Our Final Stop - Paris!

I had never been to Paris...and Roger was there briefly more than 50 years ago.  We were not expecting to like it--too big, too busy, too many tourists and such.  But were we surprised!  We loved it.

We had a tiny (10x16) studio on the 6th floor (yet another tiny elevator) with a view of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine.  It was in an incredible location, with Metro, bus lines and batoboat (a boat shuttle service up and down the Seine) within a couple of blocks from our place.  Every night, on the hour, we watched the lights on the Eiffel Tower sparkle.  It was magical.

Our studio is on the very top floor

Batoboat - great way to see the sites in Paris

Our 3 days there were spent taking the batoboat from stop to stop seeing the various sights:  The Eiffel Tower, of course.  The Arch of Triumph.  The Louvre (just the outside--it is enormous...several blocks in size).  Hotel D'Ville (where Cruela D'Ville comes from).  Reconstruction of Notre Dame.  Sainte Chapelle with its stunning stain glass windows.  The Musee D'Orsay (incredible!! many impressionist paintings).  We walked down the Champs Elysee, stopping for an almond chocolate croissant along the way.  Oh my goodness, do the Parisians know how to do pastry!  And lastly, the most beautifully preserved older buildings we have seen on the trip...absolutely everywhere.

The Eiffel Tower from the Batoboat

Roger at the Louvre's pyramid

Beautiful architecture and parks

Notre Dame Reconstruction

Sainte Chapelle

View from our room

Overall, we had a wonderful, memorable 3-day visit.  One highlight that stands out is lunch at Cafe Med (15 tables) on Ile Saint-Louis, a small island in the Seine near Notre Dame.  Delicious!!!  And very reasonably priced (for Paris).  

Cafe Med - Delicious meal!

And now we're heading home.  Thanks for following our journey with us.  It has been a really enjoyable, relaxing way to spend our summer.  We're not sure that we're ready to go home.

Kathy and Roger

Provence

Our interest in Aix-en-Provence is what led us to this entire European trip...and that interest was sparked by a travel brochure I received 5 years ago titled Provence: Adventures in International Living.  It described a 4-week spring trip to Aix-en-Provence (a major city in the district of Provence) that included living independently in an apartment, 3 hours of French lessons each weekday, Friday evening get-togethers with other members of the trip, a few dinners out, and weekend trips to surrounding sites.  There were also options for cooking lessons, art appreciation, and architecture classes.  I was hooked.  Thinking this trip would be offered again in the future, we simply waited for it to be offered at a more appropriate time for us.  We waited and waited.  Unfortunately, that trip was never offered again...even after I approached the tour company directly and said PRETTY PLEASE!     

So, we decided to create our own version--the 2-½ month trip to Southern Europe that we have shared with you through this blog.  Our trip reduced the time in Provence to 2 weeks and eliminated the French language lessons.  Both were mistakes on our part.  We would have enjoyed more time in Provence and some French skills would have been very helpful. Still, we had an absolutely fantastic time exploring this beautiful area of France...reminiscent of A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle who made the area famous.

We stayed in a cute little apartment in the historic center of Aix-en-Provence (Aix is a little smaller than Boise).  It was a one-bedroom with a kitchen/dining area looking out to a large patio/garden area.  We enjoyed the sunshine flowing through the dining room windows, but the mosquitos prevented us from spending much time on the patio.  (The mosquitos didn’t bother us anywhere else in Aix—only on the patio due to sitting water.). As per our pattern, we spent the first day in Aix exploring our surroundings and stocking the refrigerator and pantry (once again, we do most of our cooking at home).  The historic district of Aix has narrow winding streets, tons of cafes and shops, galleries and open-air markets.       

The street where we lived

Our front door

Our back patio...lots of sunshine

The open-air market.  They also have grocery stores.

   

Typical streets in Aix

We did a few excursions out of Aix into the countryside.  One day we hopped a bus in the hope of doing some hiking in Saint Victoire National Park.  Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a Harvest Festival in Puyloubier where free wine, snacks and entertainment were being offered in the town square.  Needless to say, we didn't do the hiking...but had a great day.  

