Saignon 28 - Mai 2009

Thursday Mai 28

I will start with yesterday. We decided to take a drive down the coast. France has a great road system, very easy to navigate, well marked and well serviced. You can take an A marked Route, aka Autoroute - major freeway and almost always a toll road; Great way to move distance fast, non stop, gas stations on road, misses towns. Or a N route, part of the National Highway system, free and slow with lots of round abouts, but you get to drive through every town along the way. D routes are even smaller, they are slow and free but go through little villages. And then the smaller routes, no need to say anything but, "really 2 lanes, REALLY?"

OK so we headed off on the major autoroute and shot right up to Monaco. We stopped in the town just south called Eze for lunch. The village is perched high over the sea and it is quite picturesque. Pretty much a tourist trap but our lunch was nice. Now I forget how much I do not like Monaco, it reminds me of Beverly Hills on the beach. Sure the palais is nice, the old town is nice, the casino is nice, but really... every car is a bentley and there is a Dior store on every corner. It is too crowded, etc.
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We did stop and see the resting places of Grace and Reiner in the chapel they were married in. The Monte Carlo Grand Prix was the weekend before so the whole town was drapped in metal grand stands and metal grates protecting the flowers. We left Monaco and drove up to the next town of Menton, a town I think Monaco might have looked like 50 years ago. It is the last town before Italy so we decided to drive into Italy a small way. The flowers and houses change fast, very pretty, but also so do the signs and I do not read Italian so we headed back to Fance.
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Every one was beat from the heat so I high tailed it on the Autoroute down to St. Tropez for dinner. I have never been there before and was interested in seeing it. The Germans and USA bombed the hell out of it in the war but it was rebuilt in the same style to keep it "real". We passed trough the town of Sainte Maxime. We should have stopped there for dinner, it looked very cute with lots of cafes on the water and a pedestrian walkway up the center. But alas we went on to St Tropez, which was like Monaco, too glitzy, big yachts, big boobs, not very "real". The cafes were over priced and playing sports on LCD TVs. We ended up eating at a tiny pizza place in the center of the city. Small and not made for dine in, we loved it, we ordered 2 pies, a bottle of local Rose and then ice cram to go after. Seemed odd for us to do this, but the owner was fab and the pizza was great.

We got home at midnight, we all slept in the next day.

I tried to rally the trops the next morning to go the 3/4 mile up the hill to our village, Saignon, for lunch, no takers... So I ended up eating lunch on my own and what a lunch. We had tried all the places in the town and they were all just OK, however the last place to try was called Le Baladin.

To me it looked too touristy as it was too cute. Patio terrace over looking the town square, grapes growing on the arbor overhead, ivy growing on the walls, a fountain in the court, etc.
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Was I wrong... Started with a glass of champagne, ordered a pitcher 50cl of local rose, a stared of cod brandade, a main of grilled steak with a leek pudding, a coffee and then a Mirabelle, which is a plum brandy from the Loraine area of France. All this for about 30 euros, and it was delightful. I sat near these two local farmers right out of the fields who said this was the best cafe around, dirt under finger nails et al. The sun was shining but I was in the shade, the birds were chirping and every 15 minutes the church bell across the way would bong with a loud vibration, this is France to me. After I walked the little village and then headed down the hill 2 miles to the bigger town of Apt to buy some items.

On the way home I filmed the drive up the road, yes this is a 2 lane road, luckily no cars were coming down, they drive FAST...

Saignon 26 - Mai 2009

Tuesday 26 Mai

I have not been writting much or taking a lot of photos, Provence is much more like California so it slows me down. The plants, the coastal mountians, the weather, etc. They do have 1000 year + old things, Calif does not have that…

So our village is perched in a national forest called the Luberon. We are high above; and if you come, you should too, the area below is hot, dusty and CROWDED. Our village has tiny roads that tour buses cannot get up, you should also make sure of that when you come, otherwise, lots of tourist you will find.

