Provence Pooch of the Day (3)

Dog walking his owner
Originally uploaded by Taking5

Dog walking his owner in the Place de Palais des Papes, Avignon.

He's got the slim head of a hunting dog. Somehow, Avignon has fewer dogs than Paris.

Sur la Pont, d'Avignon

Today, we set off at last to view the sights of Avignon. Although we had been here since Monday (three days ago now) we had been occupied elsewhere, visiting Orange, Chateauneuf-de-Pape and the pretty little Provencal villages on Tuesday, then Arles yesterday.

So it was only today that we had the opportunity to take in the sights of Avignon. We went first to the biggie, the Palais des Papes in Avignon. The Palace of the Popes has indeed a special place in Catholic history. The uncertainties of the times in the 1300's drove the papacy out of Rome. The popes Clement V and John XXII then decided to settle in Avignon, creating the Avignon Papacy. Altogether, 7 Popes and 2 Antipopes resided in Avignon. The building is stark and severe, a fortress rather than a palace. Again, I suppose this reflects the uncertain times.


Whilst the Papacy returned to Rome in 1378, the Vatican retained Avignon in its possession as a Papal State, until the French Revolution. The Palace was then turned into a barracks for many years. As such, today, the Palace retains very little of the former grandeur it must have had in the days of the Popes. No furniture or hangings, or paintings. What does remain are some frescoes in some chapels and also in the Pope's bedroom. Well, the Pope may have stayed there over 600 years ago but that is still the nearest I will ever get to his bedroom. We were not allowed to take any photos, though.



We went then to the nice little church near our B&B, Eglise St Pierre. It is apparently one of the older churches in Avignon, after the cathdral Notre Dame-des-Doms. It has beautiful wooden doors, and is really ornately decorated inside.


We had lunch thereafter, at one of those little restaurants on the Place d'Horloge - definitely a tourist trap. It was a set meal with soup, a main course and dessert and I really would not recommend it to anyone. It was quite pleasant, however, watching the people in the square - particularly a little boy who was running around the place, shadowed by his anxious mother.

After lunch, we headed back to St Benezet's bridge. The bridge is only a half-bridge, with half of it destroyed by floods many years ago. Yet its fame has spread far and wide thanks to a simple little song:

"Sur le Pont d'Avignon,
on y danse,on y danse,
sur le pont d'Avignon,
on y danse tous en rond..."

St Benezet was a shepherd boy who heard voices telling him to build a bridge - he managed to convince people that he was divinely inspired when he was able to lift a huge stone that no one else could move. However, no one ever danced on the bridge because it was deemed too narrow. Rather, the people danced on the river islands on which the bridge had been built. Such is the power of song....




We wandered around the shops to buy some souvenirs after our visit to the bridge. Unfortunately, it had started to rain - an unpleasant, incessant drizzle which made it very irritating to shop. Avignon has a high street with many shops, no shopping centres per se. So in the end we made our way back to our B&B where I had some time to clear emails before going out for dinner. Dinner was at the Hotel de Palais - we ate at the restaurant hotel. It was a pleasant enough meal, but what I really liked was the fireplace in the middle of the room. It was one of those which looks like a log fire, until you notice that the logs aren't being consumed by the flames...

Looking back, it is indeed a pity that we did not have more time in Avignon. I'd have liked to have the opportunity to cross the river to visit Villeneuf le Avignon. Well, we had wanted to get to Avignon much earlier on the Monday but the trains did not allow. Likewise, we would be taking an extremely early train back to Paris the next day. So, our time in Avignon was curtailed a little more than we had initially hoped.


Here's photo link.

A Michelin Meal

Some people come to France just to collect Michelin stars, i.e. eat at Michelin-starred restaurants. I had only one such meal - at Christian Etienne in Avignon, a one-star Michelin restaurant. Probably that makes the meal all the more memorable for me.

