Baguettes, Lycra, sunflowers and villas
11.07.2009
28 °C
• Taradau
• St Tropez
• Brignoles
• Montpellier
• Aix en Provence
Hello and welcome to the south of France; charming ancient hilltop villages, playground of billionaires, bike races, vineyards and plenty of sunshine.
We have had a great week in Provence. Chloe’s relatives picked us up and drove us to their great little town in the hills, Taradeau. To our surprise, they treated us to a postcard perfect guesthouse – thank you very much Loes and Willem! We took our time around here and visited some amazing small villages, lay by the pool and went for traditional Provencial dinners.
We took a day trip to St Tropez, playground of the ‘oh so wealthy’. Massive luxury cruisers lined up so all could see who owned them; ridiculously expensive cars sat idle in the parking lot and the deck hands continuously scrubbed and polished the boats. To our amazement there was another flotilla of mega-yachts parked out the front. We wandered around and gawked and then headed around the corner to the beach – where the boat owners drove their boats for the day so that more people can look at them.
We moved house, this time to a small town, Greasque, just outside Aix en Provence. We hired a car to follow the Tour de France. We drove to three of the stages and got to see a range of days, some great moments and managed to get really close to the riders. The best day was the team time trial, where you get to see all of the teams leave one by one. This makes the day really worth while.
Driving around we also managed to see some amazing places. Sisteron with its fantastic setting and impenetrable fort (yes I tried to break in), Mount Saint Victoire, Picasso + Cezanne’s chateau, fields of sunflowers, vineyards and some fantastic roads to one day come back and cycle along.
We have had some down time as well, lazing by the pool, reading books and catching up on some things. We are off to Morocco today, so the trip takes a new turn and we say goodbye to simple luxuries, and enter northern Africa.
