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November
9, 2008 Carcassonne to St. Remy
Early start to get ourselves in the direction
toward home. We were headed to St. Rémy de Provence. Stopped
in Arles for lunch. Jeff grabbed a Turkish doner kebab. We found
a hotel listed in Rick Steves' that would be nicely located
(Hôtel du Soleil), got settled and took a little nap. We had
time to go out and do some olive oil tasting of the region's
oils, Les Baux. Brought home 3 different ones. Had dinner at
La Cantina, an Italian eatery. Soup, salad, pizza, wine, dessert
and coffee. Nice, hot, fresh and the owner asked about the election.
November
10, 2008 the Luberon
This was a true sight seeing day. We had been
listening to Peter Mayle's Year in Provence to get us in the
mood. Now we were going to go see the locales. Jeff plotted
our path, not really knowing what we'd see. We kinda looked
at the Rick Steves' to get some notion of where to go. We headed
to see an old oil mill, but it was closed. Then we came upon
Gordes. OMG. This was an accident causing sight to see. Not
safe to pull over, since there was nowhere to pull over, Jeff
and I parked and walked around this amazing town.
Apparently this had become a chi-chi place, overpriced
and full of itself. Don't care. Built into a cliff, not something
we really should have in California. Kinda cool. We walked around,
great views, too early for lunch. Headed to our next town of
Roussillon. We had lunch here at Le Val des Fées. The weather
was holding. We ate outside with a view of the ochre hills.
Light lunch of omelet and salad and a pizza. Oh and a local
rose from Mont Ventoux.
This photo is not color/filter adjusted, it is
the ochre of the region and it is everywhere. After lunch we
went to see St. Julien's bridge and then to the Colorado Provençal.
Jeff trod in the bucket. His shoes were a loss, but we brought
them home anyway. The red clay was pretty saturating.
Jeff took us back through Menerbes, a life changing
location for Peter Mayle. Once back in St. Remy, we got cleaned
up and went to look for the famous chocolate of Joël Durand.
They are lettered with an enclosed key, so you know which flavor
you are eating. Bought a box with everything but anise. Walked
around looking for a cozy dinner spot. We ate at Le Bistrot
de Marie. They brought in a former waitress who happened to
be visiting to tell us about the menu and specials and to take
our order. Jeff, the sucker for specials that he is, ordered
the specials without really listening. My meal was quite nice.
Jeff got offal. Like I said, not really paying attention. Started
with a chicken liver salad. I helped and it was pretty good,
mostly. I had the plain roasted red bell, slick with olive oil.
The main was more daunting, pig trotters and stuffed intestine
thing in a really good tomato sauce. The ratatouille was great.
I had a fish wrapped in parchment. Perfect. We had a red Cotes
du Rhones.
November
11, 2008 St. Remy to Cliousclat
Cliousclat and
Chablis
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