Travel another way

Still from Joan’s diary, one of our guests on our tours for women to Provence.

Cathedrale D’Images is one of the most incredible things I have seen and I can only hope to describe this with some accuracy. We drove about 40 min through the town of St. Remy to the village of Chateau des Baux. Another medieval hilltop village built in stone surrounding a huge castle. This area is very rocky, there are enormous cliffs of solid rock.  Very close by (15 min walk) there is  a quarry that excavated the stone for about 100 years. The remains of the quarry include a vast stone ‘cave’ dug into the hillside. This site has been transformed into Cathedral D’Images. (Google it!)

The walls of the cave are enormous, 50 feet tall. You enter into the dark cave and upon these massive walls are projected images of Van Gogh’s art and some background on the artist. This is all set to dramatic classical music. On one wall you see a self portrait of Van Gogh (20′x30′), on the adjoining wall is a close up of his eyes, 30′x40′. Then the images change to the days when he painted in Provence. And then to his tormented final days in Auvers. 

There were images projected on close to 25 walls, plus some on the floor, all of it on a very large scale. Between the images and the dramatic music you get sensation of being in the paintings. It is truly remarkable and quite  moving. It gave me goosebumps. Joan D., San Jose California

Still from Joan’ s diary (one of our guests on our tour to Provence).

After our field trip to the manade in Camargue (see previous post), Jackie drove us about 15 min to Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, a town right on the Mediterranean. This town is a favorite with the French people because it is sunny, beautiful, simple and NOT touristy. Les Saintes Maries de la Mer is also known as being the town where all the gyspy folk gather. (I was SO excited to hear about the gypsy people that I was singing ‘Gypsys, tramps and thieves…’ in the van.) Les Ste Maries de la Mer has lots of seafood joints and of course beef. Now before you say ‘oh no, they ate Gastion’ you should know that bulls compete from age 3 to age 12 or so. They then ‘retire’ and go on to live to old age, dying at 18-22 years of age. Only the least aggressive bulls, the ones that never quite measure up as a competitor or a stud, go off to slaughter. Its a very small percentage, and because of that, the meat from the bull is considered a regional specialty. Also, when a champion bull dies, he is buried in a deep grave, standing up, facing the ocean. Its considered an honor to be buried this way. (Maybe I should change my final request to include a beach chair and a good book.) So yes I had bull for lunch, along with the local rice. Hey, I’m allergic to seafood so when in Camargue….

After lunch we drove just a few minutes to Camargue Parc Naturel (Nature Reserve) where we met up with an ornithologist (Fred) who took us on a walk around the a bird reserve. We got to see many species- herons, ducks, egrets, swans, vultures, storks, owls, coots, and hundreds and hundreds of pink flamingos!! This nature reserve/aviary started about 30 years go in the marshy area once known for hunting. Now it is home to tens of thousands of birds, some of which come and go with the season and others who like it so much they just stay. The center is also where all rescued and/or injured birds are taken for treatment, convalescence and in most cases eventual release back into the wild. The only birds in cages are those requiring special care. Many birds throughout Europe are tagged with leg bands, so when they see a new face in the crowd with a black leg band they know he came from Germany. That way researchers can track migration trends. It was yet another interesting day here in France.

Pink Flamingos in the Naturel park of Camargue

As a final note I’d like to mention that we had another Wonderful dinner back at La Bastide du Bois Breant, our Inn. I guess it was only fitting that since I had bull for lunch that we all had duck for dinner, followed by Profiteroles au Chocolat. Sorry mes amis Daffy and Donald, but dinner was delicious! Joan D from California.

Still from our guest’s diary: Joan, San Jose, California.

Dedication: to Nancy L., whose voice I heard, smile I saw, joy I felt during today’s trip. You would have had a blast.

Today was quite a day. I have to say that when Jackie put together this Provence tour, she must have figured all of us would be doing the ’sitting by the river at a little cafe sipping Cafe au Lait or Pastis’ thing on our own in Paris. (Correct assumption) Therefore, she makes sure we experience things we NEVER would have experienced if we took larger, more rigid tours. Or if we had come as individuals just traveling the world.

