Au Revoir to Avignon

June 4, 2016: After enjoying another great breakfast at la Auberge, we drove again to Avignon.Our first stop was a photo opportunity across the Rhône from Avignon (the better to photograph the whole town), accompanied by a little bit of silliness as Gina , our tour director taught us the steps to the children’s song, le Pont de Avignon. We next stopped outside the Palais du Papes to walk in the gardens of the Pope’s Palace.  Since the gardens sit atop a hill looking down on the Palace, the views from the gardens are really spectacular, and take in views across the Rhône, as well as to the west of Avignon.  There is even a charming little grotto in the middle of the park.

Then we had some time on our own to explore (read: shop) in Avignon. Jim, Liz, Scott and I explored a little, and then the guys went off to hold a table at a sidewalk bistro (translation: drink a glass of rosé), while Liz and I finished up our souvenir shopping.

After lunch, we journeyed again by bus to the Pont du Gard.  This amazing Roman bridge is so compelling that Jim and I gladly went along to see it again.  The really nice thing on this visit was that Jim and I peeled off from our group while in the museum and got to see and read about all the exhibits that we had missed on our first visit.  Then it was a return visit to the magnificent bridge!  This time, we were able to climb down to the river level and see the bridge from the other side.  The icing on the cake was the fact that that night, there was going to be a concert at the bridge, complete with fire cannons on the bridge, and we got to see the engineers trying out the fire cannons. Wow!

Finally, it was back to La Auberge to prepare for our final dinner of the tour; a celebratory meal at the fabulous vineyard/winery known as le Verger des Papes in Chateauneuf de Papes.  The meal was a gastronomic home run, and we enjoyed every bite paired with the fine estate wines.  We will be sad to see this tour end, particularly when we’re back at home, eating rabbit food to make up for the sins of foie gras! Oh, well, at least we have a couple of days left with Scott and Liz, and will move back to Aix en Provence tomorrow when the rest of our tour mates go to the airport.

View from Chateauneuf de Pape to the Rhône

Last slab of foie gras for the road!

Serving Up an Epicurean Experience with Séverine

June 3, 2016:  Our day began with breakfast overlooking the lovely gardens at La Auberge du Cassagne. Then was off to Avignon (very close) for the day.

However, the highlight of the day was a cooking lesson at the cooking school (Le Marmiton) in the hotel La Mirande, right behind the Pope’s Palace.  Our instructor was Chef Séverine Sagnet, and she was a real pistol!  After greeting us in the hotel lobby with café and lovely madeleines, we set off for the food halls of Avignon, where we were charged with buying the ingredients for our epic meal.

Our first stop was at the butcher’s stall to buy our duck breasts. This guy was a total riot! He sang the Marseillaise while tossing chicken feathers into the air, and made his meat products “talk”  Poultry and small game such as rabbits are sold in France with their heads still attached, so it was funny in a macabre sort of way.  Séverine sent us off to select the rest of the ingredients for our meal, showing us how to pick only the best items. I then snuck off because I had a mission at the spice seller’s stall.  Some of you and my spice cabinet should be very happy!

Finally, we returned to the hotel to begin our cooking lesson. Although the kitchen in the cooking school is fairly large, since there were so many of us, and we were preparing so many dishes for our meal, they split the group in half, and sent half of us off to the wine cellar to do a wine tasting while the other half started cooking.  I was in the group who started with the wine tasting, while Jim had to start cooking. The wine cellar was AMAZING!

Then we traded places. Immediately, I saw that the kind funny person who had led us through the market was gone, and her evil twin had taken over as chef. As Séverine tried to teach us to cook the 8 or so dishes on the menu, we did not live up to her exacting standards entirely, and the kitchen began to sound like an episode of “Chopped” on TV. One person on the tour committed to total faux pas of trying to clean the rim of a soup bowl readied for delivery to the table with a crust of bread, and Séverine just moaned, “Oh my God”!  Luckily, the rest of the meal was then ready to serve and eat and we were able all sit down and enjoy the incredible meal paired with some really good wines from the hotel’s wine cellar. I thought it was one of the best meals we had the whole trip, and we received  the recipes from Séverine to prepare at home.

