Provence

Taking the TGV to Provence, saw the end of the rainy days and nothing but sunshine and hot weather for pretty much the rest of my trip.  We picked up our rental car from the Aix-en-Provence TGV station.  It was me who had the pleasure of driving our big Renault Kangoo around the teeny, windy Provencal roads.  It was off to Eau Vive, where I used to live in 2005, to stay for the week.

About to hit the French roads - eekk

From there we did road trips every day to discover the area.

First it was off to Aix-en-Provence town to show my family, another one of my old ‘homes’.  It was the first time I’d been back there so it was interesting to see it 7 years on.  It was also interesting driving around! Quite an experience.  I really wanted to show my family the lavender fields but unfortunately, the cooler weather meant we were a couple of weeks too early to see them in bloom.

The next day we took on more country roads to discover the hilltop village and market of Gordes.  I’d always wanted to see this town and it did not disappoint, neither did the markets.  We had a great day enjoying the town and then also discovered the Bories – traditional stone houses that people lived in for centuries.

Gordes

Les Bories

More driving stresses followed the day after that when we ventured to Marseille and looked around the town, saw the Basilica and sampled sea food – but not the Bouillabaisse, as that is ludicrously expensive.

The last day staying at Eau Vive we headed towards Avignon to see the old walled papal city and the bridge from the nursery rhyme.  Even though, I’ve been to a lot of these places before I always discovered something new and different each time which was great.

Friday, we were off, direction Frejus-St-Raphael to spend a night with the family I spent Christmas with.  This family has been to NZ and had a BBQ at my parents and they were super keen to return the favour and introduce them to traditional French meal time and that’s sure what we got.  It was a great time together, with fantastic hospitality and a wonderful time spent together.  Breakfast was a new experience when my family discovered how the French drink their morning tea or coffee in a bowl and that it isn’t for your cereal.

After Frejus-St-Raphael, we were off to Nice.  First off though was Grasse, via the scenic route, which, with its windy roads with no passing lanes, cyclists who thought they were the only ones on the road and crazy drivers, was a driver’s worst nightmare.  It was a very stressful experience and tensions where high.  We were very glad to park the car and stop at the parfumerie - Fragonard. 

The parfumerie was excellent. It was so interesting. We got to see how the perfume is made and the oils extracted. We got to see the room with all the different essential oils that the people mix to make perfumes. The people who create the new‘recipes’ for each perfume are called ‘Le Nez’ – the nose in English. There are only 50 in the world. They are highly trained and need to be able to smell and identify over 1000 different smells. They are well paid and only are able to work a couple of hours a day as otherwise its overload for their noses and sense of smell. The tour was free but we made up for that by spending a bit in the boutique. The perfumes were exquisite and it was well worth the experience. A real highlight of the trip for me.

Fragonard parfumerie - a selection of only a few of the oils used to make perfume.  The perfume maker sits here and follows the recipe of 'le nez' to mix together a new perfume.

After Grasse it was off to Nice for the final instalment of driver’s frazzled nerves trying to find the rental car drop off point.  We finally, happily, dropped our car off and gladly walked with our bags to the hotel apartment we had booked. 

The next day we discovered Monaco and happened to be in the right time at the right place as the Monaco Royal family were having a function and we watched all the guests arrive with their glad-rags on and then a car drove right past me and into the palace it was one of the Princesses, I think Caroline.  We enjoyed Monaco and seeing the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  The afternoon, we headed back to Nice to explore that a bit further and arrived there in time to see the wind pick up and create big waves and havoc on the beach.

Monaco