Today was not a “tourist” day, today was a “field trip” (pun intended) and there was a test!! How many of you knew that France has cowboys?  Yup, cowboys. And horses! Lots of white horses, the majority of which are wild. What do the horses do? They herd the WILD BOOOLS. (That’s bulls with a french accent) I am serious. Thousands of ‘em. Camargue is about 90 min drive south of our tiny village of Maubec and is technically not in Provence. It’s a delta region situated where the Rhone River empties into the Mediterranean. The land is very marshy and has a high salt content, so farming is limited to rice and occasionally wheat. Here, farmers are ranchers. We went to Manade (ranch) Thibaud. He was a very simple, local farmer who agreed to show us around. He had us hop into the flat bed trailer hooked to his tractor and we zoomed off into yonder fields.

Okay, more like crawled, but there’s a good reason for that. He took us out to watch cowboy-mounted horses ’select’ bulls to separated from the herd. (By the way, not for bull fighting purposes, but for another type competition). The horses will select a bull, break into a trot and the bull will start trotting to get away from the horse, then the horse gallops and the bull runs away, usually off to join another bull off yonder. But wait! That bull off yonder has a bell around his neck! That’s because he has been observed to be a natural leader in the herd and therefore is considered head boool. So after the horses select 5 or 6 bulls, all of whom run away from the horses and begin to gather around their leader with the bell, the head bull leads them to the trailer to get them loaded up to go to the arena for “race Camarguaise”. This is a local competitive sport where the only one who might get hurt is the human. So apparently only the most aggressive (and therefore most competitive) bull will attempt to escape the horses. These bulls are then trucked to the nearby arena and have tassels tied to their horns. (How humiliating) The object of the sport is for these 18-29 year old skillfully trained (hotties) men to take the tassels off the (really angry) bulls without getting, well, you know, KILLED. Young boys of 9 and 10 go off to special schools to learn how to be good bull detasselers. Mr.Thibaud said they have to be good at running fast and jumping really high so they can leap out of the ring for safety. (The men, not the bulls) Wusses. Anyway- so here we are, out in Messuier Thibaud’s field (I did mention that this is a field trip) on this flatbed trailer and sure enough we’re transported into the movie ‘City Slickers’ and all these bulls get herded in by beautiful white horses ridden by Camargaise cowboys. Yeee-Ha!!.

One guardian “cow-boy” from the manade Thibauld

So sure enough the horses would be milling around and the bulls would be trying to avoid them. Then, a bull would be bold enough to make a break for it – and it’d be over. Horse 1, bull zip. By the way, the ranchers breed their bulls to their cows but its more like letting nature take its course than like matchmaker international. Incredibly, the ranchers name ALL the bulls. So when the horses select a particular bull and begin to trot after the bull (who is trying to act like ‘who, me?’) The cowboy will call out the bulls name. (that’s why they need the cowboys) That way the other bulls know to go off (quite relieved) in another direction while “Javert” gets escorted off to join the bull with the bell. The bulls are kept out in the fields away from humans, horses and dogs. They naturally shun the company of others and they are not fed or supported in anyway other than receiving veterinary care. They eat grass and stay outside 24/7/365. This keeps the bulls ‘wild’ and aggressive. I’d be aggressive too if I had to sleep outside. According to Mr. Thibaud no 2 bulls look exactly alike, so that’s how they know their names.

Wild bulls from the manade Thibauld.

