We took a great side trip to the old Mediterranean fishing town of Cassis, on the coast just southeast of Marseille. With Charlie driving, on freeways with a speed limit of 130 kmh, we made it in about an hour and a half and met our friends, Tom and Margaret Mesaros, who have been staying nearby in Aix en Provence.

The Mesaroses are hardy travelers and are on a three-week trip that included the beaches in Normandy and an auto trip down through France to Provence. We also joined them for a walking tour of Avignon a couple of days ago.

While Cassis retains its look and function as a fishing town – folks were buying fresh-caught sea bream

on the waterfront from the fishermen, who cleaned the fish while they waited – the attraction now is boat rides along the coast to see the amazing limestone cliffs (calanques) rising abruptly out of the sea. We went on a 90-minute tour that went into about eight of the calanques, two of them with little villages of their own. Then, after lunch at one of the many seafood restaurants that line the harbor, Pat and Charlie, and Tom and Margaret took a hike along the cliffs.

I was a little sleepy after a lunch that included some of the rose’ grown nearby, so I stayed back and napped and then listened to NPR podcasts about what was then the third and thankfully last debate between the two presidential candidates.

But here is Pat and Charlies’ description of the hike:

After taking the boat tour, hiking through the calanques and climbing the steep limestone cliffs afforded us a spectacular view from high above the crystal blue water.  

 There were many different routes depending on your skill level and willingness to climb, and if you were really daring you could climb down the cliffs on narrow paths to the water, but the tourist office did strongly recommend hiking equipment. Nevertheless we stayed on the main paths and did fine.

 The length of the hike depends on how many Calanques you want to see, each requires climbing a steep rocky path and then scrambling down the other side to the next inlet, and the quality of the views and the amount of solitude both improve the farther you go. We made it to the second inlet, which featured a small beach, and people swimming even in the relatively cool October sun, and we heard that the third calanque was truly scenic, but we were a bit pressed for time.

Back in our adopted hometown, we took a less spectacular, but still pretty interesting short side trip to the little town of Fontaine-de-

Vaucluse. It is only 6 km from where we are staying. The source of the Sorgue River begins here, and the town was once important for paper-making, again using water wheels as the source of industry. It also is where the pet Petrarch mourned the loss of his lover, Laura.

Our Edmonds neighbor and travel expert Rick Steves, in his guide to Provence, said Fontaine-de-Vaucluse can be overrun with tourists in the summer and may be the most overrated tourist site in France when the spring is not flowing.

We had a nice hike and enjoyed the beautiful setting, but we were close by. It is probably not worth a trip out of your way to get here.

We are getting to the end of our trip. We take Charlie to the train today, and we head out on Saturday. We hope to do one more blog after that with some other thoughts about France.

L’isle sur la Sorgue, where we are staying, is a handy jumping-off point to see the hill towns of the Luberon – a significant recreational area for the natives and one made popular with Americans and the British by Peter Mayle in “A Year in Provence” and his subsequent other books, movie and TV series. The book is a real treat; I have not seen the TV show, but a BBC critic referred to it as the worst television show ever made.

That’s not true of the experience. We have had a very good time exploring these medieval towns, built on hills and often fortified. Many are now very fashionable, and not only because of Peter Mayle.

Nearby Gordes, a beautiful example, is now dotted by chateaux and swimming pools of the rich and famous. Lacoste’s (now ruined) 42-room chateau was once the home of the Marquis to Sade and now is owned by Pierre Cardin. The Savannah School of Design has a campus here. It is not the home of the shirts, however.

Pat and I began going to hill towns on one of our first trips to Europe – more than 30 years ago. The first I remember is the town of Eze, high above the Mediterranean, on the corniches between Monaco and Nice. I think Pat still has a scarf she bought there in an early indulgence. It is near where Princess Grace was killed in a car accident.

One of our best trips ever was a few years ago to the hill towns in Tuscany – we stayed within driving distance of Montepulciano, Montalcino, Orvieto. There are more substantial towns, but like the others, perched way up long, winding roads with thick walls that could be defended against outsiders.

A couple of years ago, we traveled through the white hill towns of Southern Spain, on the way to

Seville. So we know our hill towns.

A common thread is the need of a rental car, as many of these are off the main roads. Of course we see plenty of tour buses, so there is probably another way to do this, but we have enjoyed the freedom of a rental car, despite the occasional inconvenience of having the find a place to park it, as many of the city centers are closed to vehicle traffic. Also, we have done our traveling in the fall or spring. I understand that many of these places get pretty jammed in the summer. Even now, we had trouble getting reservations for a tour near Cassis, and Charlie found it difficult to get a train reservation back to Paris from Avignon.

In any case, we have really enjoyed seeing these old towns, which I guess are similar enough, but each different in its own way – interesting residents or an old church or natural formation. On this trip, Pat is carrying an iPhone which has an app that counts her footsteps: 10,000 is not an issue – and 15,000 is normal. All uphill.

One more note about L’Isle sur la Sorgue. Avid readers of this blog (both of you,) will recall that I said the Thursday market wasn’t much to write home about. That’s not true on Sunday. It has the reputation of being the largest antique market in France. I do not know how to judge that, but the streets are full of all kinds of stalls, foods, clothing, various household items, and the side streets and antique shops all are open. Even in mid-October, it was a very busy place and clearly worth the wait.

