Aigues-Mortes and The Camargue

Driving from Arles we crossed right through the middle of The Camargue, the flat land and marshes at the delta of the Rhône River.  The area is famous for wild horses, buffalo and flamingoes.  Aigues-Mortes is a very picturesque walled town along the way.  Its name means “dead waters”; it used to be a crusader port, but it is now 10km inland as the sea has retreated!!  It is still accessible by a network of canals and is very popular with boaties, cyclists and a squillion tourists.

Camargue countryside		Aigues-Mortes	Salt
Not allowed to show the rest of the horse – being free on The Camargue made him far too happy

Arles

We arrived in Arles while the local produce market was still happening.  The cheese man earmarked us as foreigners and enticed us to taste his samples.  In French, we agreed to buying a 200g wedge, which he cut off and then put on the scales in front of my eyes.  I could see “600”  and “3450” and “2070” and stood there thinking, surely none of these can be the price.  Ah, but the cunning devil had sliced off 600g, at €34,50 ($69.00) per kg, and asked Linz for €20,70 ($41.40).  Linz nearly fainted.  We made him cut it in half and he was lucky we didn’t tell him where to wedge his fromage.

Not the cheese man, but a reluctant stallholder whose moustache I just had to capture		I so need a haircut, my ends are so dry it feels like I’ve got toenails in my hair

Living in France Means…

…finding a nice neighbourhood to settle down in, where the natives are friendly…	…choosing a cosy little cottage to call ‘home’…
…making sure your furniture fits through the upstairs window…	…and nipping down to the local hypermarket to get your supplies.

Tarascon Castle

Tarascon is a sort of ‘twin city’ to Beaucaire, linked by a bridge across the Rhone. We went to the Tuesday morning market then set off to explore the imposing castle, built in the days when the river formed the frontier between France and independent Provence.

yes, the Rhone really is this dirty

Tarascon gets its name from this ugly mythical creature, the ‘Tarasque’

Medieval Graffiti

Tarascon town from the top of the castle

Les Baux

This was part of a big day trip we did from our base in Beaucaire.   Les Baux was built in the 12th century on a very high promontory and has a commanding view over Provence as far as the sea.  The castle itself is now mainly in ruins, but the walled village below it has been restored and is now full of shops, cafes and restaurants, all of which were heaving with visitors as it was Easter Monday.

Les Baux  Part of the ruins – I’ve even got a prisoner in the bottom window!

Having recently passed our Gladiator exams, we are now in training to use the catapault  The wall of square holes was the castle’s dovecote.  The birds were used as messengers, food, and even their droppings were used as fertiliser.  Now if these Frenchies could find something useful to do with all the dog droppings on their streets, they’d really be in business

Cathedrale D’Images

A short walk up the road from Les Baux is this amazing place called Cathedrale D’Images.  It is a disused limestone quarry, and is not only fascinating from that point of view, but the site is now used to project stunning video displays onto all the walls and floors simultaneously.  They change the theme annually – last year’s theme was Van Gogh, and guess what we got … “Australia”, oh goody.  They call the event “Le Spectacle” and a spectacle it was indeed.

the entrance		that’s Linz sitting in the RH corner

Beaucaire

An apartment in a 17th century building, in a good sized town built alongside the Rhone River and a canal, was our Provence home #2 for a week.  The apartment was very spacious, with 3 large bedrooms, a huge lounge, dining room, swanky kitchen, huge terrace and 8 foot high windows with shutters.  Cool.

Just a bit of Beaucaire	Beaucaire Castle’s tower	Je suis dans le salon	Je suis dans la cuisine avec mon vin rouge
We went to a Gladiator demonstration, as you do	Mushrooms the size of dinner plates, growing on a plane tree	Many leisure boats park in the canal – and the season hasn’t even started yet!	From our terrace, a twilight view of Tarascon Castle across the Rhone

St Chamas

We were enticed to stop in the little town of St Chamas, showing off its Roman bridge, which used to be part of the famous Aurelian Way, but today goes from nowhere to nowhere.  We bought cheese and fresh honey yoghurt at the market, had a drink at the ‘Apero Bar’, because all the locals were doing the same thing this Saturday morning, and then spied more strange houses built straight into the rock. Quite interesting for a tiny little town …

And the answer to the Frejus question is …..

 

We located the town’s Cathedral in the central square - its a Diggelmann necessity in every town.  If there is a prize for number of churches, cathedrals, castles, and town halls visited in a lifetime, I must be in with a grin.

Then we found a cafe and were delighted to be able to use our French for the first time to order a coffee and lunch.  On this warm sunny Saturday afternoon in Frejus, there was an Arab wedding a hootin’ and a hollerin’, a-ringin’ and a-dingin’ and a-happenin’ right in front of us ….. and so we …..

….. ate our lunch outside, watched the wedding, and read the first thing we have seen written in French, the local newspaper with an article about  the Toulon Rugby Club, and Tana Umaga, of course, what did YOU think ?????   Rugby will always be the winner.

Mimet

Funny how you look on a map, point at a town and say, “Ok lets head for that, it’s where we want to be” ….  and when you get there … you think  …   “OMG, even with pretty trees framing it, it still looks like a nuclear power plant, we are so out of here”  … well that was Gardanne.   Oops, keep driving

Quite accidentally, after another wrong turn, we stumbled upon this tiny, delightful hilltop village of Mimet.  Its name even falls softly off your lips. In the centre of the village, a very old, very quaint, interesting and funky Hotel called Le Grand Puech where we spent a very pleasant evening and could easily have stayed longer.  Such a tiny town, but that evening the hotel restaurant was booked out for a full Jazz Band gig, and 50m down the road, a fabulous free Gospel singing show was also on offer.  “Puech” means volcanic hill, and this town is proud of its massive Sleeping Giant – can you work it out?

		funky foyer of Le Grand Puech Hotel	… and a sideboard to die for
Mimet from the lower road	killer staircase	The Sleeping Giant – head on left, foot sticking up on right, legs crossed – see it?	sunset from our balcony