Saint Victoire mountain and park

Another day, we took a tour to nearby hill towns (one of which Peter Mayle lived in until he died a year or so ago).  It was a great day of seeing 5 very different small villages in the hills northeast of Aix.  We have chosen one to live in depending on next year’s election outcome. You all would love it too...so plan on visiting us if we make the move.

Lourmarin 

Narrow street in Lourmarin

Roussillon, known for its ochre-pigmented soils

Street in Roussillon

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, a small town with the largest spring in France.
Source of the Sorgue River

Gordes Village

Ile-Sur-la-Sorgue known for water wheels

A couple of days later, we did half-day wine tasting tour of two estates.  Lots of fun getting to see how the French “do” wines.  They have mastered organic wines after all these years. We have not yet done so in the U.S.  Their way of naming wines is determined by the region in which they are grown rather than the dominant grape variety (as ours) and they have a lot of rules about what they can and cannot do to produce a bottle of wine.  We really enjoyed the wines we tasted and bought a couple of bottles.  Since each estate produces only small quantities of wine, it’s almost impossible to find the wines outside the region.   

Roger learning about wines

Vineyard on side of Saint Victoire

 

Tasting is fun!

We took two other trips into the surrounding areas, one to Avignon by bus and one to Cassis (a coastal city famous for calanques and their white wine).  Avignon is the city that the Pope lived in during the 14th century when Rome was in chaos.  The Pope's Palace is the big attraction here.  But we also enjoyed the Rhone River that flows on one side of the city and the quaint tiny streets in the historic district.

Avignon on the Rhône River

On the Rhône

Historic bridge on Rhône

The Pope’s Palace 

Our last trip from Aix was a tour to the Cassis, a village on the coast known best for nearby the calanques (gorgeous aqua-colored inlets in the rocky coastline protected by a national park) and for the white wine it produces.  We tasted the wine and took a boat to see the calanques.  

Everyone is relaxed in Cassis 

Cassis - Pamela Anderson is supposed to live here 

One calanques...picture does not do justice to water color

Next, we are off to Paris for 3 days—the last stop on our trip.  

Collioure...just across the border into France

Ahhhhh...Collioure.  This trip just keeps getting better.

From the moment we stepped off the train, we knew this was some place very special.  We walked into town (5 minutes) to see a row of restaurants on one side of an inlet and the chateau on the other side.  Beaches stretched on either side of the chateau.  Five minutes later, we were at our apartment.                                   

     

   

An overview of this sun-drenched, romantic village

One of 4 beaches and the “chateau”

The blue door (#44 Rue de Soleil) is our place.  

The lovely British owner of our studio apt. sitting out front having a glass of wine with us.

   

Interior of apt.

There are very few cars in the village due to narrow winding streets and no place to park.  Collioure has about 3,000 people, lots of little shops to explore, bi-weekly markets of fresh produce, olives, cheeses, breads, and more...and a little tourist train that takes you into the countryside that is filled with vineyards.  Is anyone willing to go with us on a little place here?  It truly is heaven!

 

 

Lots of original art

On to Tamariu

Tamariu is one of 3 coastal towns in northeastern Spain.  It is situated about 70 miles south of the border with France in a quiet and secluded bay of the Costa Brava.  Its name comes from the presence of many tamarisk trees along the promenade (our Kayenta friends will know what they look like).  It has about 150 permanent residents and about a bazillion tourists in August.  That said, it is the quietest of the 3 coastal towns in the region.  We  chose wisely.

