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an hour’s drive or so later, we arrived in Brunet, where we eventually found the Grand Logisson (we had to resort to outdated technology ie.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!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment