So I've completely dropped the ball with blog writing on this trip. My apologies. I blame the wine, and my inability to write while riding in a car, not to mention that I brought my iPad instead of our netbook thinking it would be easier, and unfortunately I was very wrong. So I'm going to recap the first half of our trip in one mega-post. So grab a glass of wine and enjoy!
PS I apologise for any typos, etc. My iPad is set to UK English so autocorrects extras u's into my words and changes z's to s's often. Plus, I lost parts of this several times and if I look at it anymore, I might pass out, haha.
Day 1 - Calais to Dijon, Aug 7
Really this was Day 2 of our trip because we drove from our house to Dover, England the night before. But since we didn't make it to France, I decided not to count it, haha.
We woke up in the guest house in Dover early, had a lovely breakfast, and then headed down the road to the ferry port. After a surprisingly painless trip through border control, we and our car loaded onto the ferry. The ferry journey was easy enough, only taking about an hour and a half, and then voila! we were in France! We drove off the ferry in Calais without much fuss onto the roads of France...on the right side of the road, but in a British car (steering wheel on the right)...thank goodness Jay was driving because I wouldn't have stood a chance!
Day 1 was mostly driving. It took us about 6 hours or so to get to Dijon on surprisingly nice, wide, uncrowded roads. The one shocker was the tolls...you get your ticket, drive for hours, then pay a hefty toll - anywhere from 20 to 40 Euros at a time. Yikes!
We arrived in Dijon, checked into our little hotel, and headed out to explore. We found ourselves in a gorgeous, huge open courtyard slash plaza called Place Liberation (I think). There was a lovely fountain, and tons of restaurants with outdoor seating. We ambled down a side street and decided on a nice little restaurant that wasn't too crowded (and not gonna lie, they had a menu in English available and with my poor French skills having been dormant for years, we decided to take it slow, haha). The food was delicious (I had scallops that were to die for, which interestingly are called St. Jacques here) and of course the wine was lovely. After dinner, it was just a nice stroll back to our hotel for an early evening...another long drive lie ahead of us.
Day 2 - Dijon to Avignon, Aug 8
We awoke relatively early and a lovely breakfast - fresh coffee and orange juice, pain au chocolat, croissants and baguettes with butter and jam. Delicious. Then we hit the road for our last big drive for a while. Another 6 or so hours in the car and another obscene amount of money in tolls and we arrived in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon, a little village about 15 minutes west of Avignon. We arrived at an adorable guest house where we had a lovely terrace and access to a gorgeous pool with sun loungers and a pool house with free wine (that's right...free wine - it was in a box, but as we found out even cheap French wine is good wine). We were more than happy to make this our home base for 3 nights. It was early evening by the time we arrived so we settled into our room and then laid by the pool and read for a bit before getting ready for dinner. For dinner, we wandered into he village to a local restaurant for a pitcher of wine and yummy French food.
Day 3 - Avignon, Aug 9
We awoke well rested and greeted by a delicious breakfast on the tree shaded open terrace. We again found ourselves drinking fresh OJ and coffee and munching on pastries and baguettes with jam. Here the jam was homemade (so delicious) and there was also fresh fruit and yogurt.
After stuffing ourselves we dressed, packed our backpack and headed to Avignon. Avignon is a neat little city, surrounded by a high wall and bordered by a river with many bridges. Our first stop in Avignon was to do a little sight-seeing of the Palais des Papes and its gardens. We enjoyed strolling through the city, enjoying a leisurely lunch (I has a salad with smoked salmon and a sea bream mango tartare that was so delicious and had a prosciutto salad he said was divine).
After lunch we discovered a great little wine shop that offered tastings. You put money on a little card (a cross between a hotel gift card and a credit card) and then simply put it into one of these cool machines, pressed the button fore the amount you amount you wanted (1, 2, or 3 ounces) above the bottle you wanted to try, and out came your wine! One of the store's clerks spoke great English and gave us a great little lesson on the different wine regions on the area. We had a great time and walked away with two bottles of great wine. After that, we enjoyed a little gelato before heading out of the heat and back to the luxurious coolness of our inn's pool.