By now, of course, we had eaten a number of good dinners in nice restaurants. But dining in a Michelin-starred restaurant is different. It is not just about the food - it is definitely about the service, too. The receptionist took my coat at the door, and we were given little stands to put our handbags on (we took some time to figure out why they had put these little iron things next to our chairs) and so on. And yes, they do take the time to explain the menu in English, and when dishes are brought to you they 'introduce' them to you. There were quite a number of service staff too - the maitre'd, his frenzied waiters and waitresses, all rushing around. The chef himself makes the rounds of the tables, greeting his guests. He definitely is not in the kitchen preparing your meal. But guess that is what being an executive chef is all about.

We started off with our aperitifs, bite-sized, tasty morsels. I had ordered tuna ceviche as a starter (essentially sashimi), lamb and asparagus as my main course and an orange and carrot macaron for dessert. I enjoyed the tuna sashimi - quite a substantial portion - but was less keen on the dried avocado which accompanied the dish as the rich, creamy texture of the avocado was completely lost. The lamb, on the other hand, was perfectly cooked, as were the asparagus accompanying the dish.


We had a little pineapple sorbet next, to cleanse the palate before dessert. I had a really interesting orange and carrot macaron with some almond sorbet. The carrot was raw, grated carrot sticking out of the middle of the macaron. Interesting, but somehow it worked. Our meal ended with coffee and a row of petit fours - we could not finish ours. It was definitely a very memorable meal. If you want to see all the food photos (not just the dishes) click here.


I've basically come to the conclusion that French food in general can be divided into a few categories:

a) traditional basic: your baguettes and pastries and the like, which are typically very good and tasty, likewise the patiesseries
b) fine dining: obviously very fine indeed (anything from 70Euros per person and up)
c) tourist food: generally not very good though quite cheap.
d) mid-price, good value meals: hard for tourists to find. (20-30Euros per person)

My sense is that unlike Italy, which does pretty good deals with their mid-range menus even in tourist joints (at least the tourist joints I haunted), the French tourist menu is just not that great. I recall having this lovely salad with beautiful fresh ingredients in Florence. But here in France, somehow if you go to a cafe by the Seine, for example, you know the quiche will be a little eggy and wet, the crepes will be covered with nutella and the salad will consist of a few soggy leaves and maybe a slice of tomato or two. But buy a baguette with some ham, or chicken, and you eat a good meal for about 4 Euros or so.

Sadly, I only discovered the website "Chocolate and Zucchini" nearer the end of my stay in Paris. The blogger, Clotilde Dusoulier, is a young Frenchwoman who went to the US to work and started cooking there. She came back to France, continued to cook and started a blog about her cooking, eating etc. She wrote in English, so as to keep on using the language and it became a big hit. One book deal followed, and then another. Clotilde is now a full time writer. Her latest book is "Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris" and it gives little tips on her favourite eateries in Paris. I managed to spot this on the shelves of "Shakespeare & Company", our last full day in Paris.

So for those intending to go to France in the near future, check out her site. And also, print out her French-English food glossary. I found that my little phrase book was most put to use in restaurants. Whilst I soon memorised "agneau" for lamb and "canard" for duck, there're a lot of of little phrases which I just can't remember.

Bon Appetit!

Provence Pooch of the Day (2)

Just me and my dogs
Originally uploaded by Taking5

Not one but 3 dogs in this photo (plus one gentleman). He was sitting on the steps of the Eglise St-Trophime in the Place de la Republique in Arles.

The church itself is known for its beautiful, ornate portal with columns and niches, with statues of saints, apostles, etc. It was only open after lunch...

Mistral reigns in Arles

Today, we went to Arles, taking a quick train from Avignon. Arles is a charming, eminently walkable town with all its key attractions in a relatively small area.


Our first stop was the farmers' market, just outside the city walls. We had decided to visit Arles on the Wednesday because this was the day the farmers' market was on and we would not be able to catch the farmer's market in Avignon (only on weekends). The market is indeed an entertaining place, full of shops selling olives, herbs, meat, fish and vegetables, cheese, honey and so on. We wandered through the food shops, and went through a few clothing and fabric shops. But at that point we reached our turning for one of the big attractions of Arles - its Roman arena.


