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| A Bienvenue welcome to Crillon le Brave |
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| View of vineyards from Suzette - a small hillside town in the Vaucluse |
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| Driving up to La Roque which clings to the mountain top near Caromb |
This is definitely the good life! And we are so very fortunate to be enjoying such a fabulous time here. Provence definitely does have its magic!
We left Burgundy a little reluctantly because of the incredible beauty of the countryside and the charm of the people there. As we took the A6 and A7 from Beaune to Orange all was fine until we reached Lyon (only the second largest city in France). Unfortunately, it just happened to be the first day of a three day weekend and every family in Europe was on vacation or on their way to the Mediterranean (with their full complement of beach toys and bikes). At Lyon, the traffic came to a dead stop and we crept along at 20 Km per hour until we reached Orange. (It was quite comparable to driving to Santa Cruz on a three day holiday on a Friday evening. Definitely a bad idea.) But - after 7 hours, we arrived safely, we found the house in Caromb easily and everything has been perfect ever since.
The house in Caromb is lovely - a classic 18th C Provencal home, decorated beautifully with a gorgeous garden and fountain. It's so perfect, we have hated to leave it, so for several days, we simply toured the town and stayed at home and enjoyed the gardens. Ahhhh - what a life! Can't we just pack this all up and take it with us? With all this privacy and access to a great kitchen, this is definitely better than a 5 star hotel - at least for us.
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| The summer sitting room - great place to read a book |
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| The perfect Provencal kitchen complete with farm table and lovely pottery |
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| Our bedroom - the sun and bird songs awake us each morning |
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| Val's bedroom |
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| An extra room upstairs for a retreat - Ava would love this room |
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| Our outdoor dinner area - large enough for a small family of 16 |
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| Breakfast nook - complete with fountain and Mt Ventoux in the background |
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| Outdoor lounge area - Ernie likes this area the best |
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| The gardens are filled with pink and white roses in full bloom - Ernie's happy |
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| Perfect "chicken candle - abra" - check this out, Lisa! |
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| Where we relax in the evening |
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| We retreat to the kitchen when it's cold and windy or really hot |
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| Our private lunch spot |
Caromb is a working person's town; it also happens to date back to the 900's with the medieval buildings and crooked narrow streets to match. It is a thriving community and it's fun to watch the people and the activity here. There are two bakeries, several green-grocers, a charcuterie and a hair salon here - including a number of nice small cafes. They even have a farmer's market on Tuesdays. The town is small, with character, and it's definitely not a tourist town. Every time we walk to town, we take a different route and we often get lost in the narrow streets and alleyways. Thank goodness for GPS. We have had fun buying a few grocery items from each proprietor, just to spread out our few tourist Euros.
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| A couple of the sweet treats from a Caromb bakery...yep that's a pig on the left filled with chocolate. |
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| Business district of Caromb - looks like a normal small town |
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| Part of the ancient walled city of Caromb. We hesitate entering these tiny alleyways in a car for fear we might get stuck. Thank heavens we are leasing a car the size of "roller-skate" |
Last week we decided to drive a circular route around Caromb to view the various medieval hilltop towns and chateaus in the Vaucluse are of Provence. Very few of these towns are known as tourist spots, and that's what makes it fun - to discover our own favorite places. Here is a sample of what we saw and the towns we enjoyed visiting.
Crillon le Brave is a tiny hilltop town about 3 Km from us. It is known primarily for its lovely Hotel and restaurant. It has a lovely view of the vineyards and olive orchards below, but the town is very small and somewhat sanitized for its high-end clientele.
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| View of Caromb from the hilltop of Crillon le Brave |
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| Crillon Eglise (church) |
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| Public Fountain - many of which date back to Roman times - 25 BCE |
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| Entry arches to town |
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| View of Mt. Ventoux |
We reached the town of Suzette by driving through vineyards and olive orchards as we headed toward the Dentelles which are rocky sandstone cliffs that jut out above the hills just north of Caromb. Suzette is nestled at the top of one of these hills.
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| View of the vineyards from Suzette; Mt. Ventoux is in the background |
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| Our roller skate car |
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| The Suzette Eglise (chapel) interior |
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| The baptismal font of the chapel - very tiny and rustic |
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| Gate to a hidden garden |
La Roque Alric is another hill town near Suzette that is literally chiseled into the rock. There was no one around, except for a handfull of French tourists and an older gentleman sweeping the walkway to the church.
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| La Roque Church wrapped around the stone wall |
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| Narrow, windy town streets |
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| No matter how small the plot of land or patio, flowers and plants are lovingly added for color |
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| Church steeples and crosses are typically made of elaborate iron work instead of stone, since the Mistral frequently topples heavier objects. |
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| Looking up and up and up the hillside |
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| Public water fountain character |
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| Splashes of color to delight the eye |
The last town we visited that day, Le Barroux, just north of Caromb, offered the biggest treat of the day - a privately owned 13th C. castle/chateau that was open for a tour. It had been used for defense and protection during the middle ages. The castle had originally been burned and destroyed during the hundred years war and then was renovated in the early 1900's by its then new owner. Unfortunately, during WWII, the Nazi's decided it was a perfect place to set up their headquarters for the area and when they rapidly abandoned it (leaving all their bedding, etc.), it was mistakenly identified as a "resistance effort" stronghold and was again burned by other set of retreating Nazi's. The current owners are again attempting to restore it to is original condition. We were able to view a number of the rooms and although austere and without most of the furnishings, we could easily visualize how it must have been living there at that time. Here are some photos of the town and the castle:
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| Cobblestone streets everywhere |
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| View of the castle from the ramparts |
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| Defensive towers |
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| View of the valley from a castle window |
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| Castle courtyard |
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| Choose your secret weapon! |
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| Romanesque arches were in the basement area |
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| Huge rooms with limited light - for defense purposes |
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| Marble stairways leading up and up and up |
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| Fancy trellises covering many of the stone buildings |
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| Another view from a castle window |
We had a marvelous day touring the area and each town provided its own unique surprises and beauty. During the next few days and the following week, we also toured Vaison la Romaine, Roussillon, Sault, Pont du Gard, Boudin, Gigondas, Seguret and Avignon. We'll continue with these on the next blog.
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