After our tractor-tour we then walked way out to another field to see the “best bull”. We were behind fences now, so it was ’safe’… or so it seemed. As we were hiking out we kept dodging piles of bull-stuff. Mr. Thibaud explained that the reason BS was on our path was because his Best Bull would break out of the pasture he was kept in, hop the fence, swim across a creek, hop another fence and hang out in the field closest to the barn and other bulls and cows. Every day this bull does this and everyday they move him further away to keep him aggressive. We all cooed “oh, but he must be sooo lonely” but let me tell you- this Bull – his name is Gastion – looked pissed off to see 8 women hanging out by ‘his’ fence. The other bulls were ignoring us, and when Mr.Thibaud said ‘Gastion is the 4th bull from the right’ we saw many thousands of pounds of snorting bull just staring at us. When we learned that the fence we were standing at was the one he jumps over every day, we weren’t quite as tickled. But man was this fun. Reminded me of my childhood, hanging out in the pastures belonging to the nearby stables waiting for anything on 4 legs to get close enough to the fence for me to jump onto. We walked back to the van and piled in and Jackie drove us about 15 min to Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. (to be posted tomorrow). From Joan, San Jose, California

Joan and Eppie

Travel notes from Joan, San Jose, California.

“Today we began our day in Gordes (silent ‘es’) visiting an olive farm and mill (moulin). The owner/farmer/operator showed us his olive crop, and explained harvesting and pruning and overall care of his crop. He invited us into his mill and took the 8 of us through the process of making olive oil. While his mill is very small compared to huge commercial mills in Spain, it is typical for Provence. He mills not only his own oil but also for several other local olive growers. This was fascinating and interesting.

Joan and Andre, the olive mill owner

Our host Andre Horard spoke only French and Jackie interpreted. It is great that Jackie has arranged all of these intimate tours with private farmers and business people. Both Andre and Florent (from the winery) shared local and personal family history that really adds a lot to the tour. We get to see and learn things that the larger tours don’t get to. After learning the processing and grading of olive oil, Andre invited us to sample his variety of oils and tapenades. He even served some wine, which he doesn’t make, but it goes well with his olives!

The group acting silly!

After this we traveled 30 miles to the hilltop village of Roussillon. (Google it!) This tiny 18th century village is famous because it is a striking red color. There is a high quantity of ochre in the rock and soil and it makes the landscape red, gold, orange, terracotta and pink. And since the locals would build using whatever natural resource is available, the whole town is reddish. Beautiful.

Joan in the ochre canyon, in Roussillon.

After a hike and a few hours walking around the village we hopped back in the van and drove to St. Didier to attend a tour and demonstration of Nougat making. Nougat is a specialty confection of Provence. St. Didier is a quaint, non-touristy 18th century village where the Sylvain brothers Pierre and Philippe operate a farm where they grow their own almonds and keep bees for their honey and make a premier nougat. Trust me, I stood in their kitchen and ate it while it was still warm. Awesome! Some of that is coming home, too. With all this sampling, who can find room for dinner? Well, I managed.

Nougat tasting

Nougat making demo

Dinner time with our small group (no bigger than 10 including our guides) is always a fun social event filled with stories and joking and laughter and (amazingly) not a lot of wine. Jackie and Valerie tell us what we’re doing the next day and answer many questions we have about the menu, food, customs and history. They shared their stories from growing up in Belgium (Jackie) and Southwestern France (Valerie). The end of another great day in Provence.”

From Joan’s diary

Salut! Our Wednesday began with a visit to Pont du Gard. This is truly a world class sight to see. This still-intact bridge is actually part of an aqueduct that once was 31 miles long and was designed to bring water from the city of Uzes to the city of Nimes. Most of it has been destroyed over the  centuries. Where it crosses the Gard River it stands 150 ft tall and is 825 feet long. A series of arches on 3 levels, Pont du Gard has been considered an artistic and architectural masterpiece since it was built 2000 years ago by the Roman Empire. The museum was very good and did a good job presenting all the information. Hearing and reading about all of the excesses and opulence of the Roman Empire, and how the abundance of water for use in the Roman Baths, for (over)  consumption and often ‘just for show’ reminded me of current day Las Vegas. They say it took 1000 men 5 years to build!  One of our group is an engineer and she stayed the whole day to learn and admire  this incredible structure. 

