Food!

We had a lovely meal out with our friends from Minnesota (Cindy & Rich) in Roussillon. I had Aioli, which is a dish from Marseille, centered around a sauce by the same name, which is a fresh garlic mayonnaise. It comes on a platter, with a bowl of the sauce in the middle (never tasted such strong, raw garlic flavor in my life but it was wonderful- made sure everyone tried it so we’d all reek of garlic together!) surrounded by a big piece of fish (la morue: cod), a hot hard boiled egg, steamed potatoes, skinny green beans and other vegetables. Served with the inevitable crusty french bread. It was really good! (sorry I ate it before I thought to get a picture!) We did have some luscious desserts, a couple of which are pictured here: profiteroles (cream puffs filled with ice cream, drizzled with homemade chocolate sauce), tarte tatin (upside down pear tarte with homemade vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce) and a very nice creme brulee. Other pictures are a few other food/market pictures. We found a nice market in the Camargue where I got to taste (& buy) lots of olives. The men sampled the locally produced sausages (including bull, donkey and ostrich!), I just tried the beef!

Signs 1

Some more fun French signs. I especially like the one we saw banning bathing suits going into Aigues Mortes (a lovely walled city in the Camargue built by King Louis (aka St Louis)-more later on that.

Ochre

The ochre cliffs and mines around Roussillon were so beautiful. The pigment was mined for centuries but then artificial colorants came along, and the industry died. It is still popular among painters and pot throwers. You can also see it reflected in the colors of the buildings in the area. The ochre is extracted from sand (about 80% sand, 15 % ochre, 5% quartz). It was mined in open pits or mines. There is still an ochre mine operating in the area.

Roman conquest

We’re starting to see some of the roman ruins I’ve read so much about. We stopped at le pont Julien, a wonderfully preserved, triple arched bridge dating from 3 BC. I find it incredible to stand on something built over 2000 years ago. It’s amazing that these things have survived the multitudinous wars, and accompanying looting, rampaging, etc. that have plagued this area for millenia. We also visited the town of Orange and saw the roman Arc de Triomphe built in 102 BC to celebrate Julius Caesar’s successful conquest of Gaul. We also went through the incredible ‘Theatre Antique’, a huge, half circle theatre, with wall of stage rising nearly 120 ft high, with a statue of Emperor Augustus front & center to remind the spectators of the might of the ruler! . It’s massive and still used for performances and festivals and can hold up to 7000 people! 

Aix

I spent a day in Aix-en-Provence, visiting Paul Cézanne’s studio, strolling along the cours Mirabeau, enjoying the many fine fountains, including the mossy ones because the water coming out of them is warm, visiting the remains of the roman (hot) baths, and enjoying the market. I visited two museums and enjoyed seeing some of Cézanne’s works. I really enjoyed the display of sketches and drawings by the famous French artist/cartographer Marcel Sahut. 

"Villages perchés"

We have visited many ‘villages perchés’ this week, such as Gordes, Bonnieux, Venasque, Ménerbes, and of course, Roussillon. The term means literally ‘perched villages’; villages built on hilltops for safety and defense during the Middle Ages. They were generally built around the castle keep, surrounded by ramparts, with a cluster of skinny little streets, steeps stairs up passageways and archways. Key components for survival of the village perché are: a church, a fountain, the castle and ramparts. They are a real challenge to drive in (some you can’t drive in because the ‘streets’ are too skinny or steep) a challenge to park in and loads of fun to explore. Eze, which we visitied near Nice, was lovely, and we’ve visited many here in the Luberon region. Oppède-le-vieux was a fascinating town, a strange mix of ruins and inhabited buildings. The ruined castle which dominates the town was great fun to explore. No guardrails, just the occasional sign saying explore at your own peril. One great view of the Petit Luberon was on the edge of an unprotected cliff with a 300 ft dropoff!

Roussillon: un des plus villages!