Instead of eating out, on our way home we picked up some dinner supplies (cheese, baguettes, humus, wine, salami, chocolate, grapes and nectarines) and enjoyed an evening reading by (and in) the pool and dinner on our terrace.
Day 4 - Avignon, Aug 10
On our second day in Provence, we started out early (after another fantastic breakfast) to see Orange before the afternoon heat hit. Orange was a 30min drive north, and our Marian goal was to see the Theatre Antique, a Roman amphitheatre built somewhere between 27BC and AD14 to seat 10,000 spectators. It has been extremely well preserved and we were absolutely impressed by its sheer size and remarkably good state.
After leaving Orange, we decided to escape the heat by doing some proper wine tasting - we were in France after all. We started in a little family run vineyard where we tasted a few wines and bought a couple bottles (Domaine de Fontavin in Courthézon). Then we headed over to a tasting room slash wine shop just down the road (also in Courthézon) called Cellier des Princes. The woman who did our tasting spoke fantastic English, and was extremely knowledgable, friendly, and helpful. We had a great time with her, tasting nearly 15 wines. The wine was delicious, and not being able to help ourselves we bought 10 bottles!! Even more shocking was that it only cost 80 Euros! We also got great advice on which bottles to keep and age for a few years and which we can drink sooner - we're really looking forward to breaking some of those bottles open for future wedding anniversaries!
After that, it was a trip into one of the wine capitals of Provence, Chateauneuf du Pape. We really didn't have a plan upon arriving and pretty much just happened upon a little vineyard tasting room. Inside, we were lucky enough to walk into a cellar tour and tasting that had just started for another couple, so we joined in and enjoyed an informative explanation of how they make their wine and the different strict regulations they have to adhere to. Then we has a little mini-class in how to taste wine while we sample three different varieties of their wine. It was really fun and we actually learned a lot! We also walked away with another bottle of wine (a really nice one that will be best after being aged 3 to 5 years), bringing our grand total to 15 bottles.
Yet again, we returned to our lovely little inn for one last night of relaxing by the pool and then dinner in the village. This time we found a quirky little restaurant that felt a bit like eating in someone's backyard (complete with our waitress taking a smoke and cell phone break at the table next to us, haha), but the food and wine were tasty.
PS I apologise for any typos, etc. My iPad is set to UK English so autocorrects extras u's into my words and changes z's to s's often. Plus, I lost parts of this several times and if I look at it anymore, I might pass out, haha.
Day 1 - Calais to Dijon, Aug 7
Really this was Day 2 of our trip because we drove from our house to Dover, England the night before. But since we didn't make it to France, I decided not to count it, haha.
We woke up in the guest house in Dover early, had a lovely breakfast, and then headed down the road to the ferry port. After a surprisingly painless trip through border control, we and our car loaded onto the ferry. The ferry journey was easy enough, only taking about an hour and a half, and then voila! we were in France! We drove off the ferry in Calais without much fuss onto the roads of France...on the right side of the road, but in a British car (steering wheel on the right)...thank goodness Jay was driving because I wouldn't have stood a chance!
Day 1 was mostly driving. It took us about 6 hours or so to get to Dijon on surprisingly nice, wide, uncrowded roads. The one shocker was the tolls...you get your ticket, drive for hours, then pay a hefty toll - anywhere from 20 to 40 Euros at a time. Yikes!
We arrived in Dijon, checked into our little hotel, and headed out to explore. We found ourselves in a gorgeous, huge open courtyard slash plaza called Place Liberation (I think). There was a lovely fountain, and tons of restaurants with outdoor seating. We ambled down a side street and decided on a nice little restaurant that wasn't too crowded (and not gonna lie, they had a menu in English available and with my poor French skills having been dormant for years, we decided to take it slow, haha). The food was delicious (I had scallops that were to die for, which interestingly are called St. Jacques here) and of course the wine was lovely. After dinner, it was just a nice stroll back to our hotel for an early evening...another long drive lie ahead of us.
Plaza in Dijon.
Requisite self-portrait in Dijon.