Cucumber gazpacho with melon balls and mozzarella boconinos

Duck breast

Strawberries with ice cream and lavender madeleine

After lunch, the rest of the tour group had an appointment to go tour the Popes’ Palace, but as Jim and I had done that, we opted to stroll down the main avenue in Avignon and enjoy the afternoon.  After our gargantuan lunch, we had a light dinner on the balcony in our room, and watched some fireworks going off over Avignon.  We can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of this amazing tour!

random Gothic church we passed on the walk through Avignon

Advance on Avignon

Today we woke to a lovely sunny morning, and sadly said goodbye to Le Phebus.  We headed off for the life spring of the Luberon: the small town of la Fontaine de Vaucluse, from which the headwaters of the Sorgue river spring.  This is a charming resort town, and features many cute cafes riverside.   We hiked up the canyon to the source waters of the Sorgue. The river waters are a lovely emerald green!  It’s kind of a cool thing to be able to see the source waters, but we’ve missed the ability to see the source waters bubbling out of the rocks which happened for a few days this spring after heavy rains. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure the weather was cold and rainy during that time, so Jim and I are happy to be able to be able to hike in good weather!

Then it was off to test another charming little Provençal town, St. Remy. This town is known primarily for two things: as the birthplace of Nostradamus, and as the town in which Vincent van Gogh spent the last year of his life at the asylum of St. Paul de Mausole.  We arrived in town just in time for lunch, and found a cute cafe to eat. Then we spent some time wandering around town.

After lunch, we drove slightly outside town to the asylum, which is still in operation.  There you can see a re-created room that looks like the yellow bedroom Van Gogh painted, and you can also see the chapel.  The grounds at the asylum are stunning, and they have hung reproductions of Van Gogh’s work throughout the garden. Again, the gardens featured newly blooming lavender bushes, which served as a pretty frame for the chapel.

We wrapped up our day with a short walk from the asylum to the restored ancient city of Glanum. This archeological site has it all!  The earliest occupants of the city were Frankish Celts, who were in turn conquered by the Greeks, and then the Romans.  The excavated ruins are really impressive, and this site is actually just a couple of miles from Les Baux en Provence. We wandered all over the ruins and took scads of photos, but then it was time to complete today’s journey to our new home on the outskirts of Avignon.

Our new home is a lovely resort hotel called La Auberge du Cassagne.  Part of the main hall of the hotel goes back to early medieval times, and you can see exposed beams on the very low ceilings of some of the reception rooms.Of course, we barely noticed the beams, the rooms or anything else as we went down to the dining room for another epicurean meal!

Tomorrow we return to Avignon to the food halls to select fresh ingredients for our cooking lesson and lunch at La Mirande hotel. Stay tuned!

A(nother) Day in Provence

This morning, June 1st, we set off to discover more of the hill towns of Provence. Our first stop of the day was for a photo opp looking across at the town of Gordes. Apparently, all roads in the Luberon lead to Gordes.  Having snapped the requisite photos, we moved on the hike and explore more of Provence.

Our next destination was on the hillside above the Abbaye de Senanque. If you’ve seen a picture of Provence featuring a church and lavender fields, the likelihood is that it was of the Abbaye.  After centuries, the Abbaye still functions as a monastery, whose monks live a very spartan and silent life.

We hiked for about an hour to get down into the valley where the Abbaye rests. While we were glad for the exercise, the hike itself wasn’t particularly scenic. However, once we got down to the monastery grounds, the views were very picturesque. We also were able to go inside the chapel briefly, and then visited the monastery gift shop featuring all the products the monks make themselves. Think: lots and lots of lavender products! Sadly, the lavender plants on the grounds were just starting to bloom, but it was exciting to see the first hints of purple showing on the bushes.

After getting our fill of the Abbaye, our incredibly competent bus driver, Jacques, took us to the little town of Menerbes. This town was made famous by the author, Peter Mayles, as it was the town he and his wife settled into, and that starred in many of his stories.  We had a lovely lunch at a small bistro called Le Veranda.  We had some time to explore, and then it was off to the town of Roussillon.

Life is indeed beautiful (;a vie eat belle) here in Menerbes!

This lovely town is known for its ochre-colored cliffs which we could see from our patio at Le Phebus hotel.  I can assure you that the geologic formations were much more breath-taking and lovely up close!  However, for the second time today, we had a very strenuous hike, so all concluded that it was now time to return to the comforts of Le Phebus.

Rousillion

Moreover, tonight’s dinner at Le Phebus was widely promised to be the best dinner of the trip. Considering the high caliber of the meals so far, we were clearly captivated by the possibilities! As you can see, our anticipation was fully gratified!