Leaving Provence: Now for the rest of the story!

I was obsessed with photos of plane trees…especially in the sunlight. When I looked at them I could see those paintings….

Time to leave Oppede as we had a week or so to get to Paris and catch a flight home. We had a hard time with decision making as there were just too many options but decided to fo to Sete in part because a friend wanted to meet us there for lunch. The other reason to head for Sete was for it’s seafood and it’s cuisine, considered to be very different from other parts of France. On the way to Sete, we stopped in Arles where Van Gosh had lived for many years and sadly had been hospitalized for his mental illness.

Built in 90 AD, this amphitheater was plunk in the middle of this bustling city. You just walk around the corner from blocks of shops and apartments, etc and suddenly it’s there in front of you.

But here is the real reason I wanted to stop here. There is a “walk”that allows you to see many of the spots where Van Gogh painted or lived or ate/drank (about 9-1- scattered over a mile or so). He lived here in this hospital (not a psychiatric facility) after the ear incident. He was deemed well enough to be allowed to go out and paint during the day, but returning to his “home” at night. Eventually he was transferred to another facility. (Note that over a hundred years later they are stilling doing topiary in this courtyard…perhaps an example of life imitating art?).

This was near another of those easels and it struck me that I have seen this painting by Van Gogh.

These easels were set up throughout the downtown. Seeing the painting next to the sites he had painted on a bright fall day was a bit hard to describe…at times making me teary. He wrote to his sister in law while doing these paintings, “one can make a poem by arranging colors”. Never better said!

Our last stop, where he lived in the 1880s. The original home was destroyed by bombs in the 1940s but it was fun to pick out the architectural detail that remained, e.g., the bridge overpass is still there. There is a little restaurant next door where we had tarte tatin before continuing on to Sete. It seems silly now as I write about it, but at that moment it was thrilling to think that Van Gogh may have sat exactly where I was sitting back in the 1880s.

And before leaving Arles, a word about markets. We could not figure out why the traffic was so intense and parking so limited in Arles. We finally realized we were there on market day…I believe this is one of the largest and oldest in all of France. We can definitely say it’s one of the best attended. While we loved the markets I suspect for some French it becomes something they avoid as we avoid towns with cruise ships.

We decided the indoor Sunday market was just a bit too crazy to get oysters so we went next door where prices strangely were identical, ordered drinks oysters and the famous Sete seafood soup and 5 minutes later…..

Voila! My favorite French word and used a lot here. This is the closest you get to fast food in France……

Sete is a good sized city, but Brant had become expert at navigating the city streets. Despite that we ran into our first rip off situation. We had booked an apartment for 2 nights through booking, Sadly the parking space was not there as described nor were the people who were going to meet us. Totally ghosted, but we were extremely impressed by Booking.com’s quick assistance in getting a nearby hotel (with a portion paid by Booking.com). In fact the hotel likely worked out better than our original choice. We never found out what had happened. Perhaps there is some innocent explanation….

Sete certainly had a different feel than the other places we had been. There was seafood everywhere!!! Oysters, mussels, fish, shrimp….. and lots of people that looked like they were spending the weekend eating it…everywhere.

Mussels in a Roquefort sauce (yes there is a Roquefort, France). Really excellent but the 3 orders of fries were unnecessary. They brought us more because they felt the first 2 batches weren’t hot enough. Then the restaurant owner (I think) came over and we chatted about Calvados, Brandy, Armagnac and cognac. He brought out ancient bottles to show me and let me sniff (not drink) each one. (When I say chat, much of this is taking our best guess as to what he is saying in his heavily accented english).

I like the idea of a mid afternoon of snacks. The whelks in the right corner were a bit too chewy for my tastes but the shrimp (crevettes) were the best I’ve ever tasted. Or maybe it was the homemade aioli that went with them that made them so good. All kinds of aioli everywhere! (This was at a fundraiser we think that was being held out on the pier next to our hotel complete with bands). It’s interesting that often our translators ended up being people who likely immigrated there (judging by appearance) and they spoke english and French and likely a couple other languages as well.

…and I got used to the idea of digestivs …the bartender made these up fresh to order…mine is mint.

