I was happy with our hotel south of the walled city of Avignon. We patronized a bakery and local bar (yes, in France you get morning expresso at establishments called bars) in the morning and got right out of town en route to the market at St Remy de Provence. The bamboo we passed on the way reminded me of a road in Puerto Rico. Before long, we hooked up with yet another marked cycling route and it was easy pedaling. I laughed at this road sign which I interpreted in Spanglish as Route of More Belly; an apt name for the French portion of this trip.
Too bad we didn't have a few more days on the trip, as we could have returned to see running of the bulls on the weekend.
We did get to see the market, which was packed with tourists, but was so incredible that I was willing to consider the tour buses as a minor annoyance, after all I was mobile on foot, they were jammed in the parking lot traffic of the one street that passes through town. We didn't expect to eat paella in France, this was the best we have had.
The worst thing about the bike touring is that you really can't go nuts buying things like these bowls. What color!
I did allow myself to buy a shirt and some jewelry.
A variety of olives for sale at this table.
The market continued onto side streets and small plazas with a solid variety of buskers which gave the streets a festive mood. This is a great place. I poked around a bit on the side streets and found
a gallery featuring this work
http://www.kamilvojnar.com/
A sign in there said "Disturb the comfortable, comfort the disturbed." Take a look at the images and you'll get the idea. Wonderful stuff.
After our glorious wander through the market, we headed to the hills for some glorious riding. Blue sky, smooth pavement, white rock, and green shrubs. The climb to this viewpoint was heavenly. I'd be thrilled to ride repeats of this climb for eternity. It was tempting to take a long wander on the trails in the park, but given the sightseeing obligations we pressed on.
Our destination was the fort in this picture at Les Baux. Heading through narrow streets lined with souvenir shops to reach ruins typically isn't Patrick's idea of a grand old time. He stayed to watch the gear on the bicycles and the rest of us headed up to explore the fort. This turned out to be a serious strategic error which I advise cycling couples to avoid. The fort was so scenic and so engrossing that we stayed up there a good long while. When we returned Patrick was resentful that he didn't visit the fort. He didn't want to risk riding in the dark to take more time there for a quick visit. On the positive side, he did meet other cyclists in the bike parking area. One man told him about a trip he had made in Tuscany (Patrick said it sounds so hilly that he's not sure it would make for a pleasant vacation). He met a woman who was on an organized trip where clients ride on a barge down the Rhone during night and explore France by bicycle during the day.
In addition to nice views of the surrounding countryside and interesting scenes of ruins, the fort had a great deal of educational information regarding life in the fort in its heyday (this is how we came to get sucked in there for so long). There was also a collection of functional medieval weapons on display there. I found the trebuchet most interesting.
This view is from the chapel in the fort.
When we discussed who would watch the gear, Patrick mentioned that he would rather visit a quarry we had passed than the fort. So, we next went to the quarry. http://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/en/home There is a show of art from Provence artists projected on the giant stone walls and floor and set to music. It's pretty neat, definitely a fun way to experience these painting. Patrick said the visit was his favorite part of the trip.
We stayed at a really cute B and B, but when we went out for dinner we found there was none to be had. One of the restaurants in town was permanently closed, the other was just closed. I had eaten all of the food we carried from the market in the afternoon and everyone else was ravenous. General crankiness made for a low point on the trip. There was really no option but to make an excursion by bicycle in the dark to Terascon. As previously mentioned, Patrick didn't bring a headlight. We found that Sasha's headlight wasn't working and I think either Anna or Sasha had a non functional rear light. In any case, we were not well equipped for night riding on the highway. Fortunately there was not much traffic and the road was a good surface. We made a tight little parade to take advantage of the lights we did have. Patrick said that one of us nearly go creamed by a semi when we went through a roundabout on the return trip. I'd like to think it wasn't really so close.
We were thrilled to find an open restaurant in Terascon when we arrived at about 9:30. That the staff did not speak English and we didn't speak French was a minor inconvenience. In fact, the waitress was Spanish so I got to practice my language skills translating her description of the daily menu to the others. This is how I came to be in the situation of trying my best to hold a straight face while extolling the virtues of "head of the cow" to my friends whom I was pretty sure were going to eat whatever else the other option turned out to be. Sure enough, I was the only one that tried tête de veau. It sounds definitely more fancy when you say it in French. Delicious.
Top food of the day: paella
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