We left Basel Friday morning and headed for Challon sur Saône, we bypassed Besançon and its newly renovated Museum. It's taken over 3 years to complete what is considered the second after the Louvre. It will keep for another trip. The rain followed us most of the way. We reached the Challon junction on the A6 (The Autoroute to the Sun) and decided to bypass it as well, as we had made good time on the road. By the time we reach Dardilly just north of Lyon where we stayed the rain had gone and the sun was shining. Our first stop in Lyon was a coffee in a little Cafe on Place St Jean next to the Vieux Lyon Metro and right in the centre of the old town. We wandered along the ancient cobbled streets through the old town. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and heady aroma of newly baked pastries fill the cool morning air. We left the old town with its pastries and potpourri of specialty shops, cafes and restaurants and stepped out into the bright sunshine along the Saône and across the Pont de la Feuillée that leads to Place des Terreaux and the beautiful Bartoli Fountain. It was being renovated two years ago and it is still not finished. The entire plaza is now being upgraded with new paving (but more of that later). We kept going passed the massive Hotel De Ville to Place de la Comédie, the large plaza in front the Town Hall and the Opera. And guess what? It was cordoned off and under paving construction as well. But wait there's more. We headed down Rue de la Republic, the pedestrian retail street and the entire length of it is, you guessed it, cordoned off for paving works. The Lyon Mayor has found a creative way to stymie the Yellow Vest Protest in the centre of his city and give it a new look at the same time.
After suffering the squeeze of shoppers corralled between the construction fencing and the shop fronts we headed across the Rhône at Pont Lafayette and along the concourse to the Les Halles de Lyon and our favourite lunch stop the Fer à Cheval (the Horseshoe). Croque Monsieurs, beer and wine. Best ham and cheese toasties in the world. We spent the rest of our time here wandering through the massive Parc de la Tête d'Or(Golden Head Park) with its huge lake and Zoo. It is also the location of the Modern Art Museum. After that we headed up via the funicular to the Basilica above the city and around to Lugdunum the ancient Roman Museum and two well preserved open air theatres. After that we collapsed and were ready for the next sojourn.
We left Lyon on Sunday, our favoured travel day. I seems the ban on trucks on Sunday has been extended to France. We headed South down the Autoroute du Soleil and branched off at Montélimar. We climbed steadily out of the RhôneValley and over a ridge of the Central Massifs and down into the Ardèche Valley and on to the Chauvet 2 Cavern. This is an exact reproduction of the original discovered in the late 1990s, very similar to the Lascaux 2 cavern in the Dordogne. The remains and cave art has been dated to 36,000 years ago. The tour is very dim much like the way it was originally found but the illuminated art is outstanding in its technique and accurate reproduction of Palaeolithic Fauna. Truely amazing.
We stayed the night at the nearby village of Vallon Pont d'Arc famed for its large natural arch on the Ardèche River. Turning East the next day we crossed over the A7 and found our way to Vaison la Romaine, a former Roman town and Medieval Bastide. The Roman Ruins are interesting but the true feature of this place is the Old Fortified HillTown overlooking the new village and ancient ruins. It is beautiful if a little care worn. It is mainly the home of artists and artisans and it is pleasing that the usual suspect that festoon places like this with streets busting with souvenirs and overpriced tat have been kept out.
Our next stop was Le Isle sur la Sorgue a picturesque village in Vaucluse. The town is built on an island in the middle of the river Sorgue. Canals surround the town and it is noted for the many water wheels along the canals. It is also famous for antiques especially vintage toys. The road along the main canal has many beautifully presented store fronts.
We left the island town early and set out for Gordes one of the many “Plus Beau Villages” (the most beautiful villages in France). It is another fortified hill town or Bastide. It is quite pretty with spectacular view of the Vaucluse countryside. It is charming but very popular with bus tours and we managed to be leaving as three arrived. Not far away was our next stop The Sénanque Abbey. The road in to this secluded little valley is nerve racking as the downhill section into the abbey car park is one lane with refuge lay-bys. Heart stopping, brake pad smelling, just squeezing by with mirror retracted, terror. Never again in a Motorhome. This is the place you see in virtually every promo of Provence, long lines of flowering lavender stretching out before the Abbey as a backdrop. The lavender had already been harvested but it was still worth the wild ride to get there.
We exited by another way that was much less stressful and made our way to where we are now. Aix en Provence. The home of Paul Cézanne. This is a beautiful city that is laid out like a lopsided spider's web and a rather drunk spider at that. Everything radiates from the Rotunde a huge circular plaza. The main thoroughfare is the wide Cours Mirabeau that was covered in market stalls the day we were there. Most of the streets run off this in a haphazard way but you always seem to find your way back to the Rotunde or Mirabeau. The streets are narrow and cool in the hot Provence sunshine. The more popular ones are lined with shops, bars and restaurants but many others are peaceful and quiet and relaxing to just wander along and admire the “lived in” architecture. This place is truly beautiful. By the time we got back to the van we were totally drained. We crashed for a whole day and just vegged.
Next Stop Avignon.
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