Most large towns in the region have a 'market day' each week, and we went to the one at Vaison le Romain. By the look of it, most of the stall holders do the circuit, and quite a few have trucks specially fitted out to become refridgerated shops when parked. The market itself was huge, in the streets of maybe 10 city blocks plus two large car parks, with different areas specialising in craft, fabrics including tablecloths (more of that later), and food (salamis, cheeses, meats, mushrooms ...). Anne bought a tablecloth (after much deliberation), John bought some Duck Salami, Cep mushrooms, fresh pasta, and the kids bought some toys. All were happy.
On Tuesday, we visted Uzes and Pont du Gard.
Uzes was an important spring town in Roman days and was used to feed water to Nimes some 10 miles away as the crow flies. Trouble was, water isn't a crow, and the route it took was some 35 miles, most actually underground, but across one large river it had to go by an aquaduct, and could provide 450 litres per second - nine million gallons a day.
The aquaduct was huge, and provided the boys with lots of climbing experience. It was built in the year 50, and without cement holding the rocks together is a monument to Roman building skills. It is the second highest remaining Roman structure - the Colloseum in Rome is only 6 feet taller.
The smaller bridge next to it was build in the 1400's and is still used to drive trucks across it today.
Provence is the area in the south of France just above the Cote d'Azur (French Riviera) that includes Avignon (home of the French Pope in the 1400's) Arles (home of Vincent Van Gogh in the 1880's) up to the wine country around the Rhone river (Cote d'Rhone, Chateauneuf de Pape). We chose a little hilltop hamlet of Sablet, just outside Orange, about an hour north of Arles and Avignon.
The villa, which we chose from a web site specialising in holiday houses, while perfectly located, could really be described as 'partly renovated'. While it has a new staircase (which creaks really badly in the middle of the night) and a new toilet and bathroom, the rest of the place could do with a going over. The top floor, which has been sealed off with a curtain, is completly un-renovated (and completly uninhabitable) but offers the best views. Other than that, it has four beds (3 double) so lots of room, but is on 4 floors, so lots of stairs. It is ideally located becuase it is a flat walk (almost unheard of in this area!) to 2 mini-marts, 2 restaraunts, 2 bakers, butcher and newsagent just around the corner. Just outside is a natural spring with a fountain dating from 1700's feeding two 'washing tubs' dating back to Roman times. The spring fills a large tub which then overflows into the washing tubs. A few of the residents still use it today.
The house comes with a young ginger cat (named Useless) which the boys have had a great time patting (first experience with a cat) and I can see the pressure will be on when we get home to get one for christmas.
A quick trip to Arles, where Vincent van Gogh stayed in the 1880's.
Arles is a smaller city, with a few main tourist sites - a Roman colloseum, a forum, a large church, and absorbing the atmosphere and colours which were Vincent's inspiration.
The boys favourite site? The Monoprix department store that sold Hot Wheels cars.
Anne's favourite site? The 400+ shops selling tableclothes .. and she went into most!
We managed to get tickets to the South Africa v USA rugby match in Montpellier. As it was a night time match (8pm) we slept in and had a casual drive (140kph) down the motorway to Nimes for lunch (in a Mexican restaraunt no less). Nimes was a very important Roman town, and is famous as the birthplace of denim (de Nimes).
We got to the ground at 4pm to collect the tickets, and just as well as there was no parking anywhere near. We drove though some back alleys getting lost, only to pop up in one of the reserved areas, two blocks from the oval ... saw a parking space empty and pulled in! The downside of course was we were then stuck at the oval waiting for the match, or face a one hour walk from somewhere else.
The rugby match was not the one way affair we thought it to be, and while most of the crowd was wearing South African gear, they sounded like locals who were just trying to get on the winning team. They were quickly supporting the USA, booing the ref everytime there was a penalty, and cheering every run the USA made. None the less, the USA still lost as expected,and we faced a long drive home, and the roads closed for the match made the GPS work all that much harder..
Provence