Chateauneuf du Pape, Vacqueyras, Gigondas
Chateauneuf du Pape, Vacqueyras, and Gigondas. We visited a family winery in Chateauneuf du Pape and tasted Vacqueyras and Gigondas in wine shops.
Gigondas is made from grenache (maximum of 80%), syrah and mourvedre. Jessie discovered she prefers wines with more mourvedre (remembering Rosenblum’s Chateau La Paws Cote du Bone Roan). It was a great chance to taste a variety of Gigondas.
Pink Flamingos!
On a beautiful Monday, our next-to-last one before leaving for home, we drove a Avis rental between Avignon & the Camargue. The Camargue is an extensive wet-lands area starting about 30 miles south of Avignon and is feed, in part, by the Rhone River and bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is favored by migrating birds and ranchers who raise horses & cattle, and bulls for a regional favorite, Bull Racing!
Characteristic for La Camargue: water, cattle, white horses, and a cowgirl, aka Gardian.
We had great lunch in Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on a land spur along the Med coast. Then we took the Tiki III tour boat up the adjacent waterway where we could watch birds & river life and cattle, horses and a cowgirl (called a Gardian). There’s an historic fortress-like church in town which dominates the skyline near town, but we didn’t have time to visit it.
La Camargue bird sanctuary in France.
As the sunlight dwindled, lighting up the clouds with brilliant shades of reds, we stopped at the bird sanctuary called Parc Ornithologique du Pont-de-Gau. It has an unassuming frontage next to other businesses, but opens to an extensive wet-lands sanctuary which was hosting thousands of pink flamingos and others birds & wildlife. We could hear a duck-like chatter coming before we could see the thousands of noisy pink flamingos in this protected section of the Camargue. The flamingos were being feed from a small vehicle that slowly circled this shallow lake area and at every stop the flamingos would follow in unison to the fresh source where their heads would plunge under the water for food, so we saw them in almost constant motion.
The critter food was something that looked like rice and it attracted ducks, fish & the local beaver (or else it was a very large rat), but the flamingos crowded out the pond. The flamingos were very entertaining to watch, especially their amazing propensity to all gracefully move in the same direction as if choreographed. This was happening in a network of ponds & islands covering probably hundreds of acres with networks of walkways ringing the marshy habitat. We moved to an adjacent large marsh area which was placid & calm with ducks & herons nesting for the night — until the flights of well-feed flamingos started coming in as the sun set.
L’Isle-Sur-La- Sorgue flea market
The ochre cliffs of Roussillon
Gordes
Before we left on the trip Jessie had signed us up for two tours out of Avignon, France. The first tour was our first day after we disembarked Le Phenicien; at 9am we joined the “Best of Provence” tour in a minivan with 4 other people and traveled to L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue (a large flea market), Abbaye de Senanque (lavender), Gordes (picturesque), Roussillon (ochre), St-Remy de Provence (Vincent van Gogh, Roman arch), Les Baux (mountaintop fortress), and the Roman aqueduct bridge at Pont du Gard. Quite an agenda, but it was a colorful overview of the area. We had been to the last two stops before, but not enough time anywhere on this tour to really appreciate the locations.
Gordes, France
Church in Gorges
St-Remy de Provence
Roman arch & monument, St-Remy de Provence
Pont du Gard
When we got back to Avignon we were wandering around the city center area looking for a good restaurant but had found few appealing ones open (on a Sunday night). As we walked we were stopped by a fellow who highly praised and directed us to a small restaurant called L’Ardoise which looked good to us and we ate a great meal in their cave-like cellar room. We also highly recommend it!
Dining at L’Ardoise, Avignon France
Avignon France
Rue des Tenturiers (Ave of the Dyers), Avignon France
On Saturday morning 25-Oct we got a unexpectedly early exit from Le Phenecien — when we thought that we could sleep in because we were staying local — and then checked into the Hotel de L’Horlodge located in Avignon’s city center. We had the day to explore the city and Jessie headed us over to Rue des Tenturiers (Ave of the Dyers) where we had a great lunch seated by the small canal that parallels the pedestrian walkway.
Rue des Tenturiers (Ave of the Dyers), Avignon France
For dinner we decided to check out one of the restaurants that line the large central square, Place de L’Horloge. I had a paella dish that was pitiful, so I recommend looking beyond this tourist trap for the better restaurants.
