Gray and Beze, Bourgogne

We visited two local villages today.  Gray is about 20 kms to the north east and actually in the Franche Comte department rather than Burgundy. It is a river side village which is major barge and river boat stop in the summer months.  It was once a walled city with a moat. It is separated into the old and new villages with much of the old village dating back to the 15 and 16th centuries.  Many of the houses have the traditional patterned roof seen in this area - some of them look like easter egg foil but they are all slate tiles laid in a pattern on the roof.  We had a picnic lunch down by the river - it was lovely.

Beze is about 10 kms on the southern side of our village.  It is the source of the Beze river which also runs through our village.  The river begins at a natural spring which arises from caves that run at the back of the village.  It is very very pretty.  There is an old abbey - now a school, with an old lavoir and pigioneer attached and the prettiest river running by.  The river runs all through the village and most of the houses sit next to it.

The Mairie in Gray with a beautiful patterned roof

the church in Gray

another beautiful tiled roof in Gray

part of the original wall and fortress from the city of Gray, now a museum and gallery

the church in Gray from the front

the bridge over the river at Gray from the picnic area

the lavoir and pigeoneer at Beze

Beze

the source of the Beze river

Beze

Our house and village in Burgundy

After a long drive up the A6 (the Autoroute de Soliel) from Provence we arrived in Burgundy - Bourgogne, in the freezing cold.

We left Avignon on a day that was forecast to be cold and knew we were coming to cooler weather so we dressed appropriately, then it turned out Avignon was glorious, sunny and warm.  So we started peeling off the layers.  Our first stop was about half an hour south of Lyon, and we soon started piling the layers back on - it was about 12 degrees!  By the time we arrived in our village of Revene - about 29 kms east of Dijon, at about 3.45, it was 5 degrees and snow was in the air.

The house is a stone manor house from the early 1700s.  The rooms are large and quite grand.  There is a wood heater - thank god - downstairs.  Upstairs the two bedrooms are large - the master is enormous with an original fire place and stone mantle about the width of our entire bedroom at home. The home has a gorgeous border collie called Alf as well - great for the kids.  We woke up on the second morning to a thick blanket of frost.

The village is interesting.  There are a lot of houses, a school, a largish Mairie, a lot of very old lavoirs (original washing and bathing houses) but only 1 boulangerie (bakery) open from 7am - 12.30pm, and no other shops at all - very strange.  The next nearest village though has a supermarket and other specialty shops and is about 7 kms away.  The area is odd, very rural - large green paddocks interspersed with the kind of chocolate brown soil you find on the NW coast of Tasmania, and then suddenly a village appears from nowhere!

There are lots of rivers and canals - this is real barge territory, and lots of beautiful old bridges, lavoirs, mills and pigioneers.

we have all been out and bought new boots, thermals, hats, gloves, scarves and jackets.

frost from the kids bedroom window

my new boots

the lounge room with fire and wifi

Alf the dog

the house

the lavoir in the village

Cannes, Nice, Monaco

We had a long road trip up the Cote d'Azur from Cannes to Monaco and back via Grasse.

Absolutely beautiful!  Cannes is a lovely port city.  bigger than I expected but still with a small city feel.  Beautiful shops - to remember where we parked we had to remember that our street had Hermes on one corner and Bulgari on the other! up the road was Dior, Louis Vuitton and Armani.

La Croisette is the boulevard and boardwalk that runs the length of the main beach.  It was really interesting.  there is a small public area and then you can walk along the waters edge along the beach. but the beach itself between the waters edge and the boardwalk is private - belonging to various hotels and restaurants.  If you walk along the boardwalk, its all restaurant or hotel entrances - you cant get to the beach at all, and if you want to have a drink and a sit on the beach it 14 euro for a sun chair then you buy the drink as well!!

We walked along to the Carlton Hotel and down onto their jetty and back along the beach.  the kids had a paddle - the water was so clear and blue and the sand was real!!

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a smaller beach up the coast so the kids could have a dip - it was bliss.

Then on to Monaco via a drive through of Nice - the coastline is spectacular.

The drive into Monaco is everything we expected and more - steep winding roads, amazing views, expensive cars everywhere - we parked the car and the cars near us were Bentleys, Rolls Royce, a couple of Ferraris, a lambourgini etc etc.  The main port is chock full of massive boats - most not cruise liners but private pleasure vessels the size of a small liner.  Near the port is the Royal palace and the old parts of the palace and the surrounding wall.