The rest of us moved on to the medieval village of Gordes.  Settled around 1300, this walled village is built around a large Castle which was built upon a MASSIVE rock atop a big hill over looking plains, lavender fields and vineyards. Man, what an impressive sight. The best (only) way to get a picture of Gordes is to take it from a distance of 2 or 3 miles.  Gordes is famous and regarded one of the most impressive villages in France. Walking around inside the village I felt like I was trespassing on a movie set. I kept looking around expecting to see a knight in chain maile clanking through the narrow streets. It was very cool. Picture Robin Hood, “Ever After” or even “Romeo and Julliette” and you can imagine what its like.  The streets are so narrow, maybe 8 feet wide. Only foot traffic of course, and the streets are all shadowed by the height of the castle.  Only the signs promoting an art gallery, a bakery or post office (even Pizza!)  held me in the 21st century. No meals or activities here, just strolling and soaking up the experience.

As if this wasn’t enough, on our way home we stopped at a Lavender farm and spent an hour learning about the process of farming, harvesting and processing pure, fine Lavender, which, to my surprise, is indigenous only to Provence. If its not from Provence, its not fine lavender. We are definitely learning new things every day.

Out to dinner in the nearby village of Isle sur la Sorgue. Back home to watch a little CNN. Joan D., California

While on our tour in Provence, I lend my pen to some of our wonderful guests. Yesterday, it was Joan.; toady Kathy and Susan want to tell you about their stay with us.

“On Monday we went to the town of Chateau Neuf du Pape (new chateau of the popes—-the French Popes summer home) which is world renowned for its wine.  We went to a small winery and the owner gave us a tour and taught us the finer points of wine tasting.  I even had some and learned about swirling, smelling and “arches and legs”.  Lots of laughs accompanied the tasting.  A wonderful lunch in an outdoor cafe and then we were off to make chocolate with a delightful chocolate maker.  Dinner at a restaurant near the farmhouse and the end of a busy day.

Then, Tuesday, we spent the morning with a local producer of olive oil.  His passion for everything olive was contagious.  I did not know that olive oil is made from the total olive including the pit!  And then, of course, we were able to sample lots of olive oil.  Noon, found us in the town of Roussillon where the scenery is gorgeous with its red cliffs of ochre and lots of shops.  Then we were off on a windy road to the village of St. Didier where a family owned nougat shop is found.  We were able to see nougat being made and sample as much of their nougat and other specialties as we wanted.  The almonds and honey used to make the nougat are grown by the family locally so the ingredients are very, very fresh.  Back to the hotel and again a nearby restaurant.”

Susan and Kathy, Castro Valley, California

Wine-tasting in Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape.

Yesterday we spent the day in the town of Avignon, during the morning we went to the largest open market in all of Provence. Awesome. Everything from Herbs and linens to clothing, antiques and baby pigs and goats.

In the afternoon we went to the old (medieval) city of Avignon. It’s contained within a totally intact wall that’s 3 miles long with 39 towers and 16 gates.  The massive Palais de Papes (palace of the popes) is inside the gates. We walked around the village and through the Palace. It was another beautiful sunny warm day.
  

We are staying in the tiny village of Maubec-au-Luberon, at the base of the foothills to the Luberon. Picture old (1800’s) french farmhouses with blue shutters and lots of flowers and that’s where we’re staying. Its like being in a painting or postcard. All in all we are having a lot of fun as a group. 3 sit-down meals a day seems indulgent.

Anyone know the fat grams in rabbit? That’s what we had for dinner last night. (Tastes like chicken)  How is it that I feel so bad eating cute little wabbits when I don’t feel nearly as bad eating 3 pounds of stinky cheese with 4 loaves of bread? Kerri, you’d be in cheese heaven.  We’re in the van on our way to Chateauneuf-du-Pape, (its the name of the village) to visit wineries that make Chateauneuf du Pape wine and to go to a chocolatier to learn and participate in making chocolate. Can you picture Lucy and Ethel at the candy factory? I’m going to sign off and watch the great local landscape. Stay tuned. Joan

From Joann, California

Today is day 2 of our Escapade to Provence. On day 1, not much happened, since the group had just arrived.

I told everyone that we would leave by 9:15 on Sunday morning to go to the market for some shopping but Eppie thought that 3 hours shopping would not be enough! She would have left at 6am if that had been an option! So we left by 9am with everyone else ’s ok.

