Leaving Lausanne we headed down to Lake Annecy, reputed to be the deepest and cleanest lake in Europe. We tried to find a park in the lakefront area near the town of Annecy without luck so headed around the lake to a smaller centre. As there were "corporate games" in progress this meant sitting in a half hour traffic queue held up by a pedestrian crossing. Eventually we found a spot to stop and sat on the lake edge. While the lake was nice, it doesn't have the charm of Lac du Joux we had seen the previous day.We saw a hilarious rally / crowd of bikers - obviously locals on their bikes with little shopping baskets before and aft and also panniers either side - children also on board. There were several double bikes - ie. one bike inserted on top of another with the rider on the top bike. Some not very stable - hanging onto the head of the biker beside them! They were obviously out for a festive jaunt - not a helmet to be seen on any one's head. In fact helmets are often not worn except by the serious road bikers - of whom there are many. People - men and women tackling the precarious Dolomite mountain roads and also going up to the alpine plateau of Vercour. Coming down behind cyclists on switchback turns who were traveling at the same speed as were were was breath taking!
From Annecy We headed down to Villard de Lans to follow a route advised in the book "Back Roads of France". Villard de Lans in a pleasant alpine village with cobbled streets and a village square surrounded by cafes.
From there the road climbed into a high alpine valley with magnificent ranges on each side topped with sheer cliffs - absolutely beautiful. Arriving at our destination St Martin en Vercors we found our accommodation was in a renovated old farmhouse a kilometre out in the couutry. The quiet, sense of peace and the views were breathtaking.
6 July
Another day on the road.
Breakfast was interesting as we were faced with a huge salad bowl in our places, into which was poured large quantities of very nice coffee. We gather that the idea is that you dip your crusty rolls into the coffee to soften them, but we chickened out of this. We were then offered a "white cheese", like yoghurt our host said, which was eaten with sugar. The quantity of various types of fresh and toasted bread on the table was huge and there was a large bowl of fresh fruit to finish of with.
We started following the route set out in Back Roads of France through a series of high valleys and passes, then looked at the time and decided to take the fast route to the south coast. However the scenery in the foothills of the Alps is truly magnificent and we are definitely not averse to returning in the future to spend more time here.7-8 July
We're spending a couple of days in Le Lavandou, a small town between Toulon and St Tropez, sometimes included in the description of the French Riviera. It has been a lot better than I expected with good beaches that are not over-crowded and a relaxed feeling in town. There are large petanque areas set up on the promenade overhung with plane trees and palms. For the first time we are having to decipher menus that offer no English help so not all our meals are what we expect.
The hotel we picked is located in the middle of a series of narrow pedestrian only alleys dotted with restaurants and shops selling local delicacies. The first day we spent time on the beach in front of the old part of town and enjoyed teh sand beach, but found the water a little on the cool side for lazing - it seems strange to swim in the sea with no waves.
The second day we found another beach 400m away which was sheltered from the wind which had picked up and found that the water deepened rapidly so that it was easier to get into the cool water. Once in we managed to stay in for 20 minutes. The extra buoyancy here is very noticeable and we found we could float suspended vertically with our heads fully out of the water.
In the afternoon we drove east along the coast. While there are settlements fairly continuously along this area there are not a lot of villages as such and only a few beaches as most of the coast is fairly rocky.
9 - 10 - 11 July
Today we started off back at the beach with deeper water. Oh - the sensation of floating so weightlessly is amazing. In deep water your legs are suspended while you hang perpendicularly in the water - needing only a wee wave of your hands to keep your head above water! Our sun tans are gently advancing -it always amazes me how slow to sun burn we are in this part of the world - reminds me of Opunake in the 1970s and layers of coconut oil to hasten the process! Unfortunately the wind picked up again so we packed up soon after noon and headed west to the Camargue. As I said, the Riviera was less crowded and frenetic than I expected and I would happily go back to this area to relax in the future.
The drive across to our next resting place near Arles was mostly passing hills, that were rocky with stunted trees - the further we moved towards the Camargue the trees on the mountain slopes became more prolific and grew higher. Of course between these mountains ( they were not close) were open plains where horticulture ispr. There are prolific masses of vineyards, some olive trees, lots of fruit trees - apricots are sold everywhere at wayside stalls.Interesting is the range of care dealt to these crops - some are free of weeds and appear carefully tended, others are scruffy and overgrown. A few are obviously abandoned - as Stephen has already said, nowhere are the abandoned and decaying establishments ( house and farm buildings) that we saw in Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina or Slovenia.
