"Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain." - Jack Kerouac
We left the Cave of Forgotten Dreams and headed southeast, back into Provence. For the most part we stayed on small roads, avoiding the autoroute, in order to enjoy the small villages and beautiful scenery. We stopped in some lovely towns, including Pont d'Espirit and Venasque, the last being a nice hill village at the west end of the Luberon Valley. The view from our little ice cream shop was extraordinary. And the ice cream! Where but in Provence can you have lavender ice cream?
Our destination was another hill town, Roussillon. This hill village is built on top of a long ridge composed of ochre, the fine red dirt that roof tiles are made out of. So the entire town is a beautiful red color, as all the houses are made of ochre. So between the red buildings, the green trees and the blue sky, you have quite a sight. It's a very popular place with day trippers, and when we arrived the town was REALLY crowded. It was quite difficult to drive our car through the crowds and small streets to our parking lot. Thank goodness we had our little Fiat 500!
We were in a three star hotel (we usually stick to two stars, but none were available), called Clos de la Glycine, which was quite nice. And the restaurant, Chez David, was nouvelle cuisine, as opposed to the bistrot food we usually have. For instance, the filet of sea bass had a foamy sauce around it, made out of who knows what. Our duck was delicious, but very small portions...one of the reasons I usually don't like nouvelle cuisine. But it was very good, the view from the restaurant to the red cliffs was magnificent, almost making the €37 price worth it. Almost.
The next day we left fairly early, just as the day trippers were showing up. Amy, in her great drive to find hiking paths with no one on them, found a wonderful path through some beautiful red rocks. We then drove to the nearby village of Bonnieux, passing a Roman bridge on the way. From Bonnieux you have an amazing view of the valley if you walk way, way up to the top of town. We met a man named Vincent, who makes beautiful Santons, dolls of the local villagers.
From here we went on to our final destination of Nice, a long three hour drive. But on the way we had a picnic by a small creek and passed bright red fields of coquelicots, the French poppy. A very nice way to say goodbye to France.
This adventure took us to many places, where we met wonderful local people who were always willing to share their culture with us. We saw two fantastic festivals, very different from each other, but both showing the life and culture of their people. France will always have a special place in my heart, but it was Corsica that surprised both of us the most. The landscape, the food, the tiny difficult roads and most of all the people. We will return, for sure. A bientôt la Douce France!