Week two finds us in ‘un des plus beaux villages de France’, one of the most beautiful villages of France, which is an actual classification of the French government. It’s called Roussillon and is about 10 miles west of Apt, about 40 miles east of Avignon. It is a beautiful hilltop village, surrounded by ochre cliffs. Some 17 shades of ochre (clayy pigment used in construction) have been mined here and the scenery is incredible, especially the 45 min walk through the former quarries, the ‘sentier des ochres’. I really enjoy the windy little streets and passageways of the town. This is a very good location for exploring other small, ‘perched villages’ in the area, such as Gordes with its hilltop chateau, as well as the fabulous roman empire vestiges at Orange and Carpentras. We did a lot of driving in our first week, and I’m glad the things we’ll be visiting here are a bit closer together. We don’t have wifi here, so I’ll be periodically posting from the McDonalds in Apt, pathetic I know, but there’s free wifi and they make a pretty decent cappucino!

Grasse: perfume capital

Grasse is a small city with a beautiful old city. I don’t know the origin of the city name, but it does mean fat or fatty (greasy) as in Mardi Gras. It used to be known for its tanneries (maybe it was a good place to get animal fat? who knows) and now is the center of the perfume industry. Evidently in the 16^th century, italian glove makers used the scents of local flowers to perfume the soft leather gloves made popular by the queen, Catherine de Medici (to cover up that stinky tannery leather smell we experience so viscerally in Fes!). The ‘Musée International de la Perfumerie’ was, believe it or not, fascinating, as was the free tour on the production of perfume at the Fragonard perfume house. To become a ‘nez’ (The ‘nose’ is the mixer/creator of new perfumes) one must study for 3 years at one of only three schools in France, and then apprentice for 7 years, a ten year process! You hear of the high insurance rates perfume houses have for their head ‘nez’!) There are several ways to extract the scent form the tons of flowers need to make one litre of perfume. One is the steam distillation process developed in Arab regions (steam filters through large quantity of blossoms and is distilled into a vat. The water on the bottom is used for cooking (rose water, etc) and eau de toilette and the essential oils on top are used for perfume). Another is lengthy and expensive and was used for delicate flowers such as jasmine and violets; the blossoms were laid on animal fat which would absorb the scent, then the fat would be washed with a solvent like alcohol which would separate the scent from the fat. 2010 is the year of the Mimosa at Fragonard and they had many delicately scented soaps, perfumes and other products. 

Italy

We thought we’d go to Italy for lunch! There are no more border crossings, you can see this one is empty & deserted. Nice change, gorgeous day, delicious lunch at a beachfront cafe (very interesting plat du jour: leek tourte, peas with cream & bacon, thin sliced beef with fresh parmesan, a bit of salad & roasted potatoes, rough on the cholesterol, glad I had others to help with it all!) Nice drive back with a stop at Menton (pretty, secluded beaches) and the beautiful ‘village perché’ Eze. I’m sorry I keep using so many beautifuls, gorgeouses, etc, but I really can’t help it (I’ve tried to stay away from awesome, which is very overused!)

Open air markets!

I love markets. France loves their open markets. And they love flowers. Most people that I’ve met keep fresh flowers in their home, bought at a weekly market. Visiting a flower market is quite a sensory experience. The colors and scents are amazing. This flower market is in the cour Selaya in Nice and turns into a regular market further along. I love the sights and sounds. Olives are a huge crop here (like in Morocco), both for the fruit and the oil they produce and play a big role, as we know, in the healthiness of the ‘mediterranean diet’ we hear so much about. We tend to think of olives as green or black, period, but there are so many different ways to preserve and spice them. Yum. The fruits & veg are wonderful but not always cheap, as you can see from the mango prices. Ms Abraham would be very happy with all the fresh seafood, particularly the fresh oysters that are so abundant. I haven’t had fish too often, but did have a wonderful ‘bucket’ of ‘moules meunieres’, mussels steamed with herbs, a bit of white wine and finished with some cream. Heavenly.