Like Orange, and other towns in Provence, Arles is a former Roman town and has the arena, the theatre, and the baths to prove it. The arena is pretty big (there is a sign in the arena indicating the relative sizes of a number of the remaining Roman arenas) at 136 x 107m (I suppose this excludes the surrounding walls?). There were also a few signs here and there indicating where to go, and a nice view of Arles from the tower on top. But unlike the Orange Roman theatre, there was no autoguide and so it was less interesting a visit than it might have been.

We left the arena and found ourselves in the little row of fabric shops just outside the arena. I must admit we spent some time here looking at the fabrics and making little purchases.

The next stop was the Roman theatre. However, we took a quick look and decided not to go in. There was a fair amount of restoration work going on, in the first place - probably preparing the place for the summer rush. But, more importantly, the theatre was very much in ruins, with only two columns remaining of what must have been an impressive building. A very far cry from the well preserved theatre at Orange. Having seen that one, we were disinclined to go in.

We moved on, but since it was the lunch hour all the shops were shutting (except the eateries). We walked into the Cafe Des Arts opposite the Museum Arlaten (also shut) and found that that apparently, it was formerly a residence and Van Gogh used to stay there. Unwittingly, we were following a Van Gogh trail! Provence is associated with so many great painters and writers. Van Gogh spent a year in Arles, and apparently this was a very productive period for him. Guidebooks describe the "Van Gogh" trail and show the different spots he painted. Later in the day, we would walk through the Espace Van Gogh, which used to be a mental hospital, where Van Gogh was treated and is now a cultural centre. In the central courtyard is a sign with a reproduction of a Van Gogh painting of the hospital. The buildings are painted and the courtyard laid out in the manner depicted in the painting, a nice little tribute to Van Gogh. Of course, it is a little too late considering Van Gogh's talents were never appreciated in his time. Incidentally, there is only one single Van Gogh painting in the whole of Provence - I think in a museum in Avignon. Of course we did not go there and so the only Van Gogh I did see in my time in France was the one in the Rodin Museum in Paris - that of La Pere Tanguy.

But Van Gogh was only a visitor. Arles' favourite son is indubitably Frederic Mistral, Nobel Laureate (Literature, 1904). His statue is in the town square, and his legacy lives on in the Museum Arlatan, which was set up with the Nobel prize money, and which we visited when it opened after the lunch hour. The museum is focused on Provencal dress, traditions, culture etc. It didn't allow photos though. Hence, no photos of its exhibits. I did see, however, a small little figure of the "Tarasque", a legendary monster of Provence. We had first about the Tarasque the previous day from our guide as she drove us through the town of Tarascon. The story is that the Tarasque was terrorising a town in France and was only defeated by St Martha. The town was thereafter renamed Tarascon. Other exhibits included large, lifesize models of family events, eg visitors to a mother and her new baby.

I walked next to the Roman baths, described in the guidebook as "well preserved". Well, it is all relative. Again, a lot of restoration work was going on, but most of the building had gone. On the other hand, it seemed in better condition than the ruins of the Roman bath I recall in Fiesole.

In general, I enjoyed our little visit to Arles. However, Arles' tourism body has some work to do. Overall, the presentation and the information provided at the Roman sites were far behind the very comprehensive audio guide provided in Orange's roman theatre. I saw my second French feline here, though (at the baths). Such a rare sight is indeed worth mentioning :-)

Photos of Arles.

Provence Pooch of the Day (1)

Provence Pooch
Originally uploaded by Taking5

So I was wandering the streets of Les Baux Provence when I spotted this large animal looking rather woebegone in a corner.

There were many, many dogs in Les Baux Provence. As I mentioned earlier, I suspect a certain amount of domestic tourism with the pets brought on holiday as well.

It was a challenge to choose my Pooch of the Day. He gets it because he was one of the bigger dogs I've met so far. You don't see it from this photo, but that was a pretty big pot.

