We rented a gite near Avignon in the Provence region of France along with some friends, Ben and Melissa, for a week of cycling and sightseeing.
The gite, Blanche Fleur (http://www.blanchefleur.com/) was much nicer than most of the other gites we’ve stayed in. In France an apartment or home rental with a kitchen is called a gite. Usually you have to bring your own sheets and towels and it is a relatively cheap way to travel. At Blanche Fleur, it was a bit of a step up as they provided linens and even had soap and shampoo which is unusual even for B&Bs in Europe.
For dinner the first night, we went into Avignon for dinner to a place that was recommended by the NY times. It was decent but didn’t compare to the meals we had in Burgundy and not one I’d recommend.
That night we watched some cycling videos. Ben brought a bunch of what I like to call cycling porn. I think his purpose was to get us excited about the riding we were about to do, but it had the reverse effect on me. The next day the plan was to ride to the top of Mont Ventoux so we watched a stage of the Tour de France with that climb. After hearing Lance Armstrong say that Mont Ventoux was one of the hardest climbs in the tour, I decided that I definitely wasn’t going to climb it. The fact that there was snow on the top of the mountain wasn’t exactly a selling point either.
The next day after breakfast we set out for our ride. After an hour and a half, we stopped for lunch at the base of Mont Ventoux in Bedoin and had some tasty sandwiches in the sun. While there, we met a fellow cyclist who happened to be an Olympic Swiss cross country skier and knew some of the same people as Ben.
I turned back after lunch and rode home in the sun to end up with a nice 50 mile ride. The others, however, braved Mont Ventoux. Unfortunately for them, they ended up getting caught in a hail / sleet storm and got separated due to the inclement conditions, while I went to Isle sur La Sorgue and wander along the narrow cobbled streets to scope out a restaurant for dinner.
We ate in Isle sur La Sorgue at Café Deco for dinner. It had a pretty terrace along a canal with flowing curtains which gave it a very romantic feel. Melissa and I had some gigantic scallops for dinner while the boys got their raw meat fix with some Beef Tar tare.
Ben was definitely a more adventurous eater than the rest of us. He couldn’t get enough of the blood sausage, beef tongue and knunkle stuffed tripe. I generally opted for the safe fish options at a lot of these country French restaurants.
The next day Jim’s knee was bothering him so we skipped the ride and went to the market in St. Remy. The market had tons of clothing, bags, jewelry, linens, soaps, pottery, specialty food and even antiques. I was in heaven. One of my all time favorite things to do is wander around markets. In all of our travels so far, I haven’t really purchased any suveniors but Provence was just the place to change that.
We had a great typical French lunch at La Fontaine (19, Boulevard Mirabeau) of a cheve chaud salad (melted goat cheese on toasts) with an open faced sandwich of lardons (bacon) and cheese.
Our next stop was The Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct which delivered water 30 miles to Nimes by dropping one inch every 350 feet. I’m so amazed by what the Romans were able to accomplish.
On Thursday, Jim, Melissa and I went to Palais des Papes (The Palace of the Popes) and also the Pont Saint-Benezet which was the basis for the French nursery rhyme which none of us knew. The Palace of the Popes replaced the Vatican in the 1300s. A French pope was elected and due to the instability in Italy, the Pope moved to Avignon and bought the entire city. The palace was huge (Popes apparently had quite an entourage) but disappointingly empty so it was hard to imagine the lavish decorations and furnishings.
In the afternoon, Jim went to ride with Ben and Melissa and I went to Beaucaire first and then Les Baux de Provence. In Chardonnay, one of the guys at the bar was talking about a town near Avignon that was beautiful and a must-see in Provence. I thought he said the town was Beaucaire but after arriving in Beaucaire, I realized my mistake. As we were driving in, both Melissa and I thought the other person has some gas. Once we parked the car to walk around the town, we realized that it was the town that smelled. After wandering around the smelling, charmless town for a few minutes, we decided to cut our losses and drive to Les Baux de Provence instead. On our way out of town, Melissa quipped, “Well, we’ve seen Beaucaire and we don’t care”.
