Saignon, France
Hello Fellow Travelers,
Before we begin talking about this Region of France I would suggest you rent the movie with Russell Crow, A Good Year. If you can get past the Russell thing you will be delighted by filming locations in this very region. The villages used are the neighboring; Bonnieux, Gordes, Cucuron, and Menerbes. They also filmed at the airport in Marseilles and the city off Avignon. Or if you prefer to read go get A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Both will provide a nice introduction and a better understanding of the area.
The house is in the village of Saignon, a small hilltop village. From top to bottom, it is in the country of France, the region of Provence-Alps-Cote d’azur, the department of Vaucluse. One of the major features of this area is the Luberon Valley. This is the more rustic part of Provence. It is close to the beaches, but much less tourist filled.
http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/vaucluse/saignon/saignon.htm
For some additional details see this link: http://www.francethisway.com/luberon/hol-luberon.php
Saignon is another sleepy little town with narrow winding streets. It has places to eat, drink or buy a croissant. The nice part about Saignon is the winding streets which keep tour busses (and tourists) away; this can be a problem in other nearby villages. The town is of about 1000 inhabitants. Our house is on the edge, not the center, but easy walking distance to shops and places to eat and drink. http://www.smh.com.au/news/france/a-week-in-provence/2005/11/03/1130823318572.html
The house is pretty amazing, with a nice pool under cherry trees that should be ripe with cherries while we are there! If you are looking for a great place to sit under a tree over looking the Luberon Valley while you read a book eating cherries fresh from the trees above, sign up now!
Provence has some amazing food markets and an abundance of mediterainean food. If you like olives, almonds, fennel, fish, cherries, etc you are going to love this place. While there is a market in our town, I think that Apt has the best in the area: http://www.slowtrav.com/france/provence/market_apt.htm
If you look at this next site you will see that our market is on Saturday only, but look at these photos! http://french-house.net/saignon_village.htm
Here is a list of major markets in the area: http://www.provencelive.com/practical/daily/market/market.html
We are excited to visit the town of Avignon and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which were both papal headquarters 800 years ago and more importantly one of the great wine regions of France! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teauneuf-du-Pape
Avignon is famed for its bridge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_d%27Avignon
As well as the Pope’s Palace, no longer owned by the Pope of course…
Leaving our first house in Lavardac to get to Saignon will take us on a long drive, through Toulouse and then onto Carcassonne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne which will be a great place to stop for lunch and sight seeing. We will then head to the coast to the town of Narbonne along the coast up to the house in Saignon. The total drive time without stops is about 5 ½ hours, but if we break it up it should be a pretty pleasant drive.
Some of the places Michael and I are interested in visiting are:
Arles (think Van Gogh) http://www.beyond.fr/villages/arles-provence-france.html
Aix (home base and maybe a bit too touristy) http://www.beyond.fr/villages/aix-en-provence-france.html
Coastal villages, but especially Cassis, town where the Kir came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassis someone please remember that there is a place called Chez Gilbert here that has the world’s best ratatouille. http://www.restaurant-chez-gilbert.fr/en/index.asp
The rocky hilltop villages all around us in the Luberon region are worth visiting http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/wood/archives/000992.html
We could consider driving the coast through Cannes, Antbes, Nice, and Monaco then on to San Remo Italy, just a thought it is a long drive about 3 hours each way. http://www.sanremoguide.it/en/default.cfm but maybe a nice all day trip.
Of course our town is very relaxed and you might just want to hang out in the town sipping on cocktails or wine eating some olives and cheese. http://www.vaucluse-visites-virtuelles.com/glvirtualbluepopouts/saignonus.html
The next newsletter will feature food, wine and restaurant in the region of our first house. We will be at our first house in 11 weeks from today!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
1st Newsletter for France 17-Feb 2009
Lavardac, France
Hello Fellow Travelers,
We are really excited about the upcoming trip and thinking about things to do while there. Of course you can chose to sit in a chair on a sun drenched porch the whole time drinking wine or you can chose to do any other number of things. We thought it would be helpful to share some of the things that are interesting to us just to give you an idea of what is available. I will send these out every two weeks, alternating between areas of our stay.
The first week we are in the town of Lavardac which is a quiet town far enough off the autoroute to make it out of the way but very close to other sites in the area…
For some additional details see this link: http://www.leboat.co.uk/cruising-companion/location/16/lavardac?cruiseid=197
Lavardac is a sleepy little town with at least one place to sip a cocktail and one or two decent restaurants. The southern part of the area up until now has been less populated by tourist; this has allowed it to stay more traditionally French. This means that sitting in a café chair sipping a Kir or a coffee will not feel like a cliché but more like a native experience. For additional information about the recent discovery of this southern region:
http://www.southofthedordogne.com/
Michael is speaking with the owner of the house to arrange a cooking lesson. This will include a day trip to the outdoor market to do some shopping the French way, cooking and then eating lunch. It looks like it will cost about 50 euros a person, but to have someone navigate the market will be such an amazing thing to be part of. Speaking of which, here is a link to help you navigate French cooking, whether it is making it yourself or ordering off a menu… http://www.patriciawells.com/glossary/atoz/atoz.htm
We are excited to get into the car and drive from village to village, stopping where we find it to be extra charming. I am excited about visiting the town of Domme, which is very picturesque. Here is some additional information about the regions towns: http://www.francemonthly.com/n/0603/index.php
The towns to the north are pretty amazing. Here is some information on them, including some information on the cave paintings from prehistoric time. This is something I would like to consider, I believe it will take some pre-arranging which we will work on.
