A weekend in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence

My employer, in their generosity, gave me a smart-box as a pressie last Christmas. One of the options this smart-box offers is a free night in a “country-side hotel”. An option which we decided to take advantage of this weekend. We chose “Le Grand Logisson”, located in the tiny village of Brunet, in the Alpes-de-Haut-Provence department (sort of the northern part of Provence) for the occasion. It's a part of Provence neither of us was familiar with.

We hit the road early Saturday morning. Rather than following the lead of our trusty GPS, and take the motorway, we decided to follow the Route Napoleon instead (the road follows the route Napoleon took after his escape from his exile at Elba). It starts in Golf-Juan (between Antibes and Cannes), continues through Grasse, then snakes its way all the way to Grenoble, passing by the Gorges de Verdon. It’s a very scenic route indeed... We followed the road until Digne-les-Bains, our first stop for the weekend.

Digne is the capital of the Alpes de Haut Provence department, and a well-known spa town. It made for a nice lunch stop; we didn't have to look long until we found a nice brasserie where we decided to have a bite. Having filled our stomachs, we spent an hour or so strolling about typically Provencal streets of Digne. It’s a pleasant enough place, but doesn’t really have any sights that could be classified as “must-see”, so we rather quickly jumped back in the car and carried on.

A half an hour’s drive or so later, we arrived in Brunet, where we eventually found the Grand Logisson (we had to resort to outdated technology ie. the telephone, since our GPS was unable to locate the place). We were expecting a cosy rural hotel, but alas, ‘twas not to be. It’s a rather large place, a converted farm I suppose, which rents out apartments. We were also informed about a wedding which was taking place there tonight. The surroundings are very nice; the Grand Logisson is located on the pretty Plateau de Valensole. The plateau is famous for its Lavender fields – unfortunately we were a couple of months too late to catch them in bloom… Before setting out to explore the surrounding towns, we decided to have a walk around the fields surrounding the Logisson, in spite of the ominous clouds and thunderclaps. It made for quite an atmospheric walk; with the fields contrasted against the dark sky, occasionally lit up by a bolt of thunder. But the clouds approached, so we decided to head back to our apartment. And not a moment too early – almost out of nowhere the hails started coming down. After about half an hour, the storm stopped, and we could venture out once more…

We started our exploration by checking out Riez, just 10 kilometres or so from Brunet. Riez is one of the oldest settlements in Provence, with a history stretching back to Roman times (there are even some ruins left to testify to that heritage). The old town is typically Provencal; with its pretty fountains, cobble-stoned streets and pretty stone houses. There isn’t much in the way of sights in the old town, so we left it to check out Riez most famous sights (which are located just outside the town centre). The first of these is the Baptistery, which is apparently one of very few buildings in France dating back to the 5th century which is still standing. The other main sight are some Roman columns, dating back to the 1st century. Not exactly the colosseum, but interesting nonetheless.

After this interesting visit we carried on to Manosque; where we were planning to have dinner. Manosque is historically famous as the town of Jean Giono, a famous Provencal writer who spent all of his life here. Without further ado, we headed in through the imposing Port Saunerie to explore the old town. It’s a pleasant enough place to stroll around; big enough to feel like a real place (rather than just a collection of restaurants and tourist shops, like some of the villages in Provence are like), yet small enough to feel intimate. There was a book festival on, which added to the pleasant atmosphere (there was even a bookshelf of second hand books where one could help oneself for free at the end of the evening!). We found a nice, cosy restaurant in a quite square, where we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner. Our stomachs filled, we headed back to the hotel, after another short walk in the old town.

After a good night's sleep (undisturbed by the wedding celebrations), we got up the next day relatively early, eager to continue our exploration. We started the day with a walk along footpath taking in the surrounding area, good to burn off some of those calories we’d picked up during the day before… It was a pleasant enough stroll, with some views from the plateau over the surrounding scenery (although it has to be say the scenery is in general more impressive in our home department of Alpes Maritimes).

The Mandatory Exercise for the Weekend done, we jumped into the car and hit the road. We stopped briefly in Valensole. It's another typically pleasant Provencal village, known for its Saturday market. Nothing much to see there though, so after a quick look around we carried on, driving east towards the Gorges de Verdon. The landscaped got more and more impressive, until we reached our main destination of the day; Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Moustiers occupies an absolutely stunning site, built on top of a kind of amphitheatre into the mountainside, with a gorge effectively splitting the village in two. In addition to its beauty and stunning location, Moustiers is one of the most famous producers of Faience (a kind of pottery) in France. We spent a good hour walking around this absolutely beautiful village – one of the prettiest ones I've seen in Provence. Pity about the rather heavy tourist presence (although there are certainly worse examples of this on the Cote d'Azur)... After a pizza for lunch, we decided to make the “pilgrimage” up to the Chapelle-Notre-Dame-de-Beauvoir. The chapel overlooks Moustieres, and a rather brisk walk is required to make it up there. Well, it was certainly worth the sweat, considering the stunning views over the village we were rewarded with…

We then carried on, very pleased with our time spent at Moustiers. The road took us past the very picturesque Lac Ste-Croix, just at the western end of the Gorges de Verdon. From there, the windy road (very popular with bikers, not surprisingly) took us into the Var department, towards the Haut Var valley. There, we decided to make one last stop, in Aups. Nothing much to say about Aups, based on our short visit; it’s yet another typical, pretty Provencal town. Worth the stop if you happen to pass by… I was treated to a bit of “French culture”, watching the local hunters drinking (post- or prehunt, I wonder?) beer and pastis in the local boozer. It gave me some flash backs from the film Deliverance…

All in all, yet another great weekend in the South of France!

