I don’t wanna start the post with OMG but I will.
OMG.
Provence is beautiful. The cypress trees, olive trees, rows of grape plants, yellow grass, stone houses with violet or blue shutters. Very bright, almost blinding sunshine. It is gorgeous.
We made it to Provence by way of Brussels then Marseille. This was the first time I had to transfer planes with the kids. They did okay but I was dead tired. We picked up our rental car at the Marseille airport and made our way north to our first gîte. “Gîtes de France” is a government run Airbnb.
We landed on July 14th, Bastille day. In the tiny village where we are staying, nothing was open. So to get something to eat, we had to drive to the next big city- Avignon, about 30 minutes away.
Avignon was nice but I much rather prefer smaller towns/ villages. The Avignon festival was happening so it was packed. There were instances where we had to fight our way through people. On the other hand, I loved seeing performers and posters promoting a variety of plays and concerts.
After dinner we just HAD to stop by at Amorino- an ice cream shop that makes their cones look like flowers. Of course, they both wanted a macaron on top.
The next day, our priority was to stop by the supermarket and get groceries. Milk, cereal, coffee. Local vegetables. Bread. Cheese and yoghurt. There are kids’ shopping carts at the market!
I tried to buy as local as possible- lettuce, tomatoes, and scallions that had purple ends (?).
After the market, we went back to our gîte, brought the groceries back, and hung by the pool. It was the hottest time of day. Plus, I wanted to tidy up the space- we came in with all of our stuff, it was all strewn all over and messy. For my own mental space I had to put things away. And, of course, laundry, since we only brought carryons.
At around 3pm, we ventured out to see Pont du Gard- a Roman bridge by a very shallow river. The kids loved it! It’s rocky but shallow, full of tadpoles, little fish, and even frogs. We hung out there for about two hours!
For dinner, we went to Uzès, a small village with a medieval past. Found a place, had dinner, roamed around a little, found the car, drove for 45 minutes, got home, passed out.
Today, Wednesday, we went far out east- to Gordes. A very beautiful village yet very touristy, buses dropping off hoards of visitors, cars looking for parking. That definitely took away from the experience but, they all can’t be winners. The town itself was beautiful albeit a bit on a commercial side.
We did not stay long, few hours, maybe?…We then drove to Roussillon which is only 15 minutes away and is famous for its ochre-colored buildings but it was so packed we couldn’t find parking in ANY of the lots!
Anywho, another hour of driving and we were home. I made lunch (salad+left overs), we had some pool time, and I had a nap while the kids watched TV.
Around 5, we needed to decide what to do about dinner. Saint Remy de Provence is 25 minutes away and what a lovely town! Complete opposite of our morning experience in Gordes. Some visitors, yes, but not overwhelming. Streets almost empty! We roamed the streets for a bit, I drooled over jewelry pieces in many of the shop windows, the kids whined about being hungry. Google maps recommended Les Cocottes restaurant – surprisingly, there were kids there, too.
We will definitely be back to this town.
Will finish the post with a picture of a view:
Mom of Children 