Passing Toulon and Marseille the road was in tunnels, so we did not see much of these ports.We did spy a little of Toulon's massive port with ships and cruise liners in abundance as we travelled over an amzing state of the art bridge.
West of Marseille we passed a large inland lake, Etang de Berre, which had bigger waves breaking on a breakwater than we'd seen in the Mediterranean.It is the usual glorious blue of the Mediterranean sea. We saw where an outlet / inlet links this lake to the sea.
After that the landscape became very flat and low lying as we crossed the estuary of the Rhone. The marshes soon appeared as did the horses of the Carmague - adults are white with brown foals who change colour to white when they reach their maturity. We saw huge fields of rice - brilliant green, almost olive green in hue. Rice of course thrives in such wet areas.Also in this area are the salt pans and it is easy to see the salt lying in the drier areas of the Carmargue. We crossed over the Rhone, the Petite Rhone and Le Canale du Rhone in that order - all big greenish waterways - the 2 rivers lined with trees, some of the canale with concrete siding some with big yellow bricks and some with reeds and trees.
Arriving at Gallician, where we were staying, we wondered why we hadn't been given a street address until we found the accommodation WAS the centre of the village. This is a little village and we are still waiting to see if the restaurant will open for a meal! No worries as we are self catering and I was glad to hang freshly laundered washing out in the mistral this morning.
We have an apartment located over the barrel room and shop of a vineyard. The wines are nice, but seem overpriced starting at $NZ18 a bottle when reasonable wines are available in the supermarket for $NZ5.
We had a fascinating talk with the woman who overseas the winery sales and the accommodation and heard about the various types of grapes they use for various wines, about the Portuguese vintner, the family who have owned the vineyard for 4 generations etc
The apartment is nice - rustic, very roomy and you reach it by a spiral stair case. My heart dropped as our previous 3 nights had been several flights of stairs up and after a day of walking and climbing knees were groaning. However all is fine - we are loving the central location to so many interesting places and there is built in entertainment. After a day exploring we can sit in front of our large window, gaze at the garden, sip vin de Provence and watch as a company brings in land rover full groups of French tourists who get the tour we had free for staying here!Each your can't last more then 15 minutes maximum! By the look of the land rovers they cover a big distance in each tour and not all of it is on dry roads.So far my impressions are that the French seem to be a polite people - we don't hear raucous exchanges and the children seem well disciplined. I was most impressed with the way children behaved when we were on the beach in La Lavandou and I see it again here while they entertain themselves in the park like garden here on swings and with balls. I haven't yet seen any squabbling - limited sample I am sure is the reason for this. .
As we drive around this part of Provence we find the oak tree lined roads - always narrow - that have their roots if not their origins in a Napoleonic initiative to ensure his army would always have wood available for building and fires etc.
Reeds grow all alongside the roads - not bull rushes but water loving varieties. No very tall trees are evident except the oaks that line the avenues .
The first day here we didn't awake until 11am! The exceptional shutters and quiet of this place is the reason I am guessing. We have had shutters all the way in Europe but these are the real deal! Stephen explored the village, I read and rested knees, we explored the highways and by ways - finding a bridge that is said to give the best view over this very flat land - it was over le Canale du Rhone-interesting to see the Etaps laid out - some boats passed by with tourists.This is one way to see the Carmargue.Then - we went to my happy place - the supermarket in Vauvert. I adore these places. The range, the selection, the variety, the creativity of the merchandise is riveting.Actually, this is a poor description of what these shops are like! I stand in front of meat counters,of fish counters becoming seriously over excited and then... we encounter the deli counters! As is if that is not enough we find ourselves in front of oils, herbs, dressings, pate, cheeses ( oh dear! I am seriously in paradise now) and of course breads but we usually go to the local Boulangerie (sp?) for these. Stephen was up and out at 7am this morning in hot pursuit of croissant from our local store as we missed out on the 10th - all sold out when he arrived at 11.15!
OK - we stocked up for self catering for 7 nights and did a tiki tour of Vauvert!There, in the middle of a really nice modern French town is a replica of the pantheon! I should have hated it but it is so clever I actually love it - very much cleaner of course - built in nice honey coloured stone and no self aggrandizement in the form of "M A Grippa Fecit " emblases the front archway!