We went hiking at the fountaine-de-Vaucluse, which is this cool space with a massive spring that comes up from no where, they cannot locate the source, in fact Jacques Cousteau lost a bathescape trying to find it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. The town is cute for lunch or a drink and the fountaine is at best an oddity, but a pretty one at that. We did stop in L'isle sur La Sorge before for a bite, cute town lots of antiques, worth a stop, but maybe just for coffee. The canals that run all over the town are feed by the fountaine so the water is crystal clear and cold.
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The town of Apt is close to us, too big, too low, too run down, but there is something ou should try to see... The northern side of Apt near the lake in a very ware-house-y area you will find the Chabaud Brothers place. It is a giant sprall of pieces of castles and chateaux just for you to pack up and take home. I was trying to figure out how to get this gate in my suitecase...
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After going to a local food market as a group Michael and I decided to go over our hill 25 miles to the town of Aix. Now Aix is big and crowded and hard to park a car in, but you need to go if you are in Provence. We took the smaller D roads on the back roads. Very naroow, lots of trucks and fast cars, but lots of trees, mountains, views and cute tiny villages. One stop we did was the town of Lourmarin. Very cute, a bit Disney-esque but cute with lots of shops and cafes. A nice place for lunch if it is not crowded with no parking, we lucked out.
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Aix was crowded, after circling for a while I decided to park in a pay lot, always a better idea as you never know how long you may be, and pay lots are usually underground and usually not too expensive. We had a VERY unforgetable meal, we did not plan ahead and ended up at a touristy place that was not good, so we drank alot of wine, it was a cheap meal at least.
We ended up finding a cute out of the way cafe and drank some Pastis, the local licorice flavoured drink. Then we walked the massive pedestrian zone CUTE, and I ended up buying a hat, the same hat I left on the plane two weeks ago...
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After our Pastis and shopping tour we headed back home. On the way we found this field, among many, of poppies in bloom, we had been drinking so of course photos followed....

Saignon 24 - Mai 2009

Sunday 24 Mai

We were very sad to leave our manor home in Lavardac (Lot et Geronne) but it was Provence for the next destination. So we said good bye to Christiane and Michel. They were nice enough to drive Gillian back to Bordeaux to catch her flight to Berlin to see friends, coming from New Zealand where they drive on the "wrong" side she was not to happy with the thought of driving on the right side of the road here in France. She really lucked out, we are sure many French drivers signed relief as well, once again, the kindness of our hosts was amazing, Bordeaux is over an hour each way! We were driving the other way, through Toulouse and then Carcassonne before hitting the coast and driving into the Lubeon valley via Avignon.

We had plenty of time to talk in the car, Michael's mom said the one thing that struck her, first time in France, was how nice everyone was. At lunch the other day in Nerac a man in his late 80s came to the table, said he fought in WW2 with American soldiers and loves all Americans. I actually saw her tear up!

Anyway back to Provence. We had to stop in Carcassonne, it is very VERY touristy, but if you have never seen it you should at least once. We planned to park, go in, have lunch and get out fast! We got there right before the lunch bread. Everyone in the car was blown away as we drove up. I purposely drove in the truck route around the city versus the car route through the center of the city. Doing this way allows you to see the old City without building blocking the view. For those that do not know, Carcassonne is an a medieval walled city that is intact and everything Disneyland wants to be except made of stone a thousand years ago, not Plastic in the 1950s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne
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We found easy, paid, secured, outdoor parking right in front. Walked into the city, went to the main square. We wanted to sit and eat before the lunch rush so we sat at a very VERY touristy Cafe right on the square. It was empty but one other table. We sat and ordered, almost all had Cassoulet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet This is the dish of the region made usually of duck confit, sausage and white beans. It was in a tour trap and was 11 euro and was AMAZING! We were very happy. By the time our food arrived the place was sat full, we were happy we beat the crowd.

