Blogs from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 211

We attempted to go to the Cavaillon market this morning en route to Avignon but the parking situation was ugly so we blew it off and detoured our route via Menerbes where Peter Mayle used to live and wrote his famous "Provence" novels. We've since got scoop that he was driven out of the area by the residents once the books were translated into French b/c the locals didn't see his humourous view of Provencal life. He moved back to Long Island for awhile but is now rumoured to be in the town we visited the other day, Lourmarin. Anyway, Menerbes is another beautiful hilltop town with stone alleys and views of vineyards and mountains. Our arrival in Avignon was an experience and a half. It was 2pm, we hadn't eaten and were stuck in the ... read more

This morning wandered throughout the old town of Aix-en-Provence and figured out what this Provencal life was all about. It's about taking things easy, wandering down narrow streets, originally built for horse and carriage, and enjoying simple pleasures like good food, good wine and pretty flowers. We meandered through the narrow streets of Aix's market this morning, croissant in hand, and saw fruit that we've never seen and tasted like we've never tasted. The strawberries, the apricots, the canteloupe, the raspberries, the cherries. You name it they had it and it was like none of us have ever had the pleasure of tasting back home. Typically, we bought a baguette, some cheese, prosciutto and the aforementioned incredible fruit. We also scooped a bottle of rose wine for 5 euros! A bottle! The corkscrew we had to ... read more

just arrived in nice about an hour ago and filling in some time before dinner. i loved the rest of my time in the cinque terre. went to the beach and that's about it!! am here in nice for tonight and tomorrow night then off to switzerland. i'm going on a tour of the riviera tomorrow and on a boat cruise. pretending i'm rich and famous!!... read more

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few days. As of our last update, we were in San Sebastian. We had a blast there and really enjoyed the town there. Unfortunately, the weather was not very aggreeable and therefore we were not able to enjoy the beaches everyone told us about. But we enjoyed our time there nonetheless. After San Sebastian, we took one of the most uncomfortable buses north to Bilbao. This was only a quick stopover because our flight left from there the following morning. While we were there we did see the Guggenheim that Frank Gehry designed. It is a pretty remarkable building to see in person. The following day we left Bilbao and flew to Barcelona. We had such a great time here. We went to La Sagrada Familia the ... read more

Luberon: Monday July 18- Wed 20 After the wedding we planned to take a couple days in the countryside as we drove up to Michèle’s house. We wanted to give our friends time to recover after the wedding and I thought it would be a good idea to see the Luberon since Matthieu had recommended it. He said it was even more beautiful than Ardèche. It certainly was beautiful and we found the most gorgeous little bed & breakfast, called a chamber d’hôte. The couple who owns it inherited the land with a large barn on it which they worked very hard to convert into their home. One end of the building has become the room they rent out to tourists. They were very warm and welcoming and we felt very at home. The vineyards surrounding ... read more