The market in Isle sur la Sorgue is the biggest Provencal market in Provence. In addition to the regular food market, on Sundays, they also have an antique market. That is enough to keep you busy for a day but half a day was a perfect timing for everyone.

We then went for lunch to Avignon and then took a walking tour to the best  view point in the palace of the Popes’ gardens, so that everybody could see the famous Pont d’ Avignon. Afterwards we visited the 13th century Palace of the Popes, where we were told all about the history of the 9 popes who lived in Avignon instead of Italy.

Today was  a special day in France and also in Avignon (beside the fact that we were there!!!).  Once a year, the government organize the “journees du patrimoine”, meaning days celebrating national heritage buildings and monuments. Most of the museums are free and some place which are closed to the public all year long, are open on those days. Therefore, they were a big crowd in the papal city of Avignon, but it was not too crazy and everyone enjoyed that beautiful day, especially because  on top of it all, the sun was shining and the temperature just right.

Tomorrow will be a day in Chateau-Neuf-Du-Pape. We will find out if the 2008 harvest for the famous wine will be a good one!

Kelly, Gail, Eppie, Joan, Suzan, Kathy, Jill and Ann in front of the Palace of the Popes.

From http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9773

Jean Sarkozy, the son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has not only followed in his father’s footsteps by embarking on a career in politics, but also by walking down the aisle in 2008.

After a two-month engagement, Jean Sarkozy, married his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Saubon, on Sept 10, 2008. The young couple exchanged vows in a small civil ceremony in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the posh Paris suburb. So privé was the wedding that guests were informed of the event only by text message. Apparently, President “Bling-Bling” Sarko (who married his current wife, former model and singer Carla Bruni, within four months of their introduction), didn’t plan the modest nuptials.  

Alas, the celebrations may have been tarnished as news of the wedding resurrected talk of cartoonist Maurice Sinet, 79, who was fired in July from Charlie Hebdo, the Paris political saritirical weekly, for a remark he made in his column about Jean and Jessica that critics — and later the publication — deemed anti-Semitic.

Saubon, heiress to the Darty family fortune, is Jewish. When the young couple announced their engagement this summer, rumors began to circulate that Jean was planning to convert to Judaism. Though young Mr. Sarkozy, a Catholic, has Jewish roots (Nicolas Sarkozy’s grandfather was Jewish), he and his family made haste to dispel the myth. Sinet, however, used it as fodder for his column and took a shot at Jean:

“[He] has just said that he wants to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancée, a Jew and heiress of the founders of Darty. He will go far in this life, the little one!”

Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Phillipe Val, initially asked Sinet to apologize and retract the statement, which suggested that by converting Jean was elevating his financial status, an idea that smacks of the old stereotype about Jews and money. Read more at http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9773

The ancient Mediterranean sea port of Marseilles – today a bustling city of over 1 million inhabitants – has won the race to become the European Capital of Culture in 2013, beating fellow French rivals Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse.

A historic city and major international port, Marseilles successfully showcased its Mediterranean routes, positioning itself as a bridge between Europe and the South.

Backed by neighboring towns in the Provence region, Marseilles presented an ambitious package featuring 74 artistic projects for a budget of 98 billion euros. The program includes an eagerly awaited exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous writer Albert Camus.

You may want to visit this exciting city before meeting us in Avignon for a cooking tour or a cultural tour in Provence with French Escapade.

Belgian historian Jo Gerard recounts that potatoes were already fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of “the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium: “The poor inhabitants of this region had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals.”

So why are they called “French fries” and not ” Belgian fries”? It is claimed that the term “French” was introduced when British or American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I and tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them “French”, as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.

Whether or not Belgians invented them, “frites” became the national snack and a substantial part of both national dishes — making the Belgians their largest per capita consumers in Europe, and their “symbolic” creators.

You can find ‘friteries” everywhere on the street. And don’t forget, we don’t eat fries with ketchup but with mayonnaise. Our guests ate them this way when traveling with us in Belgium and they loved it.