We parted ways here, Dennis, Shirley and Joanna went on their way and we got back into the Volvo and drove on. Everyone slept while I drove the rest of the way. Arriving in Apt, the next biggest town we began to be nervous, our village was near and it seemed low in the valley and also kind of run down. As we turned out of the city we began to climb, up, up, up into the hills. The scenery changed right away. Very green, fields of lavender and cherries. Cute homes and garden walls of stone. We got into the village of Saignon and over to the house. Wow amazing again. Not as stately as the last house but a charmer none the less.
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Now this house is owned by an Australian. We were meeting the care taker, Joelle, who is French. She was very helpful, showed us around, etc. I mentioned I wanted a Sunday flea market and she said she did not think there was one. She left and we set up the house and went to the stores for some wine, cheese and bread. At about 7pm Joelle called to say that the locals were in fact having a market in our village the next day, what luck! The others arrived shortly and we all sat on the back patio over looking the valley eating and drinking into the night. It got dark about 10:30pm.
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Sunday we woke up had our coffee and tea and then set out to walk up the hill to the village, about 10 min walk. The village of Saignon is cute CUTE! The roads are too narrow for the buses to drive so it is not too touristy as many in this area are. We walked those winding roads that could barely handle a small fiat and a pedestrian! Once on the hill we were happy to see every house was selling. Bonnie bought a pair of leather boots for 5 euro, I bought a Suze pitcher for 2, Marge bought a picture for 10, Michael bought a 1920s 3 ceramic tray set for developing photos with the French words on the side for 8!
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We sat and had coffee and then walked back home through the lavender fields stopping to pick cherries in the orchard on the front lawn. The cherries taste so good off the trees!
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Lavardac 22 Mai 2009

Friday 22 Mai

Today was so special. Christiane, the landlady of our house in Lavardac, brought us to the restaurant of our chef, Jean Noël Prabonne. His place is called le Relais de La Hire and it is in the village of Francescas close to the town of Nerac. http://www.la-hire.com/

We arrived at his place at 11:30am to tour the gardens. It is a cute house with an amazing garden and patio for dinning behind a wall and gate. The inside is elegant yet tasteful.

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We were in for a treat. Jean Noël was going to show us how to prepare our lunch, all FOIE! Now I know some people have issues with foie, I do not! If you eat any sort of meat, fish or chicken, wear leather shoes, drink milk, yougurt, cheese, etc you have NO room to speak here. Welcome to the top of the food chain!

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It was wonderful experience our landlady planned for us. We were in a real working kitchen gettting ready to learn how to prepare and then sit and eat the local treasure, Foie Gras!

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We sat down after making the first course for two course of amuse bouche and a wonderful champagne.

The first course was a terrine and torchon with an onion marmalade. Served with a wonderful very floral off dry Loire Valley white wine.

We got up and went back into the kitchen to prepare our next course.

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The second course was a seared foie on top of a mushroom puree sitting on a grilled artichoke heart. Many of the spices and products came from, the chef's garden right outside. This he served with a lovely crisp Alsatian Riesling.

For dessert we had a platter each of several different treats including a pumpkin sorbet and a pear and cream parfait. These were washed with an orange wine the chef made himself.

After lunch the chef set out a tasting of Armangac for us, another local treasure from this part of the France. We had three very distinct pours in front of us. The grand finale was a special one that he keeps for special occasions. The story was something to the effect that a local farmer showed him a giant barrel he had in his barn. Jean Noël was skeptical of it as it had been sitting for decades in a barn but once opened the barrel he smelled the most amazing odor. I can only tell you that the smell to me reminded me of the sweet burnt wood smell of a European Cathedral. We were all BLOWN away!

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Having Christiane there was such a treat too. She is such a gracious and kind host. If you ever come to France or need a rental house you should consider this. It is great for groups, really a bargin too! The house currently has 6 BIG bedrooms 4 with BIG en suite baths, 2 amazing kitchens, dining and sitting rooms galore. A pool, bikes, gardens, all in a cute walking village!

They both speak perfect English, have lived in the US but are both charming French.

www.southwest-prestige-home.com

Christiane and Michel Jung

Here's a video of the grounds and main floor;