Dordogne, Provence, Nice - New French adventures with friends

This river valley has five castles and even more chateaux, the biggest currently owned by a Texan. Josephine Baker’s chateau was visible in the distance from our bedroom window, and Stephanie highly recommended we visit. The grounds of Chateau des Milandes are manicured and beautiful, and we arrived in time for the 11AM Birds of Prey exhibition. Her home has a big room filled with her stunning costumes. There is an audioguide, and good signage throughout explains more about her life. She was highly decorated for her work with the French Resistance during WW2. We had one of our better lunches in the outdoor restaurant in the courtyard.

Not sure why there’s no mention of Chateau des Milandes in the RS France guidebook. It was a great visit. (Can’t get there without a car.)

In the afternoon, when it was nice and HOT we “walked” up the steep little streets to Castlenaud - every ten-year-old boy’s dream castle. Lots of weaponry. Some good videos about the historical reconstruction of the massive trebuchets (catapults) and a fine view over the river valley.

On Monday after checking out we visited Lascaux II, the replica cave created because the original Lascaux paintings were rapidly deteriorating and disappearing from the walls as thousands of tourists breathed carbon dioxide into the enclosed space. This new site is only a few hundred meters from the original. In off season the one hour guided tour is in French, but the drawings are bold and beautiful even with no explanation. Picasso must have seen these; his animal drawings have a similar graphic simplicity.

I’m glad we saw these after Ruffignac and Faunt-de-Gaume. Those tours gave us a better understanding of what we were now seeing in Lascaux. And if we had seen the bolder Lascaux images first, the other cave paintings might have looked even fainter. We drove past Lascaux IV on the way to II. I opted for II because I thought IV was a more Disneyesque version. However, now I read that IV is the newer, more extensive replication. Maybe I would have chosen differently, but I liked what I did see.

Provence

Next stop: Provence, basing in Saint-Remy-de-Provence on a Francophile friend’s recommendation. Six hours of toll roads on the autoroute; keep your credit card handy and figure out the correct lanes that take it. On the way we passed easily recognizable Carcassone in the distance. That’s never been a huge draw for me, but if I’d known we were so close….

In St-Remy we stayed at another Sawday’s property - Mas de la Croix d’Arles. We each had a bedroom and bath in a small cottage in the pretty garden. Total price, including breakfast: 80 euros/night/room! I think it was a little too rustic for my friends, but I liked it. It came with an Uzi, a 3-month-old German Wirehair puppy, and friendly Jordane made us dinner reservations each night and laundered my limited and rapidly diminishing supply of summer clothes in this unexpected and unseasonably hot October weather. What more does one need!

Bob and I had been to Provence before, stayed in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, spent our days wandering Luberon villages, and had a car to haul the acquired treasures home to Germany. I would do that again and combine it with a much longer stay in St-Remy! So glad we chose this easy-going small town over busier Arles or Aix. (In hindsight, I would have skipped Nice entirely and spent the rest of the trip in St-Remy!)

This trip we had 4 nights and 3 1/2 days in Provence. (Not enough.) I’m traveling with three people who think they want to see all the Roman ruins. I’ve been looking at Roman rubble since my first summer in Rome as a student, when there was no wall around the Colosseum, and I’ve seen enough already. I want art and to look out on the scenery where some of my favorite painters worked! Travel is usually a compromise, and we each got some of what we wanted.

First day was with passionate, knowledgable private guide Sylvie Pagnard, a RS France rec. A quick stop at Chateau de Tarascon on our way to Pont du Gard. Highlight here was climbing to the very top to walk through the wooden (somewhat claustrophobic) tunnel where the water sluiced through the ancient Roman aqueduct. In the off-season, crowds have dissipated, but so have many English tours. Having a private guide got us one of the coveted, limited tickets to something I probably would not have figured out in French.

Lunch was in Uzès on leafy, expansive Place aux Herbes at an outdoor restaurant called Terroirs. I could wander this town.

Sylvie had much to show us in lively Nîmes, our final destination, but after the well preserved Amphitheater and formal gardens, all the ruins-lovers’ attention spans flagged at Maison Carrée, the beautiful Parthenon-like temple in the center of Nîmes. Sylvie is an excellent guide, especially for those wanting to dig deeper into history. She guides all over southern France, and occasionally in Paris, has a big luxury car, and will pick you up from your hotel. sylviepagnard@gmail.com

Second day, Wednesday morning was delightful market day in St-Remy, and Agnès Barrier was our private guide for the afternoon in Arles, where their market was wrapping up. It was easy to park in the big deck next to the Arles TI, and lunch across the street at the busy outdoor restaurant was one of my favorites. Agnès met us in front of the TI and started our tour on the Place de la Republique with the the Hôtel de Ville (city hall) and the 15th century St. Trophime Church, a starting point for the Camino to Santiago de Compostela. The great carved Romanesque entrance represents the Biblical story of Judgment Day, with the condemned on the right side chained together and marching off to hell.

Agnès worked hard to get me to as many Van Gogh sites as possible and to show us the fine Roman Arena which still hosts the bullgames and occasional bullfights and the remaining half of the ancient Theatre Classical where they still present outdoor concerts. This historic pedestrian center of Arles is peaceful and worth a longer visit than we had. Agnès’ love of Arles is apparent, and she’s a fun guide to be with. agnes.barrier@hotmail.fr

Thursday we were on our own for Aix-en-Provence, an upscale small city filled with students, beautiful squares, and golden light. I still prefer basing in St-Remy but there is much more I’d like to see in Aix.

