From Apt to Manosque

The Luberon Valley is populated by small villages dotting the hillsides.  The drive from Apt to Manosque is breathtaking.  Each curve offers views of fields, mountains or an occasional village. The roads are narrow for upstate New York standards and sometimes I drive much slower than most French people.  Near heart attacks are frequent happenings as we cross the Col de Montfuron, a windy mountain pass.  It is only 41 kilometers, about 25 miles but this is not like driving on the Northway!

You get a good idea of the Luberon Mountains with this picture.

Recently, Sophia decided to take pictures of the views as we drove from her grandmother's house in Apt to our new house in Sainte-Tulle, near Manosque.  The pictures are not perfect but you can get an idea of the countryside.    The first village we see when leaving Apt is Saignon, one of my favorite villages that I will write about soon.  We slowly climb in altitude through a valley cut by the Callavon.  We pass the signs for the villages of Castellet and Saint-Martin-de-Castillon.  You can catch glimpses of Castellet from the road but you have to drive into the hills to go to Saint-Martin-de Castillon.  The road climbs some more and we arrive in Cereste.  I like to think of Cereste as the mid-point to our drive.  Thank goodness for Cereste!  We've stopped there for coffee, bread, groceries, and windshield wiper fluid!  It is a small village and we try to find a reason to stop there each time we pass!

Quick view of Cereste

Cathedral of trees

 The second best part of the drive is leaving Cereste.  It is my favorite part because of the Plane Trees that are planted on the edge of the road.  These trees create green tunnels, verdant cathedrals that you pass through.  I have heard that these trees were planted to give shade to passing armies or to the horse drawn wagon merchants of yesteryear.  I want to stop every time to walk under the cool shade of these majestic trees, but it is impossible because there are cars and it is a road after all!
After Cereste, we drive through fields and meadows slowly making our way up the mountain.  We pass by Reillane, a village nestled on a hill not to far from our road.  We can see the steeple of Reillane long before we can see the whole village.  At this point I know we are about to start the curvy mountain road. We turn at Les Granons, where there is a bus stop and a pizza restaurant and NOTHING else.   My husband's uncle says that they have great pizza and I have promised Sophia that we will stop there once this year. 

This part of the ride necessitates lots of concentration.  There are switchbacks, no guard rails, treacherous cliffs and lots of fast French drivers on the road.  The views are magnificent!  Off in the distance we can see the beginning of the Alps.  Sometimes we take a "shortcut" through the village of Villemus.  It might be shorter but the road is so narrow you have to pull over if someone comes from the other direction.  Our car barely passes between the walls of the village but the views are glorious!

After Villemus we are at the highest point of our journey, 649 meters (2129 feet).  We begin our descent of Le Col de Montfuron trying not to use the brakes too much, down shifting to slow the car with the motor and constantly watching out for people wanting to pass me on this crazy road. Ask me sometime about the girl that ended up with her car in a tree! 

We finally see the hills of Manosque in the distance.   It is a hilly city with lots of different neighborhoods and the ruins of a tower on the top of Mont d'Or.  It can be seen from all over and we know we are close when we spy it. The road eventually takes us to the neighboring village of Sainte-Tulle, where we are living this year. The road from Apt to Manosque is beautiful, scary and fun but most importantly it takes us to our French home.

https://1tabbycat.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/cd8c7b2203c0d708ae8e378d9d5e2fff.jpg

Thank you Sophia for being my co-pilot and photographer and for having the idea in the first place!

Le Pont du Gard - Roman Aqueduct

 My first visit to Pont du Gard was in 1989.  I was studying in Avignon and I wanted to visit as many monuments and cities as possible.  Back then we climbed up to the very top of the aqueduct and walked across the river Gard.  It was impressive!  It still is!  Le Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct built sometime in the 1st century AD.  It is actually one of many structures along a 50km aqueduct that supplied water to the city of Nimes.  After exploring the museum near the entrance on the right bank of this classified historical monument, I was amazed to learn about the aqueduct system, the mechanics of the water distribution and the human effort needed to make such a beautiful structure. I was totally awed by the model of the whole aqueduct system and pictures of the current day state of the structures.  Some of them are all but remnants in the hillsides while others have been employed by the local population as bridges or walls.  

On this particularly beautiful day we arrived at Pont du Gard around 3pm.  It was sunny and warm.  It costs 18 Euro per car to visit the site, but we upgraded to a year membership so we can come back with friends (hint, hint).  We took a small bag with water and my electronics with us and made the short walk to the bridge.  You can no longer walk on top of the aqueduct by yourself. It seems that there are guided walks twice a day to visit different parts of the structure.  It didn't matter because Sophia was more interested in the water flowing below the bridge than the bridge itself.  The banks of the river were full of sunbathers, waders, swimmers and kayakers.  

Neither of us wanted to walk all the way back over the bridge and back to the car to get our bathing suits, so, what did we do?  Well, I waded and Sophia went swimming in her clothes, of course!  She had a blast wading in the shallow currents of the Gard and when she found a natural slip-and-slide, she was overjoyed!  At one point I asked her to turn around and look at the bridge and understand that she was bathing in the shadow of history.  She looked but quickly she returned to her slipping and sliding!  She has asked me multiple times if we can return to go swimming in the Gard but it is 2 hours from where we live.  We will find other swimming holes to visit in France but this one most definitely takes the cake!

If you get a chance, you should check out the official Pont du Gard website, it has great pictures and tons of information.   And if you want to go with me, I have a season's pass!
http://www.pontdugard.fr/en

Montpellier - A Visit to the Beach and Glimpses of Modern Architecture

A necessary beach trip bring us to Montpellier.  We have the opportunity to visit a modern neighborhood, eat some bagels, and swim in the Mediterranean Sea.  

Going to the beach when you live in the south of France is not as difficult as when you live in Upstate NY.  I promised Sophia that we would go to the beach at least once before school started. We chose to go to Montpellier and stay in a hotel near the city hall.  We arrived late and checked in and went to explore the neighborhood near the hotel.  The area was super modern with high rise apartments, a lake, and lots of restaurants and cafés.  I was surprised to see the open spaces and so many people outside enjoying the evening. We ended up going to a little supermarket and buying stuff for a picnic by our hotel pool.  YUM!

Modern neighborhood across the river Lez from our hotel - Bassin Jacques Coeur

The next day, Sophia and I woke up early, picked up some croissants and took the car to the nearest beach, Carnon Plage.  We found a parking space in a public lot and set up our blanket near a sand mermaid on the narrow strip of sand.  The beach was broken up periodically by rock jetties, making many little crescent beaches. We were the first ones there and it wasn't very hot yet but we loved watching the waves and taking a dip in the cool sea water.

sand mermaid

We returned to the hotel for another pool side meal and a dip in the pool.  The pool area looks up into the modern city hall building and from our room we had views of city hall square and the main entrance. The area is very modern but easily accessible for bikes, pedestrians, cars and public transportation. We were so excited to find a bagel store on the city hall plaza, Place Georges Frèche, (bagels are hard to find in France) and we ordered sandwiches to go.  Our visit to Montpellier was shorter than planned.  We look forward to exploring the old city and discovering other parks and neighborhoods on our next visit.