On Saturday 11-Oct we left the Volterra B&B early to visit a jeweler, Fabula Etrusca, and see the near-by Roman theater. Both were successfully visited and we set off for Siena, but stopping first at San Gimignano.
After strolling through the streets of the San Gimignano fortress and having lunch on a veranda overlooking the distant countryside we drove on towards Siena. John was looking for a “agro-tourism” B&B as we cruised the backroads. Nearing Siena we found a prominent fortress dominating the skyline so naturally we headed straight for it: Monteriggioni.
As we found out, Monteriggioni was built in the 13th century to help protect Siena’s flank, and it did so through many battles & assaults. The intact fortress covers a small hilltop and has a commanding view of the surrounding area. Within the walls is a small tourist-based community and a large square. The place is mobbed most days but clears out at night with several restaurants to choose from. We stopped at the Tourist office & they gave us a list of Hotel & B&Bs which John used to hunt down a beautiful accommodation within the medieval fortress with Olie Ingo, Via Matteotti 7, Monteriggioni.
We liked it so much that we decided to stay two nights. It was an upstairs apartment on a back street under the shadow of the fortress walls with a large bedroom and queen size bed, a roomy hall bathroom and a front sitting room. Outside was a private patio in the garden. We paid 85e a night.
B&B Olie Ingo, Via Matteotti 7, Monteriggioni, Italy
Fortress Monteriggioni, Italy
Sunday services outside chapel, Monteriggioni, Italy
Sunday services outside chapel, Monteriggioni, Italy
outside Monteriggioni, Italy
B&B garden patio, Monteriggioni, Italy
Roman theater, Volterra Italy
Jewler, Volterra Italy
Lunch in San Gimignano.
San Gimignano
San Gimignano
Domaine de Beaurnard, Chateaneuf de Pape
On Friday morning 24-Oct we were driven from Le Phenicien moored at Villeneuve Lez Avignon to Chateaneuf de Pape where we toured and sampled the Domaine de Beaurnard winery. We returned to Le Phenicien for lunch while they moved the barge the short distance to a mooring on the banks of Avignon. That afternoon we toured the Palas des Papes in Avignon.
Winemaker at Domaine de Beaurnard, Chateaneuf de Pape
Checking quality at Domaine de Beaurnard, Chateaneuf de Pape
Part of Jessie’s order, Domaine de Beaurnard, Chateaneuf de Pape
At the Chateaneuf de Pape
Lunch on Le Phenicien
Palas des Papes, Avignon France
Interior Palas des Papes, Avignon
Central courtyard, Palas des Papes, Avignon
Art installation, Palas des Papes, Avignon
Interior Palas des Papes, Avignon
Pont D’Avignon
That evening we had a great farewell diner on Le Phenicien with our 6 traveling companions.
While moored at Villeneuve lez Avignon we visited the farmers market and the town in the morning before returning to Le Phenicien for lunch. We then had an amazing visit to the ancient Roman aqueduct, the Pont Du Gard. A very useful museum has been added and we had a most informative American guide who led us through the museum and the uppermost channel of the aqueduct itself.
Villeneuve lez Avignon
Farmers market, Villeneuve lez Avignon
Farmers market, Villeneuve lez Avignon
Fort Saint-Andre, Villeneuve lez Avignon
Pont du Gard
For Wednesday 22-Oct the highlights for the day were our travel on the windy Rhone, passage through a large lock, and our visit to Les Baux. Everything was dominated by Le Mistral, the gusty wind that was kicking up white caps on the Rhone and nearly knocking us off the ramparts of Les Baux.
Today we’re moored on the banks of Arles, where we had a walking tour of the old city. Arles has an extensive Roman infrastructure, including the Roman arena, the theater and an large underground tunnel system.
We spent Sunday night on Le Phenicien at Aigues Mortes then left the next morning on the first leg of our cruise along the canal. From our first stop we were driven far into the Carmague (a vast area of marshes & pasture land) to a ranch that raised championship bulls and the white horses that tend them. There we learned about the bull races of Provence. When we got back to the barge John went on a bike ride along the canal.
The riverside at Aigues Mortes
Le Phenicien at Aigues Mortes
On the Go with John and Jessie 