From Van Gogh to the Mediteranean

Karin with Van Gogh
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We rented bikes and four of us rode off onto the backroads of our neighboring area.  You cannot swing and dead truffle in Provence without hitting some charming village, castle, farmhouse etc...

It is all apricot and cherry orchards, olive groves, fields of lavender.  The structures are stone houses with plaster cover in soft yellows, ochres and browns.  The roofs are reddish tile.  The climate is mediteranean which means warm enough for lemon verbena and oleander to grow and prosper.

The wall of the market in Avignon covered in ground covers and grass
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Our goal was the town of Armand which was a very close ride including crossing the Rhone which is a very large river.  We stopped in Barbetane which had a chateau still occupied by the family of the Marquis of the same name.  A classic French lady gave us the tour.  "Et Viola the portrait is 17th century, the chairs Louis 16th, aubudson carpet and chandelier de Baccarat."

We continued on to Armand and a truly lovely lunch that was punctuated with a lot of huff and puffs from the Matron who could give one the eye of death for asking for some cream for coffee.  She entertained us to no end along with her husband who announced the entrees du Jour and told our compatriot Eve NON when she asked to look at his cheat sheet.

The bikateers
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It was a meal that one left the table feeling the world was a better place just for having ingested the right amount of wine, fab food and coffee as a topper.

The ladies rode back and I took another route to the Abbeye de St Michel.  This turned out to be so perfect a mideavel looking building it could have been a reproduction.  There were paths up from the abbeye to views around the countryside.  The land was dry bony rock with lots of scrubby herbs and small shrubs.

The chateau at Barbentane
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The following day we all hopped into cars and made off as a group to visit some ancient and some more recent history.  Foolishly they allowed me to navigate.  So instead of going to Egeires we ended up in Egeiles which were about 20 km from each other.  They are a forgiving group and as long as there is a restaurant for lunch with a cute dog in residence then life is good.  We drove through beautiful pine forests and past many farmfields of vegetables and fields with white horses grazing.

Laden with apricots
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Our main site for the day was the insane asylum where Van Gogh was interred.  It remains a working psychiatric institution.  There is a wing devoted to the history of the building, Van Gogh and the art of the current residents.  There is a room said to be Van Gogh's which contains a bed and chair directly invoking his painting of a room.  Next door are two tubs for hydrotherpy which was used to 'shock' the patient from their fixation.  Out the window is a view leading from a garden of lavender and poppy to grassy fields and the Alpilles mountains.  This is definitely the nicest place to be crazy I have ever seen.  When I go over the deep end please just drop me here at the gate.

St Michel
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Next day the bicycle crew; Susie, Karin, Eve and myself took off in the car for the beach.  Will they never learn.  Once again I was in charge of maps.  Once again I got us into a jam.  After an hour of easy highway driving we ended up in the very center of Marseilles going in circles.  Eve grabbed the map out of my hands and directed us  through the maze that is Marseilles and on to our goal:  The lovely little port of Cassis.

In Cassis we wandered the streets of multi-colored shuttered houses.  Snacked by the quay and dipped feet in the water of the Mediteranean.  Except for me who plunged in and swam until I was numb.  The water was the coldest so far of my entire trip.

Teegar on bike
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We bought tickets to view the Calanques.  They are rock formations along the coast which form tiny fyords where small beachheads offer shelter to swimmers and small boats.  The day was cloudy with sprinkles of rain.  The driver was charming and the air was refreshing as we boated along.

Our return to Rognonas and the farmhouse was almost as confused as our drive down given our tired state of minds and inattention at points.  Yet we made it all in one piece thanks to our super driver Karin who seemed never to loose her sense of humor or patience.