Gordes and Roussillon - Part One

We were up early this morning as today was the day we picked up the car. Once we were ready we walked down to the bus station and caught a bus to the Avignon TGV Rail Station, just 10 minutes out of town. Here we picked up our little Peugot 107 hire car that we would be using for the next 7 days.....car hire is so cheap here compared to back home in Australia....it cost us just 125 euros (AUS$190) for the full week!!!

Now hear is a tip for anyone wanting to travel by car in Europe...bring your own GPS as they are nearly as much to hire from the car companies as the car!!!! If you don't have one, buy one here as they are quite cheap, we got a great one for just 99 euros!!

So we had the car, I set the GPS for our first destination...Gordes, just under 40km away. Another good tip...spell the town correct or you could end up anywhere.....my first attempt I spelt out Gorges....not sure where we were going, but we were looking at a 7 hour drive...a dead give away that I had done something wrong.

Soon we were under way, and within a very short time we were driving through the Luberon valley in the heart of the Provence countryside.

As we approached Gordes the roads narrowed and were linbed with beautiful white stoned walls...suddenly the walls disappeared and the amazing view of Gordes appeared.

The View Across To Gordes

I think that this must be one of the most famous views in the area...there is now deny, it is stunning. We sat her for quite a while just taking in the view, the sounds, and the smells......soooooooo relaxing!!!!!!

Another Beautiful View Just Down The Road

Eventually we moved on and found a carpark at the edge of the village, and walked up the hill into the town.

The Walk Up To Town

As it turned out, the village was close to empty and I could have saved us an uphill walk by parking in the centre of town....oops.

Entering The Village Centre

Statue In Town Centre

Looking Back To The Square

It was a great day to be here...a bit overcast with burst of sunshine, reasonably warm, and very few people.

The village of Gordes is lovely with its light coloured stonework, beautiful buildings and squares, impressive castle, and great views.

Gordes Castle (Chateau de Gordes)

Lovely Squares

Great Cafes

We must have walked every inch of Gordes, every turn was picture opportunity waiting to be taken, we could have happily stayed here for a few days, never mind a few hours.

Many Lanes Had Great Views

Gorgeous Streets

Only Problem, Lots Of Steps

More Steps, But Beautiful

After a few hours of exploring we were getting very hungry...it was time to find somewhere to eat......we found a really nice, and quite popular typical Gordes restaurant serving very tasty Italian food....yep, we had come all the way from Australia to France to eat pizza, but it was made with local sausage and cheese and tasted great!!!

Lovely Restaurant Setting

Pizza ....French Style

After lunch we had to go for walk again just to walk it off!!! The trouble was we came across a really nice looking patisserie.....that was dinner taken care of!

All Looked Very Good!

Paths At The Edge Of Town

View Across The Valley

Cute Cobbled Streets

After a while we made our way back to the car park...thank goodness it was all downhill!!

Tree Lined Paths Down To The Carpark

Time to set off to our next destination, Roussillon, only 13 kilometres away!! On our way out of town the road wound around the base of Gordes and gave us one more great view of the village.

Goodbye Gordes

On to Roussillon.

 

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Totally Relaxed......Too Relaxed?

The last three days have had us back to small walks around the town and taking it easy with our feet up, talking about what are plans are for the next few months, and for life! We have pretty well planned out the rest of the trip to mid January when it looks like we will start heading back to Australia as the funds will be getting a bit low by then. We have also made some decisions about where we are going to live when we return to Australia, but more about that later.

So this post will have quite a number of photos that we have taken on our outings since our last post.

The Rue De La Republique is the Main Street that runs through the centre of old Avignon all the way through to Place De L'Horloge just near the papal palace.....

The Tree Lined Rue De La Republique

Beautiful Typically French Buildings Line The Street

The Temple Saint Martial

Saint Martials Gardens

All around Avignon there are beautiful buildings, statues, and parks, you can spend ages just wandering around and never feel bored.