The small village of Tamariu

Tamariu Beach

We travelled from Barcelona to Palafrugell by bus...just a couple of hours.  We arrived in time for a quick lunch.  Then we boarded the open-air “tourist” bus to Tamariu.  The bus runs only in tourist season and hits the 3 coastal towns near Palafrugell in a lazy loop.   Tamariu was the last stop.  We rolled our luggage uphill to our little apartment where we were met by our host (who lived downstairs).  The apartment was perfect.  It had a living-dining area with windows overlooking the village, a kitchen (with a tiny dishwasher), 2 bedrooms and a bath, and (most happily) a clothes washer.  It had everything we needed, except WiFi!  I know we tease our grandkids about being tied to their screens, but when our screens were suddenly useless, we reacted just like they do.  We whined!  But we did survive.

We had planned to do a lot of hiking along the coast while in Tamariu.  Our maps showed good trails between the 3 coastal towns and even into Palafrugell and nearby Begur, with do-able times of 1 to 1-½ hours.  In fact, the coastal trail is supposed to run from the French border all the way to Portugal (called the GR92).  Well, maps are flat and show trails where there aren’t any.  And these coastal towns are separated by steep hillsides and cliffs.  

Our first foray to the neighboring town of Llafranc was supposed to take an hour.  We started early and were excited to be on a hike.  Unfortunately, the “clearly marked’ trail was not clearly marked.  We found ourselves climbing up steep hillsides (somebody thoughtfully hung ropes to help with the ups) and across rocky outcrops.  We got to the top of a cliff and found a steep zigzag path down to a little rocky beach (shown below).  We then climbed out of the beach and up another hill (with trails going every which way).  We stopped for a swim at the little beach, to catch our breath at the top of the second hill (again, someone had thoughtfully placed a metal table and chair for that purpose) and then we got lost.  One path led us inland toward a rural area and perhaps an actual road.  We found a kind man heading home for lunch (many hours had passed as we walked).  He pointed us in the direction of Llafranc, involving yet another steep ascent and finally we arrived at a lighthouse overlooking the town.  Half an hour later, descending on a steep road with no shoulder for walkers/bikers, we found ourselves in Llafranc.  Whew!  These Spaniards have strong legs for the ups and downs they trek on a daily basis.  

We had lunch there and enjoyed the beach and swimmers (about 25% topless, according to Roger who pays attention to such things) and then we started home.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the bus stop, so we trekked over the 3 hills back to Tamariu.  This time, we found a better trail.  Need I say that we were tuckered out when we arrived home?

“Trail” from Tamariu to Llafranc 

Stunning views from the “trail

A cove along the trail—perfect for a swim 

A metal table and chair with a perfect ocean view  

A view down from the “trail”

Finally, Llafranc and Calella in distance

On another day, we did find a good (stone) trail between Llafranc and Calella.  In order to avoid the “trail” from Tamariu to Llafranc, we took the tourist bus into Llafranc and walked two miles or so to the end of the paved portion at El Golfet, a little beach with a higher percentage of topless swimmers.  That was a good day.

The area hosts a series of concerts every summer at Cap Roig (with international talent such as Sting, Kate Melua0, just beyond El Golfet.  We rode the tourist bus to Cap Roig and explored the venue, which is located on a beautiful estate and botanical garden.  

Cap Roig venue

Cap Roig is also a beautiful estate and gardens

Most days, we eat at home.  When you are traveling as long as we are, you cannot afford to eat out everyday, plus it detracts from the fun of eating out to do it too often.  Some days, we just read at the beach.  We rose early to get a good spot—because the French and the Spanish visitors staked out places on the beach early in the morning and then went off for coffee and a croissant.  We had to get there before them to get a front row position (thus avoiding rocky areas and masses of sunbathers).  The Mediterranean water was lovely.  I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to cold water.  But the outside temperatures (low 80s) and humidity made the water feel refreshing.  It is said to be very clean.

Our son, Peter, was in Europe for business while we were in Tamariu.  So he arranged to visit us for 4 days in the middle of our stay.  It was so fun to have him join us.  We sat at the beach one day, went tasting at a local winery on another, read a lot, took a hike to Cala Pedrosa...and of course, ate wonderful food together.  Such a treat having him join us.

Tamariu is a special place.  We certainly recommend it.