Travelling with well-meaning non-English speakers
We spent nearly a month with friends in St Chamas, Provence, France. Almost every weekend we travelled, in their campervan, to various historic towns in the province exploring forts, waterfalls, waterways and castles. Our communication was a little inadequate, to say the least, because, except for one, everybody spoke only French and not every bit of conversation was translated. Hence we hardly knew where we were going. Sometimes the sign boards helped. A lot of it began to make sense long after the trip. The impressions came first.Modern living in a medieval setting: troglodytes
In an earlier blog I mentioned the ancient aqueduct, L'Horologue, topped by a clock tower and the views of the lagoon that hosts yacht races. Little did we realize that the caves in the cliff that bisected the town were actually occupied. The dwellings, nestled into the rock, are called troglodytes. Their windows look out over picturesque views of the lagoon. The entrances to the houses face an alley on the cliff top village, the steps at the aqueduct leading up to them. A beautiful flavour of the Medieval on the outside and contemporary comforts inside. Its like you're in fairy land, tiptoeing, expecting to see an elf pop up just around the corner.
Wine Cellar
Another of our friends' friends live on a large tract of land with two horses and a few goats,whose pen had a camera so the owners could keep an eye on them while they frequently campervanned to various picturesque villages and towns in the Provence. Most interestingly, in their back yard they had a cave with an ancient door fitted to the entrance. A natural walk -in wine cellar!
Artefacts in modern housing :Martigues, The Venice of Provence
We visited one of the villages, Martigues, along the lagoon to meet our friend's friends who lived in a beautiful house they had designed themselves. From the kitchen we looked into their backyard vegetable garden and their chickens. They surprised us by offering us a ride on the lagoon on their boat.
Familiarly known as the the Venice of Provence, the village, criss crossed by canals and charming bridges and lined by docks, lies between the Mediterranean sea and the Sea of Matigues (aka Etang de Berre), the largest inland sea water lake in Europe. Artefacts from the Tholon archaeological site are on display on a nondescript street in a charming cottage like setting behind a glass wall.
Le beaux-de-Provence
Little did we know that one of the most beautiful villages of France, sitting on top of a rocky spur, that attracts1.5 million tourists a year, has only 400 permanent residents!
In Mideaval times up to 4000 people lived here. From the outside all the houses seem like ruins with exposed rock walls, but many of them have been made liveable for modern times. Walking down the narrow streets we are treated to great views of the Camargue and Arles where Van Gogh temporarily resided.
Arles and the Camargue: Van Gohs refuge
During the more than fourteen months that Van Gogh spent in Arles, he created innumerable paintings and drawings, characterised by bold use of colours and thick application of paint that is now considered a hallmark of 19th century painting.
We walk along the Canal du Midi and have lunch under the trees. We later watch a lock system in use in Beziers( described in another post) before we retire to a cottage in Parque National de Camargue, a protected swamp in the Rhone Delta. We are practically in the marshes frequented buy more than 4000 species of birds, facing brine ponds that reflect the twilight. That setting would certainly inspire artists.
Grottes de Cales
Yet another outing with even more local friends, including teenagers, we find ourselves trekking through the woods, slightly uphill, passing a Chapel, onto a Roman 'road' through a 13th century gate, leading into an ancient settlement made up of cliff dwellings that were inhabited for over 5000 years. The walls and floors are all smoothly worn out! There’s a fair amount of walking and climbing to see everything. We climb into every one we come across, the teens guessing what each room would have been used for since there is no posted explanatory information anywhere.
We gathered from our friends that the dwellings are carved out of sandstone. The more than 58 distinct and identifiable caves are replete with window openings, niches for storage, posts between 'rooms', porch extensions and ingenious gulleys to divert, route and collect water. There are also animal keeps, a communal hall and food pits which would have had wooden lids on top. It feels like a perfect hideout being nestled between high cliffs topped by the woods. Some of the dwellings offer fantastic views of the surrounding countryside way below. Good for reconnaissance!
Sillans-la-Cascade: Castle buidings repurposed, Napoleon's lunch
A stroll in the center of the village, a maze of lively picturesque lanes, before we trek to the waterfall, takes us to Castellane castle completely rebuilt in the 18th century. It now belongs to the sparsely populated municipality which renovated it. The souvenir shop hands us lavender potpourris, something I've always hoped to have someday! Walking along the ramparts takes us to the 11th century medieval pentagonal tower. One of the houses with exposed stones is where Napoleon stopped to lunch on his return from the island of Elba.
Deepest Gorge in France
A few days later we drive to Quinson. Our friends, avid sailors, hire a motor boat and there we are sailing on the incredibly breathtaking shimmering turquoise waters (the kind we have experienced in the glacial lakes of Banff National Park in Canada, and the kind in Bora Bora of which we had only a distant view since the captain of our cruise ship had to skip it) of the Gorges du Verdon in France, carved by the Verdon River, which flows 30 km emptying into the man-made Lac de Sainte-Croix. The limestone cliffs rise high above us on both sides. Our friend who has trekked the many trails along the cliffs avows that the sights are spectacular from above. We meet kayakers and canoers who at times stop by along one or the other of the coves with a sandy beach for their picnic.
High above the cliffs cave openings are visible with clearly marked paths downhill to the coves. All prehistoric dwellings.
Before we sail back along the same route we have an excellent lunch prepared by a British couple in their charming restaurant.
Back where we boarded, we spend the evening exploring the quiet village coming across prehistoric dwellings and the escargot (exotic snail) farm.
The Verdon River gets is colour from a specific algae and fluoride.
I hope to write about the waterways and the very interesting people we met, while in the Provence, in upcoming posts.
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