Day 6, July 11

Day 6, July 11

Today's was a far slower paced day than most of the previous ones.

Bike ride in the AM to the town of Gargas and back.  Stayed on back roads, so no traffic, just vineyards, fruit trees, and lavender fields.

Breakfast:  small cubes of watermelon topped with yogurt with cinnamon, fresh squeezed OJ, a croissant, a single pancake with apples in it, and of course, coffee.

Drove to a tiny nearby village of Joucas.  Stopped to buy the French sports daily, and found a wonderful little terrace cafe with a fabulous view, so we had another coffee and a pastry called a "sacristan", which is twisted, about 12" long and as light as a feather.  Stayed over an hour.   Saw a lot of beautiful carved wooden statues that reminded me of Rodin's Balzac.

From Joucas, we had a very short drive to Gordes.  Gordies as we Americans say it, is the most visited town in Provence.  It's the ultimate upscale citadel and church on a hilltop.  Breathtakingly beautiful, but way too many tourists.  With tourists you do find gift shops, so Joni actually found several items that she'd been searching for.  There's a Gordies Restaurant in the town...part of the same chain as the one in Lincoln.  Hope Bob Shaw doesn't get transferred there...wouldn't want to have to replace Kate.

Cutting back on lunch...yes, it's about time...we settled for take out from a bakery:   a tiny quiche, a ham and cheese croissant, and a diet coke.  The quiche was very good, but we were still full from breakfast, so they were tossed out after only a few bites.

From Gordes, we had another short drive to the Chateau La Conorque vineyard made famous in the movie "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.  If you haven't seen the movie and you want a great sense of this area, we highly recommend it.  I'm sure we'll watch it again when we get home, just to see all the scenery.  

We actually had a drink at the cafe in Gordes where the lead character worked.  They don't allow tours of the Chateau, so we had to settle for three bottles and a telephoto shot from a nearby road.

Ended today's tour in the big city of Apt which is only about 10 km from our B&B.  Got my French iPhone card recharged, now I need to discover someone to call in France.  I also discovered that my Verizon SIM card is lost...but I can't do anything about it from here...But, life is good, so we each got two boules of gelato and walked the streets for a bit before returning to Le Mas Perreal for a relaxing swim.

We had about a 15 km drive to dinner at "Auberge de la Bartavelle" in the village of Goult.  The meal was as good as any we have had in France.  For their amuse bouche they served an melon emulsion with some sort of spicy liquor and pumpkin seeds.  For appetizers we had assorted stuffed veggies on top of a cold tomato like soup.  For our main dish, we both had a thick filet of veal on a bed of roasted veggies, and for dessert Joni had a chocolate mouse on top of creme fraiche with hazelnuts and fresh raspberries, topped with a thin chocolate wafer.  I  had a plate of 5 goat cheeses.  Magnifique!