Corky has decided that he is now fluent in French … in other words he speaks English with a French ‘accent’! ‘Ello?
Today was the first day that it wasn’t beaming sunlight when we woke. It was a bit overcast and certainly colder than other days. Provence boasts over 2500 hours per year of sunshine but we could excuse it for not being so today. We decided to head to Tourtour about 15 minutes away especially since they had their markets on today. It was a very windy drive through many olive tree farms and almond trees as we slowly climbed higher and higher until we turned the last corner and sighted the incredible hillside town. On a clear day, from its heights you can see the Mediterranean coast. Yet another narrow laneway (one car each way at a time) through some ancient houses and into the town square. We love that when we drive through the locals stop and watch us. We also have the doubt in the back of our mind that we are doing the wrong thing (‘should we be driving through here?’), but we aren’t, they are just curious about us and our bus!!. We parked further up the hill below the church and then wandered through the town. The markets only consisted of a couple of stalls of homemade olive oils, spreads and tapenades etc, all which we taste-tested and which were delicious. I am always on the look out for the mysterious Truffle but have only come across truffle oils etc. It is probably the wrong season as I have also found out that the lavender fields I desired to see don’t start blooming till July.
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| House steps in Tourtour |
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| Market in Tourtour |
There were a few cute shops but everything was getting ready to close up for their lunchtime break and people were settling down at the restaurants and cafes for their long lunch, including many cyclists who deserved a break after the continual winding incline they have just riden to get here. This town is seen as something of a culinary village and we can imagine so with the lovely outdoor restaurants. We wandered back up the hill to our car and then over to the side where the incredible view of the valley starts and we saw a donkey head popping up. There were actually 7 donkeys all behind the little fence saying hello to us. As we chatted to them, over in the valley you could see a thunderstorm approaching and the occasional crack of thunder. We decided we had better head back down to Aups. Once in Aups, we positioned ourselves in the bar where it was warmer and had a drink while checking our emails. Sure enough for the hour we were there it thundered and there was a downpour of rain, the first we have seen in Provence. Once we emerged when the rain had stopped, the gush of water that was running down the street was incredible, like a small river and funnily enough disappearing at the end of the road right underneath a house. Apparently rainstorms, though infrequent at the moment, are heavy but short in duration.
SUNDAY 15 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Today is our 1 week anniversary in Provence and we decided to go for a long drive. We headed off to explore the further regions of our Var department; extend ourselves beyond our community of villages. We headed to Mons which is up in the mountains heading towards Italy, directly inland from Cannes on the coast. It took us just over an hour to get there but purely because of the roads which were narrow and very windy with many blind corners. Most roads were built for one car rather than two and as we began to climb up into the mountains the degree of driving difficulty increased dramatically. The roads were still narrow and windy against cliff edges with blind corners but we also faced steep cliffs dropping off the sides, with no support to stop you going over. There were many held breaths and sweaty palms. Being Sunday, every town we went through was like a ghost town especially being lunch time, so we didn’t have any opportunity to get petrol. As we got into Mons, we realised we had zero petrol (it read ---km on the monitor) so we thought we had better park and find out where the service station was rather than drive around and around.
Mons is an incredible village that is perched on rock in the Upper Var descending from the Provencal Alps at a height of 2673 feet (814 metres) and it is the highest in the district of Fayence. We went to the Tourist Information Office and asked if there was a service station here but unfortunately no, the nearest was in Fayence, about 16km down below. Oh dear! However for now we decided to enjoy our picnic in San Sebastian Square with the incredible view straight down the valley and across to Cannes on the coast. We could even see a cruise ship in the Cannes Harbour. The church in the square which also enjoyed this incredible view was built during the 12th and 13th centuries. Incredibly with all the churches and cathedrals throughout France, apparently only 10% of French people regularly attend church.
Sadly in 1348, the entire population of Mons was wiped out by the Black Death and colonists from the area around Genoa and Ventimiglia were brought in to replace them. Therefore the language of the people nowadays still conserves some Ligurian Italian words. Not sure what language was used at the time, but while we were enjoying the view and our baguettes, a fight broke out between a bunch of men near the carpark and a few punches were thrown. It was all very heated – maybe it is the descendant hot Italian blood in them. It eventually broke up when people intervened and separated the sparring duo but not before a few harsh words and fists connecting with faces.
In contrast to the heated squabble, there was a lovely game of boules being played under the shade of the trees in the square by a bunch of elderly men. We watched, quite entranced at their skill, Jack was itching to have a go. This definitely epitomized the small French village.
We had a wander around the narrow town which admittedly is like many others however it still captivates us with all the little ancient laneways and old buildings and beautiful doorways (which I love to photograph). Every now and then you caught a glimpse down a lane or behind a building of the sweeping views of the valley. What a lovely backdrop.
It was time to face the inevitable and try and get some petrol. We got in the car and assessed our situation … where should we try to get to to get petrol? How far was it? Will it be open, especially being Sunday? Fayence was the largest town closest to Mons, 16km away, so we decided to have a go for it and besides, it was downhill all the way! Each kilometre we saw the marker on the side of the road we counted down with joy ….. 13km …… 12km ….. 11km and each kilometre we counted down also was one less that we had to walk if we did run out of petrol. I was also concerned where we would also be able to leave our car since these single laned roads left no room for error. We rolled into Fayence and down through the town and practically spluttered into the service station, we were saved! We know now that even though we seem to have plenty of petrol, we shouldn’t underestimate how much it drains along these windy roads and misleads us to thinking we will be ok.