We are staying in Provence in a very nice little town called L’Isle sur la Sorgue, which is built over a series of canals off the Sorgue River. You can still see some of the waterwheels on the canals,

which at one point were used here to power the production

of silk, paper and tanned hides. It is about an hour west of Avignon and very close to the popular Luberon Forest with its hill towns. We traveled so far to the first couple of towns – Gordes and Rouissillon – and have plans for another day trip in that direction soon..

We rented the house we are staying in on Airbnb – as they say at the hair club for men, Pat is not only a proprietor but also a client – and it is one of the nicest rentals we have been in. It’s an 18^th Century French building that began its life as a stagecoach inn, and then was converted to a factory. It is close enough to the Sorgue river to have been able to pipe in water for the horses in its first

permutation, and then to be close enough to have a mill and waterwheel in the next. We are not sure when it was converted into a house – Pat has been e-mailing the owner in Paris for more details. It has giant beams and concrete and tile floors. The owner’s brother appears to have a photo studio on the first floor, and we have the portion on the two floors above. It has been very nicely updated without losing the

old look and feel.

Charlie joined us yesterday for a week, and we took a great excursion today to taste wine and see the country around Chateauneuf de Pape and other parts of the Cotes du Rhone region. Once we get back to the U.S., if any of you invite us over for dinner, we would be happy to share what we learned about wine-tasting techniques. We can explain the French term, terroir, if you like.

On the other hand, we also were psyched up in advance for the Thursday market here in L’Isle sur la Sorgue. But as perhaps you can tell from the accompanying photos here, it seems to be a little overrated.

Now, it could be that it is just late in the season. We are holding out hopes for the Sunday market, which is by reputation the largest antique market in France. We will let you know.

I have not been very good at resisting the temptation to look at the newspapers on-line every day to check on the news of the U.S. election. So far, no one in Europe has asked us any questions about it, but they may sense our inability to discuss it intelligently in French (or In English for that matter.)

Meantime, Pat just went out to the boulangerie down the street for the morning croissants, and I will fire up the espresso machine. I wonder if Donald is contemplating a wall to keep out the French.

 

We were very eager to get to our hotel In Arles, after a long and tiring, 30-hour trip from Seattle to Provence, only to be greeted by this monstrosity outside our room window.

But seriously, it was fascinating to learn that this First Century Roman Arena is only the 20^th largest around. In the middle ages, the French turned it into a walled city – with watchtowers above and houses inside – but it has been restored and again hosts bullgames –the more civilized Provencal equivalent of the bullfight – and other sporting events.

It is not unlike the rest of Arles, a medieval city built on a Roman foundation, now being preserved in this UNESCO world heritage city.

Pat and I are here on the first day of a couple of weeks in Provence. We are spending two nights here in Arles, then renting a car and driving to a house we have rented in the small town of L’Isle sur la Sorgue, on the Sorgue River near Avignon.

Pat is eager to see a “bullgame,” which we have been assured is merely exercise for the bulls who are not injured and live to “game” again another day. However, there is a special dish of the Camargue called “bull stew” on virtually every menu, so I’ll bet that they do meet a dismal fate after their gaming days are over. Bull stew, incidentally, is delicious, and I suspect the bulls participating are not all that old.

Arles is also quite well-known as a place where Van Gogh did much of his work. There is a modern museum dedicated to him, and the city maps have a number of Van Gogh sites.

This trip is actually a substitute for one we had planned to Turkey. We became wary not so much because of the terrorist attacks but because of our erstwhile ally declaring martial law and firing all the police, teachers and civil servants. After we got cold feet, the travel guru himself, Rick Steves, pulled the plug on the tour we were to take of Istanbul, so Turkey will await another day,

The plan now is to rent a car here take day trips around Provence. Watch this space for further details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few notes on our journey:

As recommended, we arrived at Sea-Tac two hours early and sped through security because of our TSA-precheck status – the closest we will get to living in a walled neighborhood like medieval Arles or 21^st Century Broadmoor. As we settled into our Airbus A-330, for what we thought would be a nine-hour flight, we were told that the airplane was broken and we would need to deplane and wait in the gate area. Four hours, several beers and lunch later, we were allowed to board. As we settled in for the second time, we observed that travelers were tense when the guy in front of us began being verbally abusive to someone who tried to adjust the location of his overhead bag. We were delighted that Delta was able to fix a problem with the joystick and thus we arrived in Paris about 17 hours after leaving Edmonds. I don’t know about you, but I can’t sleep on airplanes.

We missed our connecting flight and had to catch an alternate flight to Marseilles after a dash through different terminals at Charles de Gaulle Airport and another two-hour wait. Then a train from Marseilles Airport to Arles, and we were able to stay awake long enough to have dinner. (See above reference to bull stew.)

The preferred method of traveling to Europe from Seattle is to take one of the non-stops – London, Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt – and then a short hop within Europe to your destination. That has worked in the past but not this time. I might be tempted to build in a short stay in one of those cities in the future. We are getting too old for this.

However, today, our first full day, was a great experience, and we recommend Arles highly.

Pat has turned in early, and I have encouraged her not to wake me if she gets up to livestream tonight’s Hillary v. Trump debate, which will air at 3 a.m. Continental time.

I know the fate of the free word hangs in the balance, but I am kinda tired.