Enjoying Provencial Life in the Alpilles: Five Days in St Remy de Provence

 "Praying is important when you wake up

at two o'clock in the morning

feeling sick from eating something dumb the day before"

- Charlie Brown in C M Schulz' cartoon Peanuts 

Just over a week into our adventure and already a pattern is forming. If we thought we should have stayed extra days in Nice we feel we should definitely have stayed at least a month somewhere in the countryside of Provence.

Why should we have stayed longer? The list is endless, there is so much to do, it is so lovely to do nothing here and we would love to do nothing for days on end and then we wouldn't have to pack our bags and on boy do we have some stuff to cart around when we move on.

Residence Les Sources, St Remy de Provence, a wonderful place to do nothing

When I was looking to find a place to stay we considered everywhere from Uzes to Bonnieux but when we looked at the list of places we would like to visit St Remy de Provence just seemed to us, like many others before us, to be the logical choice for our five night stay. Also it gave us the option of a very limited bus service if we were too chicken to use our hire car much. 

It turns out that picking up and dropping back a car to Avignon TGV was super easy, and while it was Rob's first driving foray in Europe it turns out driving on the other side of the road isn't that difficult. In fact we really enjoyed putting a few extra kilometre  on the clock.

And now I must add a cautionary tale for would be travellers  in the hope that we prevent others having the same mishaps that we have experienced. They are course completely obvious pieces of advice but in planning the complex I overlooked the obvious to our peril:

 

1. Never buy a chicken sandwich on a train station. After three of us lost a couple of days of our holiday to food poisoning we learnt this the hard way; and 2. Always take a good look over your hire car for scratches. When we collected the car we were more concerned as to whether the luggage would fit, and what to do when the steering wheel is on the other side of the car, and failed to notice significant dents and scratches all over the car. Luckily the lovely lady at the hire place had been wooed and won by the kids so when I rang her within an hour to let her know our dilemma she was perfectly happy to have our lovely landlord describe the damage to her in French and it was luckily added to our contract.

The moral, look on the bright side and think positively it will all work out in the end. And now enough of that, lets get on and take a look at Saint Remy de Provence. AS we lost a day, spent by the kids in the pool and in no way considered a lost day by them, we didn't really have time to do the town justice.

On the evening we arrived we enjoyed a delicious meal at Le Bistrot Decouverte, and I must point out that I was feeling a little off before the meal began (it was definitely the chicken sandwich) . I wouldn't consider us foodies, we just love food, cooking it, sharing it and eating it. But only fresh lovely healthy food and perhaps we haven't been eating as well as we should lately.

Our slow cooked lamb was melt in the mouth and full of flavour and the vegetables were so delicious these alone would have well satisfied us. At home we seldom have dessert with a meal, but the pannacotta, chocolate fondant and   raspberry sorbet were divine. 

Restaurants in France have been happy to let us order  one main course served on two plate between the children which is a real bonus. Many restaurants have a menu enfant (chicken nuggets or a meat patty and chips) but these can easily be ignored. Still we have found ordering vegetables for the children can be tricky as Julian in particular is less than keen on a plate of lettuce. The kids enjoyed sharing fresh pasta with prawns and vegetables from our plates  and Emma ate all my mushrooms so I was satisfied.

We didn't make it back into St Remy until our last morning when we came for the Wednesday market. After a stormy night and persistent rain all morning we didn't expect the market to be happening, but luckily it appears to go ahead rain hail or shine. The clouds started to move on before ten, leaving a perfect sunny day,  and people started arriving in droves so it was nice to have to completely to ourselves early on.

 

Just outside of town we very briefly visited the Antiquities, ancient Roman monuments by the side of the road. Time did not permit us to visit the ruins of the ancient town of Glanum but it was amazing to see such well preserved monuments simply sitting by the side of the road.  I am sure this was the intention of the Romans in the first place, to ensure the passerby is well impressed by the might of Rome.

