Provence - Saignon

It might not have a particularly comprehensive Wikipedia page, but Linda did a lot of research and Saignon came up winner as our place to stay for the majority of our time in Provence.

We arrived shortly before sunset and, like the sad tourists we knew we were, we immediately pulled out our cameras and started snapping off photos.

We walked down to a nearby lookout with a view over the countryside and back towards the town. We couldn't have asked for a more spectacular way to enter the town.

Eventually we had to actually check into our hotel, the Auberge du Presbytere, and headed out for dinner. We both got plates of Provincal specialities, stuffing ourselves silly but somehow finding room for the chocolate fondent with frambois sauce.

Given that Saignon was our base, we spent a lot of time in and around the town. Indeed it is a very cute little town with some fantastic restaurants, and is set amongst fields of wheat, cherries, and the famous lavender.

Consequently we took a lot of photos of Saignon, and you can find them all here.

Provence - Avignon

While just about everyone we met during our stay in Provence was kind and friendly, we had our only real altercation of the trip with the owner of the hotel when we were checking out, demanding that we hand over some sort of certificate that we were meant to print out from our internet booking. Anyway that was as bad as it got, and it was certainly the exception, proving the whole 'rude French' a bit of a myth in our minds.

We then started the day on a fruitless (no pun intended) search for some craft markets that were meant to be just outside the city walls, to find only a fruit and vegetable market - where Linda still managed to find a skirt to buy. We had better luck as we came back through Les Halles which contained row upon row of delicious foods of all kinds (not to mention it was air conditioned; not a minor attribute on such hot days).

We backed this up with some more gelato later in the day, and found a fantastic café in the gardens near a church where they had a spray system set up under the awnings to keep everyone cool. We were content with a salad by this point.

We then did a proper tour through the Palais des Papes, which was quite interesting, although I kept getting told off for trying to take photos and it is anyway such a huge building it is a little overwhelming to try and take in (you can only listen to so many audio commentaries before fatigue sets in).

We then took ourselves out onto the Pont d'Avignon. More audio guides. Actually, it was interesting to find out more about the history of the bridge and the associated song. Finally we walked up to the park above the Palais des Papes for a picnic and to see the view from above Avignon.

Eventually it was time to take our leave of Avignon and make the trip to Saignon where we would be staying the rest of our time in Provence. We picked up the car and navigated our way out of the narrow streets of Avignon and onto the road into the Luberon.

All my photos from Avignon are here.

Provence - Setting Out

Last Friday we picked up a rental car from Geneva and hit the road to Provence. Our plan was to go in June before the big crowds of July and August hit, and while the weather was warm and the Lavender in bloom.

Somehow we ended up taking the slow roads through the Haute Provence and Luberon all the way to Avignon, where we were staying the first night. While this was frustrating in some respects, it meant we travelled through some spectacular scenery and some interesting towns, including Sisteron, nestled amongst the mountains.

Eventually we arrived in Avignon, somewhat hot and bothered, dumped the car, and wandered through the paved streets to our hotel on the main square of Avignon. After taking some time to check out our room we headed out to take in some of the sights of the town.

We started by walking through our square and on to the Palais des Papes, where the Popes lived in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was mostly empty, except for some fashionable restaurants spilling into the paved square, and some kids playing soccer.

Then we moved on to the Rhône river and the Pont d'Avignon, the broken bridge famous from the French song Sur le Pont d'Avignon (on the bridge of Avignon).

We also took the first of what would be a great many photos of the lavender of Provence before completely running out of energy and seeking out dinner (and somehow finding a delicious gelato shop that we would visit a few more times during our stay).

Still being Euro 2008 time, there was a Turkey match on TV and when ultimately the Turks prevailed, we were treated to honking horns and partying all night. Not that I noticed, having thoroughly passed out from the long day of driving, hot weather, delicious food, and possibly the wine.