http://goeurope.about.com/od/dordogneperigord/ss/dordogne.htm
There is a town, farther than most may want to go, but I have always wanted to see it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane
There is a winery south of the house that makes a white wine that we love, we will try to get a reservation to get onto that property just so we can say we were there and see how the make it. Aside that we are in the area of Cognac, Armangac and close to Bordeaux which should let us know that wine and vineyards will be all around us.
As you know food is very important to us, we would like to do the outdoor markets as well as trying restaurants. We are more interested in local cuisine, less interested in glitz and glamour, so smaller family places are on our list. The same woman who provided the glossary about has written the most comprehensive French restaurant guide (in English) and has many recommendations for the area, but exploring new ones is something that excites us. Think about what you are willing to eat and what you are not, this region is one of the gastronomy wonders of France and has specialties that range from Truffle (mushrooms) to duck and duck liver. I will try anything once, but if you are not as risky you may want to check out the food glossary and pick the things that you want or don’t want so you do not order something that you cannot eat once it arrives winking at you.
Feel free to chime in if you see anything that interests you. We are all free to participate or not as a group, so look at those things that appeal to you and we can research them. Some things will be day/date restrictive, like the cooking course which will be on Wednesday only as that is the day of the local outdoor market.
By the way, here is a schedule of other outdoor markets in the area: http://www.france4families.com/Lot/RegionsLotMarkets.htm
The next newsletter will be about Provence, when I come back to this area I will focus on towns and sites that hold interest in greater detail…
Hello Fellow Travelers,
We are really excited about the upcoming trip and thinking about things to do while there. Of course you can chose to sit in a chair on a sun drenched porch the whole time drinking wine or you can chose to do any other number of things. We thought it would be helpful to share some of the things that are interesting to us just to give you an idea of what is available. I will send these out every two weeks, alternating between areas of our stay.
The first week we are in the town of Lavardac which is a quiet town far enough off the autoroute to make it out of the way but very close to other sites in the area…
For some additional details see this link: http://www.leboat.co.uk/cruising-companion/location/16/lavardac?cruiseid=197
Lavardac is a sleepy little town with at least one place to sip a cocktail and one or two decent restaurants. The southern part of the area up until now has been less populated by tourist; this has allowed it to stay more traditionally French. This means that sitting in a café chair sipping a Kir or a coffee will not feel like a cliché but more like a native experience. For additional information about the recent discovery of this southern region:
http://www.southofthedordogne.com/
Michael is speaking with the owner of the house to arrange a cooking lesson. This will include a day trip to the outdoor market to do some shopping the French way, cooking and then eating lunch. It looks like it will cost about 50 euros a person, but to have someone navigate the market will be such an amazing thing to be part of. Speaking of which, here is a link to help you navigate French cooking, whether it is making it yourself or ordering off a menu… http://www.patriciawells.com/glossary/atoz/atoz.htm
We are excited to get into the car and drive from village to village, stopping where we find it to be extra charming. I am excited about visiting the town of Domme, which is very picturesque. Here is some additional information about the regions towns: http://www.francemonthly.com/n/0603/index.php
The towns to the north are pretty amazing. Here is some information on them, including some information on the cave paintings from prehistoric time. This is something I would like to consider, I believe it will take some pre-arranging which we will work on.
http://goeurope.about.com/od/dordogneperigord/ss/dordogne.htm
There is a town, farther than most may want to go, but I have always wanted to see it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane
There is a winery south of the house that makes a white wine that we love, we will try to get a reservation to get onto that property just so we can say we were there and see how the make it. Aside that we are in the area of Cognac, Armangac and close to Bordeaux which should let us know that wine and vineyards will be all around us.
As you know food is very important to us, we would like to do the outdoor markets as well as trying restaurants. We are more interested in local cuisine, less interested in glitz and glamour, so smaller family places are on our list. The same woman who provided the glossary about has written the most comprehensive French restaurant guide (in English) and has many recommendations for the area, but exploring new ones is something that excites us. Think about what you are willing to eat and what you are not, this region is one of the gastronomy wonders of France and has specialties that range from Truffle (mushrooms) to duck and duck liver. I will try anything once, but if you are not as risky you may want to check out the food glossary and pick the things that you want or don’t want so you do not order something that you cannot eat once it arrives winking at you.
Feel free to chime in if you see anything that interests you. We are all free to participate or not as a group, so look at those things that appeal to you and we can research them. Some things will be day/date restrictive, like the cooking course which will be on Wednesday only as that is the day of the local outdoor market.
By the way, here is a schedule of other outdoor markets in the area: http://www.france4families.com/Lot/RegionsLotMarkets.htm
The next newsletter will be about Provence, when I come back to this area I will focus on towns and sites that hold interest in greater detail…
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