Today we had some free time in the afternoon, so some of us decided to try the “rail-bike”. That sounded very easy and flat. It wasn’t really that easy! The six of us formed two teams and up we went on the rail bike.

Rima, Caryl and Jac took off very fast. Barb, Valerie and Karen were behind, trying to catch up. Karen had  great ways of motivating her pals: 1, 2, 3, 4 up and 1,2,3,4 down, or “mush, mush”!. And it paid off! They caught up with us.

We had to switch partners since only 2 of 3 people could pedal on the bike. I replaced Rima who rested and then replaced Caryl. But that wasn’t enough. Valerie, Barb and Karen were still tailing us. Halfway, we all had to stop, not only for a drink (no beer this time, we were too tired, so just water) but because the bike needed to be turned around on the rail so that we could bike back the way we came. On the way back, it was all downhill so very easy.

That was really fun but we felt it the next day, in our thighs. Oh well, it was way worse it.

And the winner team was…

Belgium is famous for its festivals. But not all cities have one. In addition, the festivals are different depending on the region you are in and even the village you are in. On our tour to Belgium with French Escapade, we attended the festival in Hermalle, in Wallonia region. Jac, our tour leader, knew about the festival because she used to live in a village nearby. She had contacted the organizers of the festival to let them know that a small group of Americans were coming to the festival. They were thrilled; that was a first for them.

For us, Americans, it was a real culture shock. Hundreds of couple dressed up like for proms, parading in the street, following a band.

There were two teams: the Blue and the Red,not because of the color of their costumes but because  it used to be a political color. It is not the case anymore. They walked and danced in the street, then would stop every 30 minutes for a drink graciously offered by home owners on their way. The 2 teams didn’t meet each other until the end of the evening. At that time, there was a fight but it is not what you might think. The way they fight is through playing and dancing. The two bands faced each other and tried to play louder than the other one and the team of couples were dancing to the music. They both played different musics at the same time and it was really surprising. The winning team was the one dancing the longest.

That was something. Of course, we got our Belgian beers while watching the festival. By the way, they are delicious and way stronger that the ones in have in the US.

We can say we were immersed in the local Belgian culture. Jac introduced us to the organizers who spoke a bit of English. They were very friendly to us.

Honestly that was one of the highlight of the tour. And by the way, I would not call it a tour but rather a Belgian experience. This is what Jac and Valerie are able to provide, like no other tour leaders would.

That was my best tour ever.

A Belgian Escapader

Today, on our Belgian escapade, we attended a pastry workshop where pastry chef Ivan taught us all the secrets on how to make delicious speculoos.

But first, do you do what a speculoos is?  

The speculoos is a traditional Belgian cookie which was initially eaten for Saint Nicolas. But it became so popular that speculoos started to be baked all year round. You can now have them served with your cup of coffee, but also  as speculoos ice cream. The word speculoos comes from the Latin ‘species’ (spices) because you can add may spices when making them.

To learn how to bake them, we went to the Museum of Bread, in the Harze castle. After a wonderful lunch in the castle, we met Ivan who first demonstrated the basic steps to make a successful dough, and we then started to make our own cookie dough. We used the following ingredients: eggs, water, spices (mainly cinnamon) brown sugar, flour, yeast, baking soda and butter.

Karen and Rima working the dough with the help of Chef Ivan.

From L to R: Jac (our tour guide), Dianna and Mary Anne weighing the dough

It was extremely fun!

Now, do you want to know the secret? Working and pounding the dough with one hand was the secret ! The chef kept reminding us this rule, so that we could use our clean hand to add the ingredients.

After shaping our speculoos, we set them in the oven, and while they were cooking, we had a charming guided tour of the very informative Bread Museum located in a 19th century mill.

One hour later, we each left the Harze castle with a little bag of speculoos. That was a real Belgian experience !

Barb, Rose and Mary Anne tasting their own speculoos.

The group during the visit of the Bread museum

All of us with our speculoos cookies (from L to R: Caryl, Dianna, Mary Anne, Karen, Rima, Barb and Rose).