Avignon, Provence'

A reasonably long day of travel saw us arrive in Avignon around 2 o'clock.  For the first time on any of our train trips, the final leg of the journey into Avignon the train was 15 minutes late.  Leaving Barcelona at 9 am, we had 2 changes of trains, the first one an hour north of Barcelona and the second change at Montpellier.  The difference between the spanish rail system and the french rail system was immediately noticeable (but not really in a good way).  Anyway our friend Nicole was waiting patiently at Avignon station for us so all was ok.

Nicole lives in an area to the north of Avignon in a town called Carpentras.  After we got settled in we took a walk to the centre of the village with Nicole to see what the town was like.  A pretty Provencale' town with the streets radiating out from the town square. We had missed on the day we arrived, a large market which is held each week that stretches all the way around the entire town apparently.

The next day Nicole drove us to see some of the area of Provence'.  First we visited  an oil mill, Moulin `a  huile in the village of Beaume de Venise with displays showing how the olive oil has been extracted and how the process has changed over centuries to the modern day machinery.

We then went onto a village in the mountains called Venasque with a church in the square there built in the 12th century. With Nicole's local knowledge, she was able to take us to this beautiful hilltop village that was not swarming with tourists.

We enjoyed a morning coffee in the sun in the central square and bought some delicious pastries from the boulangerie for lunch.

On the way home we drove further north before turning for home and circled around the rim of the Gorge de la Nesque and took in some of the beautiful area of Provence'.

After reaching home and taking some down time, in the evening, Nicole took us to her favourite local french restaurant in her village of Carpentras.  We were able to leave the car at home and walk to the restaurant.  She helped us to choose from the french menu of local Provencale dishes and I have to say it was one of the nicest meals I have ever eaten.  Washed down with some local wine of course.

Here we are after our meal ready to head home.  We took coats with us thinking that the night would turn cold while we were out but the evening stayed quite warm so there was no need for the coats.  Just lugged them there and back!!  

On our next day we set out for an area in southern Provence' where there is a further hilltop village which was used as a hill fort around the 2nd century.  It is called Les Baux de Provence.
In the Chateau grounds demonstrations of huge catapults are given each day.
The 3 sizes (called bricole, couillard and trebuchet) are all fired by staff dressed in period costume.  Quite an impressive site.

Pics of the show to see some of the action.

Provence, such a pretty place everywhere you go.

On our last full day in Carpentras we took some down time.  David stayed at home and chilled in the sunny courtyard while Nicole and I walked to the village for another look around and a morning coffee. In the afternoon we went to a huge shopping mall for a look about.  We bought a few things and some supplies for our train journey the next day to Nice'.

Nicole was a wonderful host preparing some traditional Provencal foods for us to try, so all in all we had a great experience.  Thank you so much Nicole.

While at Nicole's and watching some news on tv, we heard the news about the extensive flooding in northern Europe, exactly in the path of our general itinerary.  We have had to make some adjustments to our plans so we took advantage of having the dining table to spread out our maps and have a look at some alternative destinations.  

On our last morning on our way to the station, Nicole drove us past the famous sites of Avignon, The Palace of the Popes and the bridge Pont d'Avignon from the song which all french children learn as little ones.  We didn't have our camera at the ready so didn't take any photo's but suffice to say, it looks pretty amazing.

And so onto Nice' for 3 days and hoping the weather will be kind to us.  Looking forward to some more beach time and to revisit Nice' as we loved it when we were there 6 years ago.

Until my next post. Take care and au revoir.