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Wednesday, June 20, 2001
The alarm went off at 4:45 - first Deb’s alarm, then mine, then the hotel’s wake-up call. We weren’t taking any chances about oversleeping!
We all met in the lobby and loaded up the vans. Our destination was Les Baux, just 15 minutes away. We arrived shortly before dawn and made our way through the town to the castle ruins that top the hill. A very charming lady let us in. By mistake. She was there to let in a film crew that was filming something and thought we were them. By the time she found out the truth, we were already in and scattered all over the place. Normally, there’s a fee to enter and it didn’t open until 9 am.
Very interesting ruins. They even had some reconstructed siege engines at the top - battering ram, catapult (photo on the left), and another one (trebuchet? - photo on the right).
The view from the top was very nice, also. But the wind was howling. It’s June, so I hadn’t brought my jacket!!! It’s just as well. This would be the only morning we would need them.
I started up the steps to the top level of the ruins, but soon turned around and came back down. The wind was so strong that it was threatening to blow me off the edge.
And the steps were so cut by water that they were pretty treacherous, as you can see in the center photo above. The photo on the right shows the view of the valley from near the top of the ruins. There were enough other things to see. Like a portion of a room with some of the interior carvings still visible. Nice arches softly lit by the dawn light (photo on the right).
The remains of a very large dovecote (photo to the right) - close to three stories tall. The photo on the right shows some more of the castle ruins. We stayed at Les Baux until about 8 am.
I don’t think Catherine has a clue what this group is interested in. We mentioned catching the morning light, getting on location before dawn, and she insisted that we would be too early. She’s not used to these hours. We found out later that most of her photography is black and white, which has different lighting requirements than we were looking for. She learned a lot by the time we were finished. Perhaps next time she can do a better job.
The three photos above were taken on our way back through the town of Les Baux, on our way back to our parked vans. The photo on the left has a doorway with some lavender in front of it. The center photo has a street lamp silhouetted against a rock wall. The photo on the right shows one of the quiet side streets. At least, they were quiet at that hour of the morning.
Back to the hotel for a quick breakfast. Then it was market day in St. Remy, so we wandered the streets there until things started closing down for lunch.
The three photos above were taken at the marketplace. The photo on the left show a bowl of radishes. The center photo has a display of spices. And the photo on the right shows some of the produce and shoppers.
More market photos. The photo on the left shows a hand painted wine bottle. The center photo has a display of pottery dishes. And the photo on the right shows some of the colorful indigenous cloth sold at the market.
The photo on the left shows an interesting stack of fresh bread and the photo on the right has buckets of fresh flowers, two more items available at the weekly market.
I picked up a cicada pin - the cicada is the symbol of Provence - and some cookies. Like most of the towns in Provence, St. Remy observes the lunch hour. Most shops were closed between 12:30 and 3:30. Lunch was available from 12 until 2 only. Similarly, dinner was available from 7:30 until about 10 only. No possibility of food other than during those hours.
We all met for lunch at one of the bistros. I had the lunch special, which included a cheese pastry for appetizer, rabbit with mustard sauce for the main course, and fruit salad for dessert. After lunch, we looked for something to get for a quick dinner (sandwich or something), but everything was closed until 3:30, which was when we were scheduled to meet. We wound up eating nothing further this day.
We met in the lobby at 3:30 and loaded up the vans. First we drove by Gordes, just to see the view. It was too early for photos of it.
On to the Abbaye de Senanque (these two photos), which is the monastery that’s shown in many of the pictures of lavender in Provence. There’s a reason. They have planted lavender extensively in front of the abbey and it’s planted in a most photogenic manner. We toured the abbey, which was quite interesting, then grabbed a couple of quick shots (these), just in case we don’t make it back.
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The three photos above were taken during our tour of the monastery. The photo on the left shows the bell tower through an arch in the cloister. The center photo is a statue of a Madonna and child. The photo on the right looks across the cloister showing the arches on each side.
From there, we continued to Roussillon, a very colorful town. Their claim to fame is the nearby ochre pits. The cliffs in the vicinity are very colorful. And, unlike most of the villages in Provence, Roussillon used the ochre to color the houses, making them the brightest village.
We had a minor adventure in Roussillon. We drove up to the parking lot and there was a sign saying there was a height limit for parking there. There was a barrier above the entrance indicating this height restriction. Well, it looked like we’d clear, so we started in. SCRAPE. Guess what. Not quite. Rod got out and managed to lift it out of the way and we continued on in. The height restriction seems to be artificial and only used to restrict tall vehicles from the lot for some unknown reason. And there was absolutely no damage to the van.
We took some pictures here, mostly town scenes. I found a popsicle, which was quite delicious - four fruit flavors in one pop. Dinner!
These are some of the photos taken at Rousillon. The photo on the left shows some of the ochre cliffs that Rousillon is famous for. The center photo shows a vine on the wall with some petunias in a windowbox making a colorful display. The photo on the right is a doorway that is obviously not being used.
The three doorways above were spotted in Rousillon.
One of our stops in Rousillon was at the cemetery, where we spotted this tomb (photo on the left). Several of the graves, like the center photo, were decorated with lavender plants. The photo on the right is a closeup of some of the lavender.
By now, the sun had cleared the top of the mountain, throwing the lavender fields by the abbey into shadow, so we returned to the abbey for some shots. Of course, it was closed, but the places we were going to were readily accessible. The three photos above show the monastery and its fields of lavender.
The road down to the abbey from Gordes is just a single lane wide with occasional pullouts that cars can pull into to allow traffic going the other direction to pass. We saw tour buses on that road earlier in the day!
Then it was back to the hotel. It was 10:00 and time for bed.