2007 France

4 days living as Gods in France

With a long weekend coming up in June I thought it would be a great idea to surprise Paul with a trip to the Provence in the south of France. A cheap flight was booked, a rental car and 2 places to stay during our 4 day trip.

So on a Wednesday evening after work we headed of to Eindhoven for our flight to Marseille. On arrival the first surprise waited for us. The car we had rented was not available so we were asked if we would mind to be upgraded to a convertible. Talking about luck… It was already quite late so we drove straight to the hotel, well, that was the intention anyway. The road signs were confusing to say the least so it took us over 3 hours for the 20 kilometers from the airport to the hotel. There we heard there was no room for us available (Though the booking was conformed) but after a while we were assigned a room, it wasn’t very nice, fortunately it was just for a short night…

The next morning we left early (Could not be bothered about breakfast) and made our way to Aix en Provence. It was a beautiful drive and once arrived we took some time to stroll around town and have a belayed breakfast.

Our next stop was at Les Baux de Provence, a picturesque mediaeval village on top of a hill, overlooking a narrow valley. It was absolutely gorgeous and we took our time to stroll around the narrow streets and enjoy the atmosphere. At one of the terraces we had a fantastic lunch after which we made our way to the remains of the fortress. 

Back at the parking place we let the roof down of our Convertible and slowly made our way to La Prevote, a maison d’hotes close to Avignon, where we had booked a room for three nights. The weather was beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed our ride whilst the sun was shining on our heads.

La Prevote, an 18th century farmhouse, was absolutely stunning, it was located on the border of a small village and surrounded by a beautiful garden, a pool, and of course a place to play jeux de boules. Our room was very romantic and immediately after arrival we knew we had made the right decision staying here. In the evening we went to a local restaurant where the both of us enjoyed a fantastic al fresco dinner in true Provence style.

The next day we went to Avignon and spent most of the day in this former papal city. Of course we made it “Sur le pont d’Avignon” but we also enjoyed strolling around the old city center with it’s many squares and terraces. Of course a visit to Avignon would not be complete without seeing palais des papes, the papal palace. Not only was it enormous, over 15.000 square meter, two courtyards and 12 towers, what most struck us was the wealthy and luxurious interiors. All in the name of religion…

Late afternoon we returned to La Prevote where we enjoyed the pool and a good glass of wine. In the evening we returned to the restaurant for another fabulous dining experience.

As it was only a long weekend time flew by to quickly. On our last full day we decided to make a long driving tour through the Vaucluse and see some of it’s highlights. The scenery was breathtaking as we had selected small roads so we could enjoy the most of it. Vinyards were everywhere and small, picturesque villages were dotted in the landscape. Our first stop was at Carpentras but as today we wanted to focus mostly on enjoying the countryside we jumped in our car again and made it to Mont Ventoux. As this is a popular mountain for cyclists to ascend we were not surprised to see many of them. The both of us were very happy to make the tour with our car. Although it was getting a bit chilly we refused to bring the roof up again.

On our descend things warmed up again and we intensely enjoyed the beauty around us. Surprises were never far away and at one point we spotted a beautiful fortress where we spent some time to wander around.

Our next stop was at Seguret, another picturesque village we parked the car end made a short walk through the center. It seemed as if time had stood still over here, what better place could we have found for a nice lunch under the sun.

As mentioned before time was passing by very quickly and slowly we had to make our way back to la Prevote. We visited another charming village, Gigondas, which is known as the most picturesque village in the Provence. With so many beautiful places around it was difficult  to say whether this was more beautiful than the others we had seen today.

One final stop…  A winery in Vacqueyras where we tasted the most beautiful white Vacqueyras. Never have we regretted more we had to go back by plane and were not able to bring a couple of bottles along.

Back at la Prevote we spent some more time at the pool, played a game of jeux de boules and of course zipped a glass of wine or two. We really felt like Gods in France. In the evening Fabienne cooked a wonderful meal for us which we enjoyed a lot. It was a great evening and although our French skills limited the conversation a bit we did not to bad at all.

It had been a short trip but we can tell you we had thoroughly enjoyed it. The next morning after breakfast we said goodbye to Fabienne and Cyril and slowly made our way back to Marseille. There we returned the car and checked in for our flight home.  It had been a fantastic weekend and I do remember well we had big smiles on our faces all the way back home. Most certainly we had been living for 4 days as a God in France.

Journeys