Day 2 - Dijon to Avignon, Aug 8
We awoke relatively early and a lovely breakfast - fresh coffee and orange juice, pain au chocolat, croissants and baguettes with butter and jam. Delicious. Then we hit the road for our last big drive for a while. Another 6 or so hours in the car and another obscene amount of money in tolls and we arrived in Saint-Saturnin-lès-Avignon, a little village about 15 minutes west of Avignon. We arrived at an adorable guest house where we had a lovely terrace and access to a gorgeous pool with sun loungers and a pool house with free wine (that's right...free wine - it was in a box, but as we found out even cheap French wine is good wine). We were more than happy to make this our home base for 3 nights. It was early evening by the time we arrived so we settled into our room and then laid by the pool and read for a bit before getting ready for dinner. For dinner, we wandered into he village to a local restaurant for a pitcher of wine and yummy French food.
Jay at dinner.
Day 3 - Avignon, Aug 9
We awoke well rested and greeted by a delicious breakfast on the tree shaded open terrace. We again found ourselves drinking fresh OJ and coffee and munching on pastries and baguettes with jam. Here the jam was homemade (so delicious) and there was also fresh fruit and yogurt.
After stuffing ourselves we dressed, packed our backpack and headed to Avignon. Avignon is a neat little city, surrounded by a high wall and bordered by a river with many bridges. Our first stop in Avignon was to do a little sight-seeing of the Palais des Papes and its gardens. We enjoyed strolling through the city, enjoying a leisurely lunch (I has a salad with smoked salmon and a sea bream mango tartare that was so delicious and had a prosciutto salad he said was divine).
Jay's scrumptious lunch.
After lunch we discovered a great little wine shop that offered tastings. You put money on a little card (a cross between a hotel gift card and a credit card) and then simply put it into one of these cool machines, pressed the button fore the amount you amount you wanted (1, 2, or 3 ounces) above the bottle you wanted to try, and out came your wine! One of the store's clerks spoke great English and gave us a great little lesson on the different wine regions on the area. We had a great time and walked away with two bottles of great wine. After that, we enjoyed a little gelato before heading out of the heat and back to the luxurious coolness of our inn's pool.
Instead of eating out, on our way home we picked up some dinner supplies (cheese, baguettes, humus, wine, salami, chocolate, grapes and nectarines) and enjoyed an evening reading by (and in) the pool and dinner on our terrace.
Day 4 - Avignon, Aug 10
On our second day in Provence, we started out early (after another fantastic breakfast) to see Orange before the afternoon heat hit. Orange was a 30min drive north, and our Marian goal was to see the Theatre Antique, a Roman amphitheatre built somewhere between 27BC and AD14 to seat 10,000 spectators. It has been extremely well preserved and we were absolutely impressed by its sheer size and remarkably good state.
Self-portrait at the Roman Theatre
After leaving Orange, we decided to escape the heat by doing some proper wine tasting - we were in France after all. We started in a little family run vineyard where we tasted a few wines and bought a couple bottles (Domaine de Fontavin in Courthézon). Then we headed over to a tasting room slash wine shop just down the road (also in Courthézon) called Cellier des Princes. The woman who did our tasting spoke fantastic English, and was extremely knowledgable, friendly, and helpful. We had a great time with her, tasting nearly 15 wines. The wine was delicious, and not being able to help ourselves we bought 10 bottles!! Even more shocking was that it only cost 80 Euros! We also got great advice on which bottles to keep and age for a few years and which we can drink sooner - we're really looking forward to breaking some of those bottles open for future wedding anniversaries!
Wine country!!
After that, it was a trip into one of the wine capitals of Provence, Chateauneuf du Pape. We really didn't have a plan upon arriving and pretty much just happened upon a little vineyard tasting room. Inside, we were lucky enough to walk into a cellar tour and tasting that had just started for another couple, so we joined in and enjoyed an informative explanation of how they make their wine and the different strict regulations they have to adhere to. Then we has a little mini-class in how to taste wine while we sample three different varieties of their wine. It was really fun and we actually learned a lot! We also walked away with another bottle of wine (a really nice one that will be best after being aged 3 to 5 years), bringing our grand total to 15 bottles.
Yet again, we returned to our lovely little inn for one last night of relaxing by the pool and then dinner in the village. This time we found a quirky little restaurant that felt a bit like eating in someone's backyard (complete with our waitress taking a smoke and cell phone break at the table next to us, haha), but the food and wine were tasty.
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