Driving up to Les Baux de Provence, I realized immediately that this was the right town. The town was perched on top of a hill with beautiful rock formations in the surrounding hills. It was definitely a touristy town but we realized that sometimes there is a reason something is touristy – It’s pretty. We did some shopping and then headed down some very curvy, fun roads back to the gite.
We decided that we’d eat in that night since we didn’t know when the boys would be home. Melissa had the great idea to make a gigantic batch of mussels. It was the best meal we had in Provence. The mussels were delicious but sauce from the mussels was just as good with tons of garlic and basil; great with some crusty bread to dip.
Our last full day in Provence, we did a long, all day ride. Ben had scoped out some great roads on his solo rides that he wanted to show us. The ride was one of the most beautiful rides I’ve ever done. Some of the terrain actually reminded me of Moab, Utah. We rode 80 miles but stopped for lunch, coffee and bakeries often so I was able to survive.
The next day we drove back up to Chardonnay after dropping Melissa and Ben off at the TGV. We made reservations at a newly Michelin starred restaurant near the B&B (Le Relais d’Ozenay – http://www.le-relais-dozenay.com/) . It was one of the best meals I’ve had. Jim loved it more for the fact that there was a pre-dessert, desert and post-desert. The best part was the price. I think our bill only came to 110 euro.
We each got the 6 course gourmet menu which started with Tuna Tartar and puréed avocado with a black sesame sorbet (this was the best thing of the night even though it sounds odd). Then we had the fish dish course of red snapper with pistachio oil and a roasted red pepper cone with goat cheese risotto inside. The meat course was a bit of a surprise as Jim’s translation wasn’t quite right. It was sweetbreads (veal liver) with linguine, morel mushrooms and asparagus. I gave Jim my sweetbreads but the linguine was still delicious. Next up was the cheese course and then of course the three desert courses – Pistachio flan with pineapple puree and a chocolate covered cookie stick, chocolate molten cake, vanilla custard with a red fruit coulis and meringue cookies. I was ready to be rolled out the door, but it was the perfect end to our vacation.
The gite, Blanche Fleur (http://www.blanchefleur.com/) was much nicer than most of the other gites we’ve stayed in. In France an apartment or home rental with a kitchen is called a gite. Usually you have to bring your own sheets and towels and it is a relatively cheap way to travel. At Blanche Fleur, it was a bit of a step up as they provided linens and even had soap and shampoo which is unusual even for B&Bs in Europe.
For dinner the first night, we went into Avignon for dinner to a place that was recommended by the NY times. It was decent but didn’t compare to the meals we had in Burgundy and not one I’d recommend.
That night we watched some cycling videos. Ben brought a bunch of what I like to call cycling porn. I think his purpose was to get us excited about the riding we were about to do, but it had the reverse effect on me. The next day the plan was to ride to the top of Mont Ventoux so we watched a stage of the Tour de France with that climb. After hearing Lance Armstrong say that Mont Ventoux was one of the hardest climbs in the tour, I decided that I definitely wasn’t going to climb it. The fact that there was snow on the top of the mountain wasn’t exactly a selling point either.
The next day after breakfast we set out for our ride. After an hour and a half, we stopped for lunch at the base of Mont Ventoux in Bedoin and had some tasty sandwiches in the sun. While there, we met a fellow cyclist who happened to be an Olympic Swiss cross country skier and knew some of the same people as Ben.
I turned back after lunch and rode home in the sun to end up with a nice 50 mile ride. The others, however, braved Mont Ventoux. Unfortunately for them, they ended up getting caught in a hail / sleet storm and got separated due to the inclement conditions, while I went to Isle sur La Sorgue and wander along the narrow cobbled streets to scope out a restaurant for dinner.
We ate in Isle sur La Sorgue at Café Deco for dinner. It had a pretty terrace along a canal with flowing curtains which gave it a very romantic feel. Melissa and I had some gigantic scallops for dinner while the boys got their raw meat fix with some Beef Tar tare.
Ben was definitely a more adventurous eater than the rest of us. He couldn’t get enough of the blood sausage, beef tongue and knunkle stuffed tripe. I generally opted for the safe fish options at a lot of these country French restaurants.