Suspect if this ice cream chain isn’t already in Folsom, it will be soon. The young woman scooping the ice cream, creates these flowers by the way she scoops. Brant has sorbet

Sete had a feel of Italy mixed with France but with better food. In this square on the left there is a giant octopus. Octopus rice was sold everywhere..as well so many dishes we did not have time to eat. There are many pasta dishes very specific to this area that had a mix of Italian and morrocan seasonings. It had a real sense of community here. We are sorry we didn’t get to to the see the boat jousting competitions…check out on you tube. (Though we did see a boat rowing competition that with screaming and shouting easily heard from our hotel and attended by hundreds. )Next time…..

And once again…acknowledgement of the much appreciated work of the allies in World War 2., In Arles, there was a memorial plaque for 2 young Americans who died on a mission in Arles.

At first glance I thought this was a flying dragon, but then I noticed Italy. (Along a walking/biking trail)

Beautiful old olives….. (The restaurants don’t get busy until 830 and most don’t open until 730)

There was some sort of road race going on in Sete (much of this vacation we spent not knowing what was going on), but Brant was impressed once again to see a rotary logo.

Canals went through the city and the canals seemed lined with restaurants, bars and bakeries. On Sunday morning there were families everywhere having dinner together.

I kid you not, the boat is moving and I believe he is telling everyone to duck. I think the tide was a bit higher then expected. This is when it’s important to be watch where you are going. Perhaps an understanding of the language would be good too. We had to do this about 3 x…poor Brant!

These (I believe) are pavlova. Yes, in a camp supply store at a campground by the beach! It had croissants, pain au chocalat and pavlovas….not to mention a dozen types of cheese and fresh baguettes. This is my kind of camping….happy to trade in my s’mores for these.

This beach was just a few minutes outside of sete. A bike path paralleled the ocean for many miles and another followed the canal up to Carcassone. Next time….

On the way from Sete to the Pyrenees we stopped for a quick look at Carcassonne. We had heard from many that the area was a bit too Disneyesque and really not that great a stop….but heck it was on the way to the Pyrenees. The drive there past canals with their lockes and the tiny towns next to the canal were beautiful, out of another time, and made for a beautiful drive.

It did seem somehow a bit too perfect and Disney like. (Behind those walls is the craziest conglomeration of souvenir shops Ive ever seen…just packed in. Sounds strange but it made me visualize what it would have been like in medieval times but with butchers, and bakers etc. Instead) Napoleon was going to have this castle destroyed (I guess for building supplies) but I am glad he didn’t as the castle wall walk was beautiful (and free)….

…and we found a terrrific Brazilian restaurant serving feijoda (stew). That’s a pepper (a smell pepper he said) not a maraschino. Definitely worth stopping for!

We cut short our stay in the Pyrenees ….just one night. We regret not taking a steep road up into the Pyrenees that is used by the Tour de France most years. It is the steepest climb of the race. Of course I read all this after the fact! Next time….

Any time the art work in a hotel is jigsaw puzzles….

…and the headboard is stick on cork pieces, you have to be a little concerned…

…but then you show up for dinner and they serve you this delicious meal!

While we didn’t have enough time to explore there was stunning scenery at the French/Spain border.

And so lucky we had not been there a week earlier as they had severe flooding.

…and it filled our hotel pool with a couple feet of mud. There is a large field of mud nearby which also entered a house . Amazing that the place was up and running a week later!

The rain began again as we approached Bordeaux….good timing for dropping off our rental car. As so many have said, the roads were great in France and Brant says he feels the drivers were courteous. The car was definitely the way to explore but happy to switch over to city mode travel for the rest of our trip (metro, bus, train, Uber etc).

And last food pic… Sometimes you get a bit tired of finding places and things and just want a quick bite to eat. We needed to stop at a store so why not just stop and get some mall fast food on the way through a city?

So we did (the only restaurant at the mall)…and a half hour later they brought me my little salad….

…3 kinds of cheese and at least a pound of balsamic drizzled goat cheese. Brant’s seafood salad is in the background. France does not seem to do fast food or low calorie food but has plenty of delicious food!

Share this:

Related

Leave a comment Cancel reply