And now I think I'll leave it there and feed you this delightful part of the world in small courses, otherwise you may be too full to stick with me until dessert. Coming soon - The Camargue.

Two Perfect Days in Nice

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

 

Three nights in Nice was the perfect cure for the heavy hearts which weighed us down at the thought of leaving England. Lovely mild warm weather, fabulous food, the beach, a visit to a medieval hill top town and best of all making new friends helped us realise how special the next part of our journey will be.

 

This was not my first visit to Nice, though it has been many years since I was last here. I must say that apart from the beach front I remember nothing at all from my earlier visit. Nice is a beautiful city I could see myself spending more time in, though unfortunately for this holiday I treated it as a stopover, and we only had three nights.

 

Highlights of Nice With Kids

1. Markets

The Cours Saleya markets were a lovely introduction to the markets of Provence. Visiting at around midday it was fairly quiet but the stalls were still loaded with flowers, cheeses, olives, preserves, soaps and the most wonderful fruit and vegetables.

We loaded our bags up with the most delicious asparagus, strawberries, cherries, avocados and tomatoes, both fresh and sundried, that you can imagine. I only regret not buying the figs I saw when I had the chance and will have to search these out at the next market we visit.

We enjoyed crepes for lunch at a café overlooking the market and sitting there watching the market goers and listening to the banter of the stall holders I clicked into holiday mode and really started to relax. The choice of food was wonderful, with the most delightful salads and crepes loaded with goats cheese or chicken and mushrooms to name just a few.

 

The Beach

The kids were so keen to get down to the famous beach at Nice. A word of advice to anyone who has not visited a pebble beach before, you really need to have a pair of what Aussies call thongs and the Brits call flip-flops for right down into the water because ouch those pebbles hurt!

Luckily for me Rob is such a gentleman and he fetched my shoes so I wouldn't have to repeat my dance performance back from the water side (tip toe..tip toe..ouch...hop..ouch).

Needless to say no one swam, not just because of the pebbles, but also due to the freezing temperature of the Mediterranean in June. In fact there were a number of people on the beach and few of them were swimming. The weather was perfect at around 28degrees for relaxing on the beach and feasting on the delicious fruit from the markets.

When it was time to go back to our apartment we opted for the four kilometre walk along the beautiful beach and the Promenade des Anglais. We enjoyed strolling along, people watching,  bike dodging and watching the parasailors soaring along and splashing into the water.  Before we knew it we back at our apartment.

The Apartment 

In Nice we booked through airbnb for the first time and couldn't have been happier with the apartment. Set in the grounds of a Victorian mansion, this lovely place was perfect for us.

 We choose to stay a little away from the centre to ensure the kids would sleep well. The public transport in Nice is so good it was the perfect choice. The bus stop to Nice, or St Paul du Vence or many other wonderful places, was just down the street and so was the beach.

We had plenty of room to spread out which I cant show you as I forgot to take photos before all of our stuff spread out all over the place too and it took ages to pack again. The kids had a click-clack bed (you gotta love Ikea) in the lounge room but we played musical beds in the night as Julian got sick again after flying just like he did at Christmas, poor little man.

For the  icing on the cake the owners, Vincent and Sandrine lived just next door and were absolutely lovely and so helpful. They picked us up from the airport and dropped us at the train station and even gave us a lift to town one morning they were heading that way. Sandrine's lovely twin daughters are Emma's age and with play being a language that crosses all boundaries they have made good friends. We hope that they will be pen pals for a very long time.

We enjoyed their company so much we invited them to dinner and had a wonderful evening on the balcony.

Eze Village

For each destination on our route through Europe I have compiled a list of places worth a look see. Not as formal as an itinerary, just a few ideas for things we can do. Having discovered that Nice deserved more than just one day of our time it left us with a dilemma, should we go to Cannes? Should we go to St Paul du Vence? What about Monaco? The kids were keen to stay in Nice and do nothing at all. We needed a compromise, somewhere close by and fabulous. Eze Village fit the bill perfectly.