A few days with Nick

We had an extra passanger on our way back to Cagnes-sur-Mer after Flore and Christian’s super house-warming party; Nick. Nick;, who is the only Welsh-Irish-English person I know, had decided to take a few days off to discover the Cote d’Azur.

On Monday, back in the office, I got a surprise call from our old friend Sami (who used to live in Nice but now resides in Oulu). Seems that he had decided to drive back to Nice together with Pete, who was coming back after a few weeks’ holiday in Finland?? Well, whatever the reason; after a dinner at our place we decided to meet up with Pete and Sami at the Villeneuve-Loubet Marina for a couple of beers. Good to catch up with Sami again, although we did meet up quite recently during our trip to Finland.

Unfortuantely we weren’t able to show Nick around during the few days he was here, since we were both working. But he did entertain us with stories of his adventures at dinner-time. I especially liked the episode where somebody tried to sell him a train ticket to Nice for 50 euros! But no ripping of a well-travelled chap like Nick with such cheap tricks!

He seemed to have had a nice few days, even though he brought the English weather with him. And he did manage to tick off quite a few museums we’ve not been to yet, as well…

House-warming party in the Alps

This weekend, it was time to head for the Alps. The occasion was Flore and Christian’s housewarming party in La Roche-sur-Foron. We hit the road straight away after work, since we had a 5-6 hour drive ahead of us. The drive probably would’ve been a very picturesque one, had it not been for the fact that it got dark by the way we entered Alpine scenery… But anyway, the trip was eventless, and we arrived sound and safe at Flore and Christian’s house.

We’d already had a sneak peek of the place a few months ago, at the end of our “French road trip”, so already knew what a lovely house they have. We were pretty nackered after the long drive, so hit the bed pretty early…

We started off the next day with a walk around La Roche. It’s a very picturesque little town, with a lot of well-preserved traditional buildings. A lot of towns in this area have obviously turned into ski resorts, but La Roche has the feel of a “real town”. After our refreshing little walk, we headed off to Annecy, to continue our Haut-Savoie tourist tour. Once there, the whole group was reunited, much to everybody’s delight. Most of us had made it; Nick, Sinhung, Chie, Olivier, Rafaelle, Nathalie and Patrick (I’m always impressed by the effort they make to take part in these proceedings, with their 3 kids and all).

Annecy is probably the most famous historic town in Haut-Savoie, ideally located on the shores of the beautiful Lac d’Annecy. It’s another very well-preserved town, architecturally speaking, and clearly more touristy than La Roche. After a very pleasant stroll around the old town, we headed to a local restaurant for a generous helping of Savoyard cuisine (although the place was actually run by Belgians…). Which suited me fine, I have a soft spot for Savoyard cuisine ;-). After the meal, we walked some more to burn off some calories, this time checking out the park by the lakeside. Some of us (including me) even went all infantile, and rented a paddle-boat for half an hour of extra calorie-burning. It was all good fun; we were surprised by how shallow Lac d’Annecy actually was (large parts of it seem to be less than 1 meter deep).

After this bit of touristy action, it was time to head back and get ready to PARTY. Things kicked off with aperitifs at there very spacious balcony. We were joined by some locals as well, including some relatives of Christian (who’s an authentic Savoyard) and some of the neighbours. As the atmosphere warmed up, Christian invited us to his garage for a bit of a concert – he’s got some pretty impressive audio equipment and instruments in there… Fortunately the neighbours were at the party – we might have had some “feedback” otherwise.

After this brilliant little concert piece, we eventually moved back indoors, where the going just got tougher. It really felt like the good old times ;-). Sinhung even entertained us with his performance of “Like a Virgin” – just a pity his performance partner (Philippe) was missing… Can’t even remember what time we hit the bed – must be because I had such good fun that I lost track of time!

After we’d finally crawled out of bed the next day, it was time to hit the road again, after many tearful good byes. This time we were joined by Nick, who was extending his trip with a few days on the Cote d’Azur. We drove back via Italy this time – through some amazing Alpine scenery, and even stopping for a very nice Italian lunch near Aosta.

Thanks to Flore and Christian for a brilliant party! And great too see everybody again.

Myriam's 30th birthday party

After a few days spent adjusting back to normal life after our grand road trip, it was once more time to hit the road. This time, the occasion was the 30th birthday party of a good friend of Mathilde’s, Myriam. Her boyfriend, Fabien, had decided to organise a surprise party in her honour. The venue was Myriam’s sister’s villa, near Brignoles in the Var department.

So off we set, Saturday afternoon, driving down the A8 motorway once more. Due to the large number of party participants, camping was on the cards again, so we packed our trusty Decathlon tent into our trunk. After some messing about with the GPS, we eventually found the place, just in time to welcome Myriam (who, thinking Fabian was out and about with his mates, was expecting to spend her birthday with her sister). Myriam seemed very much touched by the warm welcome, and the festivities could then start....

The venue; a typical Provencal villa, was certainly suited for the occasion, with its big garden, large terrace and big lounge. Things kicked off with great food, interesting conversation, and plenty of wine & beer. The partygoers was a nice mix of people from various walks of life; with a fair few teachers (Myriam is a former colleague of Mathilde’s from CIV) and engineers (Fabian is an engineer working in Sophia-Antipolis) – in fact the conversation nearly steered into work territory in my case a couple of times…

All in all, we had a great time – it was actually quite a long time ago since we’ve been to a proper party like this. We must be getting old or something? Many glasses of wine and beer (and in my case, vodka) later, in the early hours of the morning, we stumbled back to our tent (well, Mathilde walked and I stumbled), for a good night’s sleep…

After a nice, hangovery, and rather later breakfast, we drove back on the next day, after a great party. Thanks to Myriam & Fabien, and of course Myriam’s sis; for a great party!