Back in St-Remy we visited the St. Paul Monastery and Hospital where Vincent Van Gogh checked himself in for 53 weeks and completed 143 paintings outside in the fields and gardens. His room has been recreated, and wall posters explain details of his life there and psychiatric treatment during the late 1800s. Thoughtful and interesting.

Friday we checked out of our B&B but were booked for a cooking experience at La Cuisine Provencale, starting with a market visit at Eygalières, a wonderful food and craft market 10 minutes outside St-Remy. Our friendly chef gathered masses of fresh vegetables, fish and shrimp from her favorite fishmonger, and bought cheeses and bread at her best shops. We regrouped in her beautiful kitchen in the center of St-Remy with high expectations. Our group was a dozen Americans, eight of them traveling together, every one interesting and ready to cook. Her menu was ambitious, but the cooking plan was chaotic from the beginning.

I’ve done cooking classes in Rome and Umbria with plenty of hands-on, in both home and professional kitchens, and they resulted in delicious, multi-course meals with beautiful presentations. Our chef initially sat six people down to slice mushrooms. I sliced two zucchini and patted a fish dry. That’s it. My friend’s husband cleaned and sliced a butternut squash, but my husband got to mix the pastry dough and press it into a tart pan. We got the vegetables and fish started cooking, then were ushered out to the garden table for wine and fresh radishes with butter, and maybe there was cheese. And we waited. And waited.

Eventually we went back inside and lunch was served. My plate had one floret of cauliflower, a small puddle of mushrooms, and a piece of very cold fish. There was shrimp for the non-fish eater, and a cheese board was passed. The dessert tart was by far the best dish. Have no idea what happened to all the beautiful vegetables. The tab for this experience was $200/person. C’est la vie.

Walking back to our car through narrow lanes filled with small shops, artisans, and galleries, I realized we had repeatedly seen the ring of restaurants along the encircling main street but completely missed out on the fun places tucked away inside! Not ready to leavie St-Remy!

Nice and the Côte d'Azur

We arrived in Nice at rush hour, and the two who had to find the rental car return at the train station deserve some kind of medals. Our friends really wanted beachfront in Nice, and we’re at Le Meridien overlooking the Promenade des Anglais and endless views of the Mediterranean. This is a Marriott property convenient to the old town with the expected Marriott style rooms and extraordinary views. Extensive and wonderful international breakfast, probably expensive, but included with our upgrade perks for years of Marriott business travel loyalty.

We have two full days here. Started with the putt-putt tourist tram to get some kind of overview of this busy city which seems much larger than its reported one million. Lunch at Le Plongeoir, hovering on a rock base above the sea in view of the lighthouse, was booked weeks ago. The Marc Chagall National Museum is the best reason I can see to come to Nice. (Unfortunately the Matisse Museum was temporarily closed for an installation while we were in town.) The Russian Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral was a unique visit, especially since they baptized two infants in an elaborate ceremony while we were inside.

On our last day we booked Ceilia at www.liveharmony.fr to show us the Côte d’Azur. Quickly appreciated that a guide with a car is the way to go here. On our own, somebody would have been white-knuckled, and we might never have found a parking place, anywhere. There are trains, but apparently they often drop you nearer sea level when what you want to see is high up the mountain.

Fun-loving Cecilia lives on a sailboat and speaks 99% unaccented, perfect American
English. We started at her lovely hometown Menton near the Italian border. The inlaid stone piazzas and sidewalks are especially wonderful here. Beautiful drive along the coast to Cap Ferrat and lunch and a garden visit at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. We were so close to Monaco so we did a quick drive through, mostly to see where the cars race. I cannot imagine why RS says “Monaco is a Riviera must.” Concrete and yachts. Sterile and soulless is how it looked to me.

If I should come this way again, I’ll take a pass on Nice and all the glitz, but maybe sail Les Calanques and definitely visit the Carmargue. This has been a more intense trip than my usual. Our friends are flying home, and we’re headed to Germany for a few nights to chill in the Mosel Valley at our favorite German hotel Alte Mühle Thomas Höreth in Kobern-Gondorf and to see our best friends in Bonn. I’m grateful for all the wonderful places we’ve seen, but it’s the friendships that are some of the very best memories. Tschuss!

every ten-year-old boy’s dream castle.

From that sentence alone it's now on my list. Thanks for the report, Dordogne is on our radar for next Fall.

Was it just a bad day for traffic in Bordeaux or do you know if that was usual?

Allan,
I think the Bordeaux traffic was not unusual, but it seemed the most reasonable place to be sure we got a big enough car for four. The Dordogne is stunningly beautiful!

Every.single.time I read one of your trip reports I am enthralled and needing to visit every place you visit. Have done Aix en Provence and Cassis/Les Calanques but every other town, cave or burg is now on my list. So many thanks for your descriptive trip reports!

Thanks for sharing your trip to several of my favorite places!

Ruth, excellent report. We can’t wait to visit this area of France!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip, I felt I was there with you while reading it! Glad to know about avoiding Nice except for the Chagall and Matisse Museums as well as the Russian Orthodox Church. Also, how much you loved St. Remy.