We drove part of the F1 racing circuit through the tunnels that run across the city - it all felt very James Bond!

I was sorry we didnt have more time to explore Monaco fully - but now we know we definitely want to go back.

We returned via Grasse but sadly the perfumeries were closing - again its on the list for next time!

La Croisette with the small walking area and the private cafes

Cannes beach

the famous Hotel Carlton

the cafes with sunlounges for hire

the kids paddling

monte carlo city centre with the royal palace behind

the port at Monte Carlo with private leisure boats

the port with the city behind

part of the Royal Palace grounds

the port and the city

Marseilles - almost not worth writing about!!

In between Gordes and Millau we went to Marseilles.  It is a huge city - Frances 2nd largest.  And totally disorganised.  Where cities like Montpellier and Avignon and Bordeaux have got transport and parking etc all sorted - Marseilles is a dogs breakfast.

We drove around for almost an hour - all the park and rides were full, all the other car parks were full.  The city is dirty, full of beggars and really really depressing.  A huge amount of low income housing tower blocks which just look like ghettos.

eventually we drove to the beaches on the edge of the city.  They were lovely and the coastline is quite magical.  we drove up and down for a bit and it is truly spectacular along the coast.  We stopped and had a picnic at the beach and Liam went for a paddle but it was quite windy and difficult.  All in all, a really disappointing day.  Marseilles as a city needs to get its act together, its probably quite pretty in the centre - but thats something we wont ever know!!

Millau

Went for a little drive to Millau to visit the Viaduct and amazing structure there.  The drive was actually quite cool, at one stage we rose to about 780 metres and the terrain was really different to what we had experienced previously. There were times we were actually in the clouds due to the misty kind of morning.  We initially drove the old road into Millau itself, i can only imagine how awful a drive it must have been, steep, winding, and in the mist - impossible to see.  But the view when it appeared in snatches over the edge down into the town was breathtaking.
The village of Millau is lovely and the Tarn River which runs through it was a hive of activity - canoes, kayaks, rafting etc -  really extraordinarily pretty.  There were people gliding and parachuting off the mountain too.
We went to the base of the bridge first to look up at it - an amazing feat of engineering for sure.  then we drove through the village to the top and hiked up a steep winding path to be level with the bridge.  that was truly breathtaking - the sheer size of the structure is just not possible to catch properly in photos.
After walking back down we finally drove over the bridge which actually forms part of the autoroute, and back home. The trip was about 2.5-3 hours each way but it was a good drive and well worth it. The kids loved it because they had seen a program on it last year with all the info on the building of it so they had some idea what they would be seeing which was great.
Off to a lovely local town today - its the source point for the rivers which run through this area and quite alpine in the foothills of Mont Ventoux.  Then Cannes, Nice and Monaco tomorrow!

Gordes and the Village des Boires

We visited the nearby village of Gordes, a spectacular cliff top village with houses clinging to the side of a cliff.  It is also the setting of much of the Russell Crowe movie, A Good Year.  Near the village is a now abandoned but reconstructed village made entirely of stone without any mortar.  The village is known as the Village des Boires - which is the name given to the type of hut constructed. It is believed to date back to the 12th century.  It is fascinating seeing all the different types of construction for dwellings, animal shelter, storage - even wine caves! There is the remnant of a herb and vegetable garden,  lots of olive trees, they grew cotton and silk worms, had sheep and goats.  They were entirely self sufficient up until the early 19th century when they abandoned the village to move to Gordes.  Even in Gordes, the construction of dry stone walls and buildings on a much larger scale is evident.

Avignon

Avignon is quite an amazing city.  it is entirely surrounded by over 4.5 kms of intact ramparts which  have been preserved.  within the walls is the Palace of the Popes.  Avignon was the Papal See in the 14th century and six successive Popes resided in the city.  Outside the ramparts is the remains of the Bridge - Pont D'Avignon or Pont St Benezet.  only about half the bridge remains as it was ravaged by a flooding Rhone river in 1680.  Even with the huge ramparts, the city was still flooded many times right up into the early 1900s which resulted in dams being built further up river.
Inside the walls, the city is lovely mixture of very very old and beautifully restored. Again, we were able to park out of the city (this time for free) and catch a little bus from the car park to the city centre -so convenient.
The only big downer of the city as with all major cities in France is the huge number of beggars, gypsies and scammers.
Other than that, it was a great city and a great learning experience for the kids.  The tourist attractions are well set out with lots of information in varying languages and we were all able to learn a lot.