanship between two of the most prominent French families, the Bourbon's (Protestants), and the Guises (Catholic). We had heard a little about the problems between the Bourbon's and the Guises whilst in the Loire, at the city of Blois. And, how Henry III, a Bourbon, had orchestrated the murder of Duke Henry of Guise, christened the Duck of Death by the “Russell Four”. But more to the point, and in the “now”, Uzes has the best market day on the planet!
Pont De
Vincent
Taken in the Quarry. This was at least a 20ft ProjectionGard, amazing, built in five years in 100AD and still standing. The aquaduct spans a valley as the water makes it's way from Uzes to Nimes, around 50km. What more can be said....
Aix in Provence, the market is average and touristy, however we have great lunch and probably the Steak Tartare of the trip. Aix is an old Roman town, that has a chequered past, and was occupied by the Visigoths in 477AD, then plundered repeatedly by the Franks and Lombards, and then occupied by the Saracens in the 700's. Since then, it has flourished as a cultural and arts center, with Cezanne and Picasso, both lending to it's fame. Picasso is buried close by, in the grounds of a chateau. We had been in Aix for 7 days in 2007, so nothing new, perhaps our impression was clouded by this earlier visit.
Now for Arles, lunch at A'Cote can only be described as excellent. See Caroline's food blog. We buy tickets for the Petit Train which winds it's way through town, past the Roman Colisseum, and past the house Van Gogh lived in while in Arles, but this is long gone. He had visualized Arles as
Caroline and Our Maitre d
A wonderful restaurant in the gorge just outside Bonnieux, in the Luberon. This has been the meal of the trip, so far! an artists commune in the South, like Pont Avon in Brittany. Gauguin came to collaborate, but after two months of each other's company they split. A particularly bad divorce, as after one of their many disagreements, Vincent hacked off his ear lobe. Talk about Manic Depressive!! The courtyard at the asylum where Vincent spent two months, after the ear episode, is open to the public, and ringed with little tourist shops. While in Arles, and specifically at the location of the little yellow house that no-longer exists, he painted several of his most famous works. His bedroom at the house, was one of these done while Gauguin was in residence, many others include cafe scenes at night. Van Gogh was a very heavy drinker of Absenthe, and his manic state is often attributed to this, however it was probably just genetics.
Sunday, 23rd September, 2012 - Lourmarin On Sunday morning at nine o'clock as the day begins........ Sounds like a great first line of a song. We are dropping Wendy and Ed at the train station in Montpelier. Goodbyes and hugs, and we're off to the Luberon.
We arrive in the afternoon at our house-swap in the
Lauris, Maybe not, this could be Bonnieux
While picturesque, all the villages start to look very similar. Luberon, La Jassine, very comfortable and too big for just two people. In the next five days, we visit all, or just most of the villages in Luberon. This area of Provence was made popular in the Peter Mayle book, a Year in Provence. The villages of the Luberon are picturesque and in a lot of cases, built on the side of hills or cliff faces, and were easy to defend in a bygone era. Menerbes and Lacoste are worth a mention. Lacoste as it is dominated by the large castle once owned by the Marquis De Sade, and most recently by the 90 year old Pierre Cardin. It's all a bit too trendy, and would appear to be a haunt of the Paris Set. It was a part of the De Sade family estates and the Marquis de Sade lived there for a short time after being exiled from Paris. In the castle during the 18
th century, he was forced to flee to Italy after a number of “events” involving local women came to the attention of the police. De Sade, is worth looking up on Wikipedia for a full picture of the man, and if anything he was
A Great Photo!
I think this would make a great Xmas Card.
a survivor, even though he spent about 32 years of his life in prisons or asylums.
Menerbes has also become a trendy little village, and we are looking forward to the Maison de Truffe where we both wanted to experience their degustation, truffle meal. Of course we suffer a severe disappointment, it would seem they were short of staff and we are turned away. In my view, Peter Mayle has helped turn the Luberon into a South of France, Disney World, where all of the tourists drive from village to village, passing the occasional breakaway group from the Tour de France. Their cars fill all of the parking lots, and cameras in hand, they in turn park themselves in a tourist restaurants, and tell each other how quaint it all is. This of course, includes us!
After a while, all of the villages seem to look the same. To prove this fact, on one exploration drive, we ended up in a village of Goult, I leaped out of the car with my camera and realised that we had been there two days earlier.
A visit to Salon de Provence exposes us to a very average market. And
because we don't arrive until around 11.00 am, the Nostradamus house closed for lunch, the church where his grave is is also closed. Not a well planned excursion, but who knew!. On the same trip we take in Les Beaux, however didn't go into the town as we had been there before. But, did the “Carrieres de Lumieres” light show on Van Gogh, and Gauguin’s paintings inside the stone quarry, all accompanied by to classical music. This was most excellent! After Le Beaux, we drive the 7km to St Remy, and visit the sanitarium where Vincent van Gogh was a patient for over a year. He painted the Iris's here, field of wheat, etc. Vincent is probably the most famous painter ever, and he sold only one painting in his lifetime. This was shortly before he shot himself in the chest from which he died two days later. We stay in St Remy to eat dinner as I had purchased a Groupon.com deal for a Lobster dinner.
On Friday, 28
th September, we visit the local market in Lourmarin, and this is a good one. It has everything, clothes, jewelry, pottery, confiture, fish, and good ole fashioned legumes.
And, really comes a close second to the Uzes market. The Lourmarin Friday Marche is a total find, and definately a market worth visiting. The rest of the day is a lounge around the house, in relaxation mode kinda day, and get ready for our evening meal. We have booked our final meal of the week in the Luberon at Auberge de Laiguebrun, and it is fantastic. It's a 20 minute drive from Lourmarin through the canyon towards Bonnieux; we have been passing the sign, and the menu all week. I have been eying it up, and doing a little web research before making the booking commitment. Anyway, their website is
www.aubergedelaiguebrun.fr and if anyone wants to find a really good restaurant in this area, I for one would highly recommend this hotel restaurant. The degustation menu runs at 55 euro, but well worth the money.
Up early ready for the 400 km plus drive to Girona in Spain......
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Jay Brara
non-member comment
Vincent, and gourmet meals...
Enjoyed reading about yur visit to Arles, aplace I've always wanted to visit because Van Gogh has always been my favorite painter. Kevin, hope you're walking a lot considering all those gourmet meals you're indulging in.....