end of May 2010
from west to east
through Provence,
on our way to Briançon in the Alps, with stops in Maximin La-Sainte-Baume, Moustiers Sainte-Marie and Seillans,
and returning across the pre-Alpine plateau of Le Vercors
We left Saint
Jean de Luz after lunch and by evening had reached
the town of Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in Provence.
It was too late to find the nearest Etap Hotel, where
we usually stay, so had to settle for something
twice the price in town.
A
snooze before going out for dinner -
here, Wijjie, who did most of the
driving, and Froggy, who is yawning
with fatigue, poor boy.
The town has a famous 14th century
abbey, the façade of which was never
finished. It is the shrine for the
relics of Mary Magdalene.
On the
corner next to our hotel is a bar-restaurant
which was, the plaque, says, where
Napoleon's younger brother married the inn-keeper's
daughter, some years before Napoleon rose to power
Just
down the street, we had dinner in this man's
cavernous
pizzeria-restaurant. I told him he must be
Fernandel's grand-son, because he looks like him
and has the same twangy provençal accent.
He and August put on some hats for a photograph
together in front of his oven.
on the road east
This was
Froggy's first trip since we brought him back
from Avignon. His brother Voupa was
stricken by a mysterious virus last autumn and I
was so upset by the loss that I asked the breeder to reserve any
future brother who came from the same parents.
Froggy was born at the end of January this year
and I got him two months later...
In spring, poppies grow
everywhere, in the fields of
the south.
Moustiers Sainte-Marie a unique place which Wijjie wanted to see again,
and me too. For our first
visit, four or five years ago, and more pictures and information, go to the top of the index page...
August leads the way to
the church door
Moustiers is famous for
the great gold star (a tiny dot in this picture) hanging above the crusader's
chapel, between two cliffs above the village.
The houses cling to the
edges of a gorge, with a hotel at the bottom
Les gorges du Verdon - a
rugged canyon with a river of pale green water.
They say it gets
this colour from the limestone.
We push on east, across
the highlands of Provence. Here is a typical mas, or farmhouse, with its
flock of sheep
We stopped for lunch at
Castellane, in the Alpes de Haute Provence department
The restaurant was in the garden of a hotel on the main square
The luncheon "formule",
posted on the blackboard outside, was roasted confit duck leg with several cleverly prepared vegetables...
...and a sumptuous dessert,
for only 10.50 euros each, not including the wine...
Everyone felt good
afterwards
Heading back to the
jalopey (with trunk on roof)
next
stop, my old stamping ground Seillans in the
Var department. August has some
special Basque merengues called mouchous to
offer to our hosts.
On the roof terrace chez
Sylviane
Dinner was pasta with a
scrumptuous sauce of coquilles Saint-Jacques - see the tiny filaments of saffron
in it...
Sylviane's mother was
Italian which is why she is such a specialist in pasta dishes
Strawberries are in
season
Marie-Lou and mommy
Emilie
Next morning, we set off
for a walk in the countryside
August waits for us at
the bottom of the staircase on one of Seillan's squares
Before
saying farewell, August waters the shade
trees while Marie-Lou looks
on.
We turned north, over
the highlands of Provence
Click here to go to Part 2