Azure Coast and Avignon: Road Trip!

The day after Cameron's birthday was dedicated to a road trip, so we settled up with our B'nB owners, loaded the car and headed south.

 

Orange; Aix-En-Provence; Aubagne; Toulon; Le Lavandou; St. Tropez; Cannes; Juan-les-Pins; Antibes; Nice.  The names rolled off the tongue and the scenery flitted by our little blue clown car, filled to the gills with luggage, wine, cold drinks, peaches and a variety of local cheeses and hams.  Yes, the le Roux's were well on their way again.  South of France, road trip!

 

 

Once we finally hit the beach roads, we spent most of the day driving from beach to beach, stopping ever so often for a leg stretch and for me to check the waters of the Med, ready and eager to swim. 

 

Collecting sea shells

Reminder for next time: bring reef shoes!

 

 

Alas, the water was freezing and the beaches quite disappointing, being not only mostly over populated with sun-worshipping holidaymakers, but also extremely rocky.  Not the pristine white beaches with soft sand that we are used to in South Africa and Mozambique, so no swimming for me.

 

It was a treat to look at the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean, see the fancy yachts, colourful umbrellas on the beaches and of course, all the different shapes and sizes of sunbathers, some of them having tanned themselves into most unnatural colours.

 

Just outside St. Tropez.
Snuck into the parking lot of this private beach, but could not get down to the water.
Now this is my idea of a good holiday!

Just past Cannes where we stopped for a late lunch, beach-side picnic.  We thoroughly enjoyed our ham, cheese and peaches and celebrated life with a cold beer for him and a miniature bottle of champagne for me.  After lunch, we just sat on the corniche and watched the people stroll along the beach, enjoying the last of the summer sun.  This is where I added another item to the wish list:  to spend at least two full weeks of summer somewhere along that particular coast.  Let's see...

 

The sun set as we slowly drove into Nice and we decided to end our Côte-d'Azur trip there.  After driving around and around the confusing one way streets of Nice a couple of times the now very grumpy husband finally found us a reasonably priced hotel where we checked in, freshened up and hit the streets again, in search of... well, more food of course.  Found ourselves a decent looking Indian restaurant, had some wonderful curry, then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.  Who knew all that driving around could tire us out so much?

 

The next morning we set off again on the most direct route we could find to take us back to Avignon to finally explore the place I have been wanting to visit for so long.

 

The old town of Avignon lies within the greater city of Avignon and is completely enclosed by the original town wall.  We arrived in Avignon late afternoon and found a hotel just outside the wall, close to one of the many entrances to the old town.  After a quick check in and freshening up session we headed off to see Avignon proper before sunset. 

Town wall that completely surrounds old Avignon

 

Avignon used to be the Papal seat of John XXII, who commissioned the building of the Papal Palace in 1316 (It was only completed in 1370).  The town boasts many lovely old buildings, as well as new, modern ones.  It definitely looks like business is booming, with Haute Couture shops standing next to shops selling curios, standing next to quite a number of art museums.

 

The Papal Palace and square

 

Pssst! Brother, where did you get that fancy wingsuit?*

I noticed a sign for the Musée Angladon and we ducked in ten minutes before closing time, where the friendly curator allowed us free entrance and a quick glance around the ground floor of the museum.  We saw one Picasso sketch (I couldn't figure out the setting on my camera in time to take a flash-less picture), a couple of Degas paintings and also the painting I have been wanting to see:  Van Gogh's Wagons de Chemin de Fer (Railway Cars), painted in August 1888. 

 

Vincent Van Gogh, who is one of my favourite artists (closely followed by Picasso and Salvador Dali) spent two years in the Provence region, where he painted over 400 canvasses, the most famous of which is probably the breathtakingly beautiful 1889 painting, The Starry Night (Depicting the view outside Van Gogh's sanatorium window in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence). However, Wagons de Chemin de Fer is the only one on display in Provence.  For some reason I find the fact that the area that inspired and coaxed such magnificent work in and from Van Gogh, yet only has one of his paintings on show, extremely sad.

 

 

 

Way past sun set and after wandering the narrow, cobble stone streets of old Avignon for a couple of hours, we rewarded ourselves with a pint and a half of ice cold Guinness beer (my favourite), then headed back to the hotel for a much deserved snooze.

 

 

Up again early the next day, bought our train tickets to Marseilles, where we would catch our flight to Ciampino airport just outside Rome.  Italy, here we come!

 

 

* Wingsuit:  a type of skydiving suit with fabric under the arms and between the legs enabling the wearer to reduce his or her rate of fall.