Shuttered Windows

Lovely Courtyards

Old Ruined Spires

Spectacular Spires and Bells

Statues Found In Many Buildings

We even found that on the odd times that the Avignon streets were quite and no-one was around, they still felt comfortable and nice to be in.

Quite With Afternoon Shadows

Lovely Cafe Setting

Well, as we have reminded ourselves, we cannot get too relaxed we are only here for three more weeks, so tomorrow we are getting off of our butts and picking up a car for a weeks exploring of Provence.

 

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Saturday Market and The Dyer Streets

By now you should have realised that we cannot stay away from a good market, especially a food market. So when we found out that Avignon has a Saturday food market just outside the eastern walls of the old town, we just had to go.

Market and French Buildings

We found the market in the grounds of some very large, typically french buildings that now serviced the Mayor, the University and others.

Good Fresh Food

Well, That's Lunch Sorted

The market itself was nothing special, but did have a good selection of very fresh foods, so as per usual we stocked up before heading back to the apartment.

On the way back we went a different way to the apartment. I had heard of a couple of very picturesque streets that were used by the cloth dyers hundreds of years ago and still had old water wheels that used to drive the machines, and had a few nice cafes as well.

The Beginning Of Rue des Teinturiers

When we found the street we also found a little canal that ran its length. Apparentley, this street was full of people in the clothing industry, especially dyers, and they ised the canal water to drive large water wheels that in turn drove the various machines in theor shops and factories.

Water Wheel Remains

Some Wheels Still Work

Most of the wheels have gone, and of the few that remain only a couple are in working order. However, it still looks really nice, and has a great atmosphere in this part of town.

Lovely Street

Beautiful Buildings

Perhaps the worst thing about visiting at this time of year is that it is out of tourist season, so councils tend to do any maintenance work at this time, and we found a large section of what would have been the most attractive part of the street all torn up for what looked like new drainage and cobbling works.

Engineering Works Everywhere

We decided to stop at a little cafe in the middle of all of the re-building and have an Expresso, still a lovely place to take a break.....just ignore all of the plastic tubing, if you can!!!!

Cafe Tables Beside The Water Wheel

We eventually made our way back to the apartment for a late lunch...life's great when you don't have any dead lines to work to!!

 

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Exploring, Again.

I think everywhere we have been there is nearly always one day when I go off on a big explore of the surroundings, and today was the day for Avignon.

So I headed to the west side of the old town, out through the Porte De L'Oulle, and over the River Rhone. I was on the other side of the river looking back at the old town in about 15 minutes. Today, one of the main things that I wanted to do was get some good photos of the Pont d'Avignon (also known as the The Pont Saint-Bénezet).

Views Of Pont d"Avignon

It is amazing to think that this bridge was built between 1177 and 1185...apparently only 4 of the original 22 arches still survive....when first built it was over 900 metres long...incredible. It always amazes me the enginnering that mankind used to do hundreds of years ago, I think that we would have trouble rebuilding some of these structures nowadays, even with all of our technology.

Walking Along The Bank Of The Rhone

As I walked passed the bridge I could see the free ferry service just a few hundred mertres away which would be my passage back over the river.

Here Comes The Ferry

Back To Avignon

After getting back to the old city side of the river, all that was left to do was to walk into the old town....or so I thought. I actually had to climb quite a few steps to get back up to the town...hey, I am getting quite fit now, so off I set.....

I got all the way to the top in no time, taking two steps at a time, I was only a little out of breathe when I got to the top.....the only problem I was sweating like a fat man in a patisserie.....and I should know!!

At the top of the stairs is the beautiful gardens of Rocher Des Doms that are directly behind the Papal Palace. There are some amazing views up here across and down the River Rhone.

View Down To Pont d'Avignon

View Over To Villeneauve Lez Avignon

View Over To Papal Palace

The gardens themselves are not overally large, but they are very pretty and very nice to walk through. The park was actually full of young families having a nice day out.

Views Around The Rocher Des Doms

So from the gardens it was a short walk back to the Papal Palace and our apartment, now I can rest my weary feet.

 

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