Client Submitted Provence Trip Notes

Pure Adventure: Provence France Trip

After literally traveling on planes, trains, and automobiles for 24 hours, we arrived at our hotel outside of the walled-city of Avignon in the Provence region of Southern France. We could barely keep our eyes open through dinner that first night.

The next morning we awoke, eager to try out our rental bikes. I couldn’t wait to go sightseeing by bicycle…without a big group of American tourists, without a guide, without a SAG wagon, and on nobody else’s schedule but our own. The self-guided bike tour with “Discover France” was the perfect arrangement for us. We felt like we were totally on our own, but we could them call for help if it was really needed.

The bikes were the hybrid style, with a wide padded seat, upright handle bars, shock-absorbers on the seat post, and big baskets in front, presumably to carry wine, cheese, and baguettes. These bikes were built for comfort. We put on our helmets, loaded up the water bottles and snacks, checked our maps, and we were off!

Our itinerary called for us to cover about 25 miles a day at a leisurely pace including time for lunch and visiting many sites of interest unique to the area. Let me share a few of those places with you.

The first day, after going through many small towns, we arrived at one of the main attractions for the day, the majestic Pont du Gard. The roman aqueduct, built in the year 19 BC, is a giant stone bridge that spans across the wide river with huge arches. Once we were on the bridge, we peered over the edge of the stone wall hundreds of feet above the water. There was no fence or safety net to prevent tourists from plunging into the river and then suing the government. I guess that’s mostly in America where we worry about things like that. Typically our hotels were always located at the top of a hill, which meant a steep climb at the end of the day. However, there was always the fabulous Southern France dinner as a reward (remarkably similar to California Cuisine, so we felt right at home), as well as inexpensive local wines, wonderful desserts, and to top it off, my personal favorite, the cheese plate, at the end of the night.

On another day we rode through medieval villages, then onto rural farm roads past vineyards, colorful fields of flowers, olive trees and fruit orchards, finally arriving at Chateau Tarascon, a 14^th century castle situated on the Rhone River. The huge castle was quite a fortress with beautifully woven intricate tapestries on the walls dating back over 700 years, but was otherwise empty. The most interesting rooms looked like small stone closets. In the center of these rooms, which were actually the ancient bathrooms, there was large hole in the floor. When I looked through that hole, I was surprised to see straight down to the flowing river three stories below! People always complain about the bathrooms in certain European countries. Needless to say the French have come a long way from those days, although the concept of a shower curtain still escapes them for some reason.

Towards the end of the trip we visited the old Roman city of Arles near the Mediterranean Sea. When we arrived here for the evening, we were greeted by mosquitoes that obviously thrive in the Mediterranean climate. The suggested packing list provided by Discover France had included insect repellant, but unfortunately I did not paid any attention to it. As result, we were swatting at bugs the last couple of miles to the hotel. Luckily this one hotel was not at the top of a hill.

Van Gogh lived in Arles for two years of his life and did many paintings here before being sent to the insane asylum. We visited the museum with many of his paintings plus many old ruins like the amphitheater and the public baths that had been built by the Romans when they invaded Southern France over a thousand years ago. There was also a coliseum that still held events like bull fights to this day. Later in the day we saw an amazing event. In the evening as we were walking on the crowded main street though town, we heard a loud noise approaching like thunder. Suddenly the crowd parted as a group of large white horses galloping at full speed herded a pair of huge bulls right past us. At the end of the long street they were escorted up a ramp and onto a truck waiting to take them home after the day’s bullfight with the matadors. The bulls had only been six feet away from us, again with no protective fences or barrier, and the crowd was buzzing with excitement afterwards.

All in all it was a great trip and eye-opening experience, and we both really loved the bike trip. We are already planning a similar adventure in Spain next year!

Linda K - California