Eze Village is a perfect medieval village perched atop a rocky hill just north along the Moyenne Corniche from Nice. The short bus ride provided breathtaking views along the Cote Azur coastline. The picture above is Cap Ferrat through the window of the bus. The bus was the perfect choice, though we missed the one we planned to take. However the hour and a half wait for the next one gave us the opportunity to have lunch, more wonderful salads, before we set off.

We promised the kids a visit to the beach in the afternoon, which backfired on us and we heard a never ending chorus of "can we go now". However nothing could dampen my enthusiasm when we found ourselves in this lovely picturesque village. I'm sure I was giggling like a kid on Christmas morning.

We made our way up through the village to the Jardin Exotique at the very top. The exotic garden, filled with cactuses, contrasted nicely with the English spring gardens we had left behind. Though it was not the gardens that we come to see it was the view. 

While the views from the rest of the village were lovely nothing could prepare you for the spectacular view from the ruins of an old castle at the top, and the paths leading to it.

The short bus ride back to Nice couldn't have been easier. We had a chuckle at all the tourists choosing to take a cat nap on the bus rather than see the lovely view again.

Promenade du Paillon

Yesterday the kids had vetoed my plan to visit the wonderful new water playground in Nice, in favour of the beach. I decided I needed to exercise a little cunning to get them to see it would be a great place to visit. Once the bus arrived at Place Garibaldi, over a kilometre from the beach I announced that it was time to get off.

Funnily enough the way to the beach from here requires a walk down the entire 1.2km of the Promenade du Paillon and surprise surprise they absolutely loved it.

Whoever decided that they should tear out Nice's old bus station and car park and replace it with a public open space deserves a medal. This long corridor lined with the beautiful old buildings of the Vieille Ville (Old Town) is filled with wonderful wooden play ground equipment interspersed with fountains that either gently mist you, spray you unexpectedly or completely drench you.

Luckily we came prepared for getting wet and then getting home again on the bus because the kids chose the drenching. Emma even performed some impromptu contemporary dance for us in the mist. The mist was so otherworldly, barely making you damp while quite obscure, that her dancing fit the bill perfectly.

 

The kids absolutely loved the playground and we even managed a quick visit to the beach after. Promises are promises after all. And so just as we felt our visit to Nice was just beginning, it ended and we moved on to our next destination, St Remy de Provence.

Luckily we discovered that while most of the trains were on strike and had been for a while now, our train to Avignon TGV, via a change in Aix in Provence, was not affected and so it was goodbye to Nice. And goodbye to you until next time,

 

 

 

Our Last Hurrah in the UK - Leeds Castle

“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” – Paul Fussell

I chose the B&B at Leeds Castle as the place to spend our last night in England, after almost six fabulous months. Not only is it not so far from Gatwick airport but also it has everything the kids have most enjoyed;

a castle;

with beautifully furnished rooms that invoke days long past;

lovely gardens to explore;

a maze to get lost in;

beautiful local wildlife;

and last and by no means least, a cool playground.

 

The Stable Courtyard B&B was a lovely splurge, with a two bedroom family suite to give us a little extra room and privacy. To save  little money, and still have a whole day at the caste, we had stayed the night before at a Premier Inn, which are perfectly good (extra good at 39 pounds for four people) but still we were all in the one room . The restaurant at the castle provided great food, both for breakfast and dinner and had the most amazing view of the castle, though I kept forgetting to bring a camera with me to show you.  Then after one lovely night it was time to drive over to Gatwick and hop on a plane to Nice in the south of France. It was a great idea to have a few "holiday" days in London and Kent before we left England. It's much easier to leave areas you are not so attached to.



And so with one last glimpse we said goodbye to England, our home for the past six month and look ahead to our adventure in Europe, where we will be travelling for the next nine weeks before arriving in our next home base in Croatia towards the end of August. I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far and continue on our adventure with us.