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.
, 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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