The next day Jim’s knee was bothering him so we skipped the ride and went to the market in St. Remy. The market had tons of clothing, bags, jewelry, linens, soaps, pottery, specialty food and even antiques. I was in heaven. One of my all time favorite things to do is wander around markets. In all of our travels so far, I haven’t really purchased any suveniors but Provence was just the place to change that.
We had a great typical French lunch at La Fontaine (19, Boulevard Mirabeau) of a cheve chaud salad (melted goat cheese on toasts) with an open faced sandwich of lardons (bacon) and cheese.
Our next stop was The Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct which delivered water 30 miles to Nimes by dropping one inch every 350 feet. I’m so amazed by what the Romans were able to accomplish.
On Thursday, Jim, Melissa and I went to Palais des Papes (The Palace of the Popes) and also the Pont Saint-Benezet which was the basis for the French nursery rhyme which none of us knew. The Palace of the Popes replaced the Vatican in the 1300s. A French pope was elected and due to the instability in Italy, the Pope moved to Avignon and bought the entire city. The palace was huge (Popes apparently had quite an entourage) but disappointingly empty so it was hard to imagine the lavish decorations and furnishings.
In the afternoon, Jim went to ride with Ben and Melissa and I went to Beaucaire first and then Les Baux de Provence. In Chardonnay, one of the guys at the bar was talking about a town near Avignon that was beautiful and a must-see in Provence. I thought he said the town was Beaucaire but after arriving in Beaucaire, I realized my mistake. As we were driving in, both Melissa and I thought the other person has some gas. Once we parked the car to walk around the town, we realized that it was the town that smelled. After wandering around the smelling, charmless town for a few minutes, we decided to cut our losses and drive to Les Baux de Provence instead. On our way out of town, Melissa quipped, “Well, we’ve seen Beaucaire and we don’t care”.
Driving up to Les Baux de Provence, I realized immediately that this was the right town. The town was perched on top of a hill with beautiful rock formations in the surrounding hills. It was definitely a touristy town but we realized that sometimes there is a reason something is touristy – It’s pretty. We did some shopping and then headed down some very curvy, fun roads back to the gite.
We decided that we’d eat in that night since we didn’t know when the boys would be home. Melissa had the great idea to make a gigantic batch of mussels. It was the best meal we had in Provence. The mussels were delicious but sauce from the mussels was just as good with tons of garlic and basil; great with some crusty bread to dip.
Our last full day in Provence, we did a long, all day ride. Ben had scoped out some great roads on his solo rides that he wanted to show us. The ride was one of the most beautiful rides I’ve ever done. Some of the terrain actually reminded me of Moab, Utah. We rode 80 miles but stopped for lunch, coffee and bakeries often so I was able to survive.
The next day we drove back up to Chardonnay after dropping Melissa and Ben off at the TGV. We made reservations at a newly Michelin starred restaurant near the B&B (Le Relais d’Ozenay – http://www.le-relais-dozenay.com/) . It was one of the best meals I’ve had. Jim loved it more for the fact that there was a pre-dessert, desert and post-desert. The best part was the price. I think our bill only came to 110 euro.
We each got the 6 course gourmet menu which started with Tuna Tartar and puréed avocado with a black sesame sorbet (this was the best thing of the night even though it sounds odd). Then we had the fish dish course of red snapper with pistachio oil and a roasted red pepper cone with goat cheese risotto inside. The meat course was a bit of a surprise as Jim’s translation wasn’t quite right. It was sweetbreads (veal liver) with linguine, morel mushrooms and asparagus. I gave Jim my sweetbreads but the linguine was still delicious. Next up was the cheese course and then of course the three desert courses – Pistachio flan with pineapple puree and a chocolate covered cookie stick, chocolate molten cake, vanilla custard with a red fruit coulis and meringue cookies. I was ready to be rolled out the door, but it was the perfect end to our vacation.
2 comments:
I am going to have to extend my trip (or rather just move in with you) if you keep posting all these wonderful places!
Just wait until we go to Tuscany. I imagine it will be even better than Provence.
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