So now was the time to finally go. We wanted to leave early Saturday morning (to avoid traffic jams, this being a long weekend in France), and managed to hit the road at about 9:30. The roads were pretty clear (apart from some traffic jams around Aix-en-Provence), and we arrived in Ardèche only about an hour late... However, this did pose a bit of a dilemma, since we hadn’t had lunch yet. So for Sandra and Stephane, it meant a touch choice: lunch or conference. They opted for the lunch option; so we ended up stopping in Bollène, not far from Orange. We found a nice little bistrot at the main square, where we enjoyed a rather tasty lunch in the glorious sunshine.
Our appetites sated, we continued towards the Ardèche. We decided to start our exploration by visiting what Ardèche is most famous for; its gorges. Our visit started at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, located just at the threshold of the famous gorges. It’s a pleasant enough little historic town, with a rather picturesque town hall (the entrance hall with its staircase is particularly pleasing to the eye), and plenty of shops to keep the tourists happy.After our brief visit of the town, we headed out of town to check out the main attraction, Pont d’Arc. This natural wonder is a natural bridge, 45 meters high and 65 meters wide, spanning the width of the Gorges des Ardèche. It’s truly a sight to see...
It’s a pretty popular place for kayaking, for kind of obvious reasons, so me and Stephane naturally decided to join the other children and have a go... It was all great fun, especially for people watching us, no doubt. It’s one of those sports that looks so easy when you know what you’re doing. We clearly didn’t – so ended up following the river in a rather unimpressive zigzagging manner (thankfully it’s a wide river!). Well, at least we didn’t make the canoe capsize, and managed to avoid accidents (in spite of some near-misses and, it must be admitted, a couple of minor collisions). But the main thing is we had a lot of fun, nobody got hurt, and it amounted to pretty good exercise for us too! After this bit of physical activity, we hit the road, following the gorges back towards the motorway, taking in the stunning views. The Ardèche gorges are perhaps less imposing than the Gorges du Verdon which are closer to where we live, but are nonetheless quite stunning (the limestone cliffs reach a height of 300 meters in some places). After a couple of false turns (thankfully we’d brought the GPS), we eventually found our lodgings, located in the village of Maltaverne, in the neighboring Drôme department. We had made a good choice, I feel, the place had a real authentic Provencal feel to it. The lady put as at ease straight away, as we joined the other guests for a very cozy and rustic dinner. What I especially liked about the dinner was that pretty much everything we ate and drank was local produce (including the impressive selection of aperitifs we sampled).
After a good night’s sleep, and a filling breakfast, it was time to continue our exploration of the region. We decided to start off by visiting the nearby town of Grignan. It’s a typically picturesque Provencal town, with its ancient cobble-stoned town centre. The main tourist attraction its historic castle, dating back to the 12th century. It’s perhaps mostly famous for the fact that a certain Madame de Sévigné spent a couple of years of her life here. She’s mostly famous for her 30-years old correspondence with her daughter. Not sure about the letters, but the castle was a pretty interesting one to visit. After another short walk around the charming town, we decided it was time to head off again – as Sandra and Stephane had their conference to attend to again ;-).So we crossed the motorway back into the Ardèche department, heading for the village of Saint-Pons, where the conference was taking place. Alas, lunch turned out to be a problem again, since we failed to find any place serving food on the way. Turned out the only option was the Mere Biquette, a place a few kilometers from the village. Once more, faced with a tough choice, Sandra and Stephane opted for the food option. The restaurant was a bit of a disappointment, in spite of a rather stunning location, sat in isolation in a picturesque valley. The problem was mostly the rather arrogant waiter, who seemed to find our presence rather inconvenient. On the plus side, we got to try some local cuisine. I had a maouch, a kind of Archechois haggis (I did prefer this over the Scottish variety, it must be said…).
From Saint-Pons, we headed onwards to Aubenas, which is one of the major towns of the Ardèche department. We started our visits by checking out the town hall, for which the town is quite famous for. It actually used to be a castle, built in the 14th century. Since then its façade has been spruced up over the centuries, and today it’s certainly a rather splendid building (it reminds me of some of the buildings we saw in Dijon, with its multi-coloured tiled rooftop). After our quick bout of sight-seeing, we decided we deserved a coffee and some crepes.From Aubenas, we carried on towards the north, crossing the pretty spa town of Vals-les-Bains. Our next stop was Antraigues-sur-Volane, which is, according to our guidebook, the Saint-Tropez of the Ardèche. Quite a few celebrities have lived there over the years, including Lino Ventura (my favorite French-Italian gangster actor) and Jean Ferrat – a famous French singer who died just a few weeks ago (and who’s actually buried in this village).
The village is quite a beautiful little place, rather stunningly located in a lush valley, with its cobble-stone streets and cute houses. Kind of like Provence, really… After paying our respects at Mr. Ferrat’s grave, and a leisurely drink on the main village square, we carried on (we were getting hungry again!). Since it was a Sunday evening (on the Pentecote weekend), we were a bit worried about finding a place to eat, so decided to try our luck in Privas. Since it’s one of the main towns of the Ardèche, we figured we’d definitely find some place open. Alas, ‘twas not easy. None of the places in our guidebook even existed anymore! We ended up dining in a rather humble bistrot. But it was a pleasant enough place, with better service than we had for lunch ;-). Our appetites sated, we headed back to our lodgings to catch a bit of sleep.
After another delicious breakfast, we paid our bills to our gracious hostess, and hit the road. We started the day by visiting Viviers, a town we’d passed through the other day, which had seemed like a nice place to visit. An interesting fact about Viviers – the cathedral it’s famous for is the smallest one in France. And a rather stunning building it is, overlooking the rest of the town, perched on its hilltop. The views from the hilltop were very nice indeed. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit the cathedral, as it was closed. But we nonetheless enjoyed our visit very much; strolling around the narrow streets, we nearly had the impression of going back in time.From Viviers, we carried on to Alba-la-Romaine, yet another pretty little village, famous mostly for Roman-era archeological remains, including a theatre, which is still in use. The site is of the type which require rather a lot of imagination, since not a whole lot built by the Romans remains. And the theatre has been partly rebuilt, although some of the original stonework still remains.
Our next objective was once more food, with the additional objective to find a vineyard for some wine tasting. We found a very nice place indeed for lunch in another picturesque village called Valvigneres. It was just perfect – with a sunbathed terrace, tasty and generous local dishes. Washed down with some local wine. A perfect final meal for our trip. And we even found a vineyard in the nearby village of Intras, for a tasting session. After trying out a few different flavors, we settled on a couple of bottles of rose, and a few bottles of red. Nice way to end a great weekend!
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