Today 11 July was amazing.
First the washing - as above. 2 hours and 12 minutes to wash! Hmmm - no wonder we see so many of the French sitting around at cafes - they are waiting for their washing to finish its cycle!
Then off into the Carmague again to see more white horses, rice paddies etc and evidence of salt. We went through a number a number small French villages en route. All front directly into the street- often with no pavement,all we saw were shuttered. It hard to know which are shops and which are houses. Stephen's comment is that they turn their faces toward their gardens at the other side of the building - not all have room for gardens though.All are terraced houses, until you come out of the old town / village. then appear single dwellings on more land with trees and gardens but all seem to have high fences and or hedges - the privacy seems to be important here.
We reached the Parc ornithological - where we spent about 2 hours wander around shallow ponds where a huge variety of life exists.
In this parc live the following - we certainly didn't see many of these but what we did blew me away:
beavers, badgers, otters, water rats, red foxes, nutria ( we saw one of these on a path, eating flat tack - its fur was wet so it had evidently been in the water recently. They look like a cross between a beaver and a rat but much bigger than a rat. They were introduced for their fur they have become a pest as they harvest a lot of herbage and eat only about 10% of what they crop). There are also 3types of snakes - ( I kept a wary eye out for those I can tell you!) and a huge variety of birds. The most evident and spectacular were of course the flamingos - huge white waders with pink tail feathers - the undersides of which are more an orange colour - this is visible when they take off to fly or gesticulate with their wings to intimidate their mates. They spent all their time eating - shrimps who dwell in the muddy bottom of the lakes- grunting or squawking and flapping their wings at each other indignantly . The latter were often about disputes over which shrimp belonged to who! Stephen saw one chasing another and pecking at his / her tail feathers. Their long spindly legs and knobbly knees ( I am relieved as now I am sure I don't have the knobbliest knees in the animal kingdom) are a bight pink. We read that the colour of the flamingos is determined by the amount of shrimp they eat and with less shrimp available in winter their plumage becomes a pater shade of - white...We saw several flamingo fly and that is a truly wonderful sight. They are stream lined aeronautical
perfection - Stephen is sure they have inspired aeronautical designs. Hard to explain their passage.
Herons, white although smaller than our NZ Kotuku, and bluish grey, were another source of wonder and annoyance- we watched they way they flew, landed - sometimes with comical clumsiness and fought over territory. I watched as one bully heron literally chased an opponent off a perch in a dead tree, through other trees, up into the sky, onto another tree perch - that wasn't a solution and the nasty piece of work continued it's torment over and over again. I am really off that bird! However, we saw lovely interactions as well as large herons and small birds shared the same rock, and as heron's would vacate a perch when another approached - almost as if to say 'it's your turn now'. There were so many different birds and I can't name them - lack of local knowledge.The hide we visited was huge and allowed us t closer vantage point to view the birds without disturbing them.
Oh yes - and then we met the mud dwelling fish. Some of them lept into the air - others stirred up the mud And some just lazed around looking like eels to we kiwis - we finally realised they were some fish like carp - mud suckers.
We also saw Egyptian vultures - I really am not comfortable with those birds eyes and in an aviary a giant owl - in fact 5 of them , 4 of whom were trying to sleep! What beautiful, majestic creatures they are and I ached for their captivity just so people could see them
We also saw a nutria - bought to Europe for its thick fur it is now a pest. I does look like a huge rat but it was interesting to see it munching on grass beside a small stream, quite oblivious of its human audience.
OK - a lunch munching local produce and more bird watching.
Then;
We drove down to St Mare de Marie . This is another nice, modern French town that is bordered by the marshes and also by the sea. I loved their roundabouts - all wide and clean. One has a bull rampant ( they still do have bull fighting here! and we found adverts for the bull versus matador on horse on our windshield) one had light house and he next had ship! ! We parked and walked to the sea - big seas - lots of wind swept waves,not very enticing so we drove again through this amazing countryside where water , lakes, horticulture all walk side by side.
We came to Aigues Morte.
This was the city from which Louis IX twice departed for the Crusades: the Seventh Crusade in 1248 and again for the Eighth Crusade in 1270 for Tunis where he died of dysentery.town was built originally by the sea. Due to the heavy silting by the Rhone the town is now surrounded by land - albeit some what marshy and is drained.
