Friday 10.15.2010


The Luberon


It’s clean out the refrigerator day this morning so a few scrambled eggs with ham, the leftover potatoes from the chicken, a bit of fruit and the last two chassons aux pomme from the patisserie.

Today’s schedule is for a leisurely drive through the Luberon, a hilly grape and olive laden area to the east of Arles dominated by hilltop villages, fortress chateaus and lifetime views every fifteen minutes. We all read “A Year in Provence,” the definitive English language work about the area by Peter Mayle and we are now in his world.

Our first stop is St. Remy, a picture-perfect town about 30 minutes from Arles. Just outside the village are the ruins of the original settlement dating from a couple centuries B.C. which have been preserved and restored over the last hundred years. The Romans “liberated” the area about 70 A.D. and erected a mammoth intricately carved arch as the village gate along with all the appropriate monuments. Just touching the same carvings that guys in togas were touching a couple thousand years ago is pretty impressive. Right next door to the ruins is the mental hospital that housed Van Gogh after he lopped off his ear and the good people of Arles decided he was a bit deranged. Some of his more famous works were done here during his recovery. The olive trees are heavy with fruit and John and Pat both taste the unfinished product—don’t ever do that!


We are in full program mode with GPS chick Monique trying to get her to follow a leisurely scenic loop around the countryside. We finally just go our own way and she catches on and gets on the team. We are still in a bit of inversion with a heavy haze in the air but in spite of that, the ambience as we drive through fruit and olive orchards and miles of grape vines sharing the miniscule back roads with farm equipment is just what we have been looking for in Provence.

We make our way up to the little medieval village of Bonnieux for a late lunch. We have driven most of the way up the hill and into the village where we find a parking spot with the city walls on one side and deep drop off across the road on the other. It is still another ten-minute hike straight up to get most of the way into the center of the village. There are a few fellow travelers about and even a couple American college kids from a local art school. Well, it’s pizza again (the “Luberon”) for Mary and Pat while John opts for a really good Nicoise salad. The café is across the road from the “view” but it is unobstructed and we can see for miles down into fields and across into other villages.

There is a touch of the “Mistral” wind chilling the air at this elevation but it feels good on the hike back down to the car. The journey continues redundantly through a loop taking us through the afternoon from one picturesque village to the next, all the while staring out at rural heaven on earth. This will be boring to the reader, but memorable for those who were there.

It is well after five when we get back and Mary gets laundry started so we can pack up to leave tomorrow. A final cocktail in Arles as a couple weeks with Pat wrap up in fine fashion. John has made reservations with Madame at Au Brin de Thym Restaurant for 7:30. He is convinced that Pat has to have something French to eat before she leaves France and this place leaves no alternative. He notices that she has a second cocktail before dinner tonight.


This is the perfectly typical French restaurant with 25 seats, Monsieur in the kitchen, Madame in the dining room and each with one helper. They open at 7:30, are fully booked for one seating by 7:35 and are on their way home before 10:00. Not a bad way to make a living if you aren’t greedy.


Mary gets the seat in front of the door to the toilette so she is a little cranky and just has the salmon appetizer. Being a trooper, Pat has the full three-course dinner with a nice pea soup starter, a fish cake with rice and local vegetables and a crème caramel for dessert. Well done. John opts for the fish soup (a red “Manhattan” style) and the lamb shank once again. Madame stops by to visit before we leave and gets her helper to be a translator for the conversation. Very pleasant except for that toilette door thing.

A late night farewell drink at the Hotel Pinus (pronounce it however you like) where the famous and infamous French have done the same thing for centuries and then a cold breezy walk home whipped by le mistral. It’s an early wake up tomorrow with departures all around.

Today’s weather: Sunny, cool and hazy, low 42, high 66