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| Fayence |
Despite our many country drives through barren landscapes and also forest areas, we have until now never had a sighting of any wildlife. That changed today when firstly we came across a red fox standing in the middle of the road, both of us (him and our car) staring each other down until he finally gave in a disappeared into the brush and our second sighting was a snake shimmering as fast as it could across the road before it became roadkill. We were satisfied, there is wildlife afterall.
We headed home via a different route to see some more villages on the way back. We went through Seillans where we took a wrong turn and ended up down the narrowest ever of dirt lanes that obviously purely was just for the use of the houses that led off it and at one point we had to back up 50m so a car could go pass, then we went through Bargemon, Montferrat, Chateaudouble and Ampus before we ended up again in Tourtour where we were yesterday. We stopped for an early evening ice cream but had to sit inside because the winds were so strong and cold and also before we left, Harry really wanted to see the ‘Konkeys’ again (donkeys). Unfortunately it was obviously too windy for them because they were nowhere to be seen today. The only good thing about the strong winds was that it blew the clouds and any haze away and we could see very clearly the Mediterranean coast.
Corky did an exceptional job of rally car driving our van to Mons and back, it certainly took a lot of concentration and preciseness, there was no room for error and often there were many crazy cyclists that added to the degree of difficulty. Home to stretch our limbs, un-sweat our palms and have our dinner.
MONDAY 16 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
A slow day in Provence today. The wind had died off and the sun was beaming and we all went for a swim. After lunch we headed back into Aups to do some food shopping for dinner and get an ice-cream for the kids. For the last several days now the fete has been in town and once again we all jumped on a dodgem car for a bit of fun then to the Intermarche for some more fun. Each of the kids grabs a mini-trolley and we clog the aisles as we try to find what ingredients we need. We definitely love this experience exploring all the different foods and delicacies. We eventually make it to the register where they quickly scan the food and throw it out the other side for us to frantically pack our own bags we have to bring with us. Today we were in even more of a rush to get back home because we had a date with the TV – ‘The Housewives of the Orange County’!! One of my favs! It started at 5.40pm and yes, we (well I guess I should say ‘I’) wanted to get back to watch it but of course today of all days on our lonely 12km stretch of road from Aups to Fox Amphoux, we encountered a farm tractor, an old couple having a Sunday drive in their van and 2 cyclists. Never fear, we made it only losing 10 minutes of showtime! I settled in with my glass of Rose and nibbles. Later Corky and Jack went for a bike ride though Corky had a bit of an incident when he fell off his bike while avoiding a car.
TUESDAY 17 MAY – FOX AMPHOUX near COTIGNAC, PROVENCE, FRANCE
Another day for exploring today. Off to the Gorges Du Verdon – the Grand Canyon of France (2nd only to the Grand Canyon in the USA). It was a superb day which made the trip even more glorious especially when we wound around and up the hills by the Lac De St Croix which just gleamed with turquoise. 
We wound further and further through the more increasingly barren landscape and up over the final hill where we commenced our drive around the canyon. The cliff faces were incredibly steep and unfortunately the roads were narrow and windy with blind corners, we had to be very careful. We stopped as often as we could to take a peak over the edge and the highest point we got to was 1180m above sealevel. We finally found an area where we could park and have our picnic though we didn’t want to sit too close to the edge because there was nothing to stop us falling off. While we were eating we could hear off in the far distance loud bangs, like thunder. We realised that a lot of this area was for the military and clearly the thunder sounds were them testing. Not really the peaceful mountainous serenity we were looking for.
Further around we wound through tunnels cut into the cliff faces and then off away from the deep canyon as we came out the other end.
We saw a sign heading toward Draginuan and decided to head there for dinner however as we were approaching down towards that area we had a brief glimpse of the coast in the distance so we changed destinations and decided on St Tropez for dinner. It only took us 30 minutes from where we were. It was a beautiful site when we arrived into St Maxime on the coast and saw the Mediterranean. It is amazing how different the lifestyles are from one area to another especially since they are so close geographically. We went from the humble Provincial people to the ritzy and flashy St Tropez crowd. We also dropped from 1180m above sea level to 0m in only just over 30 minutes.
Another thing I love about France is their cheap parking. I reckon it is because so many people just park their car anywhere – sidewalks, blocking streets etc that they have made the carparks cheap to encourage using them. Whatever the reason, our park was right in St Tropez and we happily left the car to wander around the old town. People were everywhere but noticably so many people were wearing red and white. Did we miss the memo? We found out that today is St Tropez’s ‘special’ day and they were celebrating with a parade through town. We lined the streets with everyone else and waited in anticipation because in the distance we could hear loud booming sounds and smoke rising. Before long around the corner the parade came – men dressed in old soldiers uniforms playing a band and then the second group had old musket style guns. They stopped, loaded their guns (using rods to push the gunpowder down inside) and then they fired into the ground. OMG! The bang was incredibly loud and it vibrated through our bodies. The smoke filled the surrounding area. Corky and I looked at each other with disbelief at the sound, the kids weren’t too impressed and kept their hands clamped against their ears. After the 2nd time and consequently Harry bursting into tears, we decided we had better move on before our hearing was impaired. Huh, what did you say? We wandered through the laneways looking at all the glorious shops and finally found a little restaurant to have dinner. Throughout dinner however, the booming sounds continued even though we seemed far enough away and we had to stop talking while the guns were fired. After dinner we headed back to our villa, the trip taking only 1 hour and 20 minutes which we didn’t think was too far at all. We felt a little forlorn coming back to our rural escape after the tempting highlights of the glamorous Riviera however we knew we would be back soon.
Till next installment ... x
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