We finished the day with a trip to Vauvert and a meal in a very swish restaurant that hides itself in a blank wall, like so many restaurants and shops.
12 July
More time in my happy place! Today we drove to Arles to see the big market. Wow and double wow! The main street of this picturesque town / city was blocked off and full of produce - the like of which we have never, ever seen! Every type of herb and spice known to man and then some was displayed for purchase by the handful. We thought that Chris and Sheeka would have felt they were in heaven if they could have been with us! As well fresh fruit and vegetables - many unknown to us - were for sale - stall after stall! The fish - well; words won't describe as we saw fish we have never seen before and did not recognize - of course there were crabs ( some really tiny) , shrimps, gambas(scampi), oysters, mussels, escargots de mer ( sea snails) flounder. Then there were tiny wee fish, medium sized fish, big fish - all shiny and silver and other colours - not describing these well as I lack the prior knowledge and vocabulary!!!Then I saw a box labeled " Soup de Poisson" - a whole heap of sea food and tiny fish. I have been looking at that on menus for several days and never quite got around to ordering it. Now I realize the soup will be all these cooked up in a bowl and I would have to crunch my way through them! I had a lucky escape.There were stall of nougat - huge slabs in a large variety. there were breads, pizzas, cake, slices, sweets, cheeses ( phew hold. your nose) we have never seen of, heard of. And so it went on - we arrived around 11am and it was hard initially to get anywhere near the stalls so we decamped and GB was let off the leash to wander the clothing stalls. Bliss. Not all that cheap actually but oh- the clothes are to die for.But - good woman that I am I only bought 2 articles - a top and a dress that will be so cool. as it really is quite hot - 29 - 31 degrees.
At 12.00 some stalls started to go, crowds thinned and we went back to the foodie sections and drooled and finally lashed out big time to buy 100 grms of the most mouth meltingly beautiful
garlic pesto - this won't last long. It has a fresh, cool flavour that combines the garlic and a cream of some sort in a clever arrangement.
At this point we went into the old town and wandered the streets, going through the Place de Forum where Van Gogh painted Le Cafe Le Soir and where the ancient Roman Forum was( the centre of religious and secular life in those time) and where we saw the columns of the Roman Temple which have been incorporated into a medieval building, to the ancient Roman Area - which ranks 20th in size in the Roman Empire - it is being restored at a cost of 107 million Euro!
The layers and layers of ages and civilizations in these cities - clearly evident in Arles, truly is amazing but also makes one reflect on the passage of time, the evolution of human beings socially and spiritually.We then found the Arena ( l'Amphitheatre' ) which Van Gogh also painted . As I read how the arena was used - for gladiatorial combat and how people really enjoyed and demanded to see animals fight to the death when the structure was raised in 1 AD - to the advent of bull fighting ( to the death) and now to the regular contest where the bull fighter confronts the bull who is wearing a rosette and white fringes attached to its horn. The object of the encounter is for the bull fighter to capture the rosette using a long pole with scissor shaped blade. The red cape remains as does the death defying leaps to avoid the bulls horns. Apparently this does no harm to the bull and many become as famous as their human adversaries. These bull fights are running currently but I feel no desire to see a proud animal taunted for the glorification of a human being. There is a small bull ring here in Gallician.
So we wandered through old Arles - next stop was the ancient theatre which is also being rebuilt. It originally was a very high, large structure - when you think of the number of people who could be seated it makes you realize just what a large Roman settlement this was in 1st century AD.
More happiness - I bought a lovely outdoor table cloth to recreate Provence at home!
We then walked down to Le Jardin Public where Van Gogh also painted - he is immortalized with a caste of his face in a large hunk of rock.The light in Arles was inspirational for VG and he painted even in the gusty mistral winds - lashing the canvas to his easel or kneeling on his canvas and painting horizontally. He invited several of the post impressionists painters to join him in Arles but Gauguin was the only one who did so. It is here he and Gauguin quarreled bitterly and subsequently he looped of part of his ear and was hospitalized. The neighbours were fearful and upset by the quarrel and petitioned for him to be committed for one month.
So finally we returned to the main road where we began our wandering and back to the car and drove to our accommodation - stopping to enjoy a large roadside shop - buying fresh produce.
So now to cook food of Provence in a Provence kitchen and wash it down with wine de Provence !
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