Toujours Provence

At last! The Provence I had been waiting for, the Provence of golden sunshine on green fields and vineyards, the Provence of Peter Mayle. We had had a little taste of it in Chateauneuf-du -Pape. This afternoon, we would be going around the charming villages of Provence, some of “le plus beaux villages de France”.

We had picked up a number of people in Avignon (and dropped off the one chap who had joined us during the morning). Two were Japanese, one was Australian and another from Argentina, plus one American couple from (if I recall correctly) Michigan. So Caroline, our guide, had more people to explain things to. And since Americans tend to ask a lot of questions, we learnt a lot more. For example, the difference between lavende and lavendin. Apparently, the “true” lavender is lavende; it grows in higher regions and tends to be finer. Lavendin on the other hand grows at lower altitudes and tends to have a far stronger (not necessarily a bad thing?) and more camphorated smell. More details can be found on the lavender museum website (fine lavender is lavende and spike lavender, lavendin). According to the French, “true” lavender is found only in Provence but lavendin can be found anywhere (more common) such as the variety found in Hokkaido, Japan (the Japanese couple were saddened to hear this).

We also had the pleasure of hearing our guide correct the American gentleman’s attempts at pronouncing French words. I was reminded of the comment in Sixty Million Frenchmen that the French have no compunction about correcting pronunciation and grammar mistakes made by others.

Our first stop was however not in a little Provencal village but at Pont-du-Gard, a Roman aqueduct which spanned the River Gardon (at its narrowest point) and which is yet another UNESCO world heritage site. The total length of the aqueduct is about 50 kilometres, stretching from its originating spring, near Uzès to Nîmes. The bridge has three levels, the first the arches spanning the river, the next carrying the water and the third a series of small arches to cover the water channel so it arrives at its destination cleaner. It amazed me to see how broad the bridge was. It is broad enough for a little car to drive on. The bridge is in excellent condition – likely there have been some repairs and restoration work done but in general, those Romans did a good job. As I said before, they knew what they were doing.

Leaving the bridge, we went first to Les Baux de Provence. Now I am a little annoyed with myself because I didn’t catch that the chateau in this village is supposed to be one of those major sights to see in the whole of Provence. I can’t recall Caroline mentioning it, but she did mention most things so maybe I just missed it. Anyway, Les Baux is a village on a hill in the middle of this huge valley of strangely shaped stones. The houses in the village are made of similar stone – they are all of similar colour. Life must be hard here outside tourist season. It was already fairly windy when we were there – I cannot imagine what it must be like during the period of the mistral when the wind howls around the windows and doors. What was surprising was the large number of dogs in this little village. I can only conclude that there is a fair amount of domestic tourism and the French take their dogs on holiday. Sometimes, it can result in little confrontations...

We drove next to the little village of Gordes. Now Gordes is famous for being one of the most beautiful villages in France, but in addition it was the location for the café featured in the movie “A Good Year” starring Russell Crowe and Albert Finney (Russell Crowe’s character gets together with the owner of the café). I’d just happened to catch the movie on cable before leaving Singapore (I read the book as well – there are certain differences) and frankly, I found it hard to recognize the café, but fortunately our guide was able to direct us to the correct spot. Gordes was even windier than Les Baux and it seemed to me that some of the attractions were closed so even after you walk down the hill against the wind you don’t get rewarded by getting to see something interesting. We did visit the little village church.

It was at the point of our departure from Gordes that the Argentinian lady informed our guide that she had to catch the 7.40pm TGV train from Avignon to Lyon. Caroline said that she wished that the Argentinian lady could have told her a little earlier of the train time. Now here you must understand that there sometimes seems to be some differences in timing from the website to what the tour operator is working on. For example, we thought that our tour to the chateaux in the Loire Valley would end comfortably by 7pm when it ended a little after, resulting in a great rush for us to catch our train back to Paris. Here, she apparently thought the tour would end at 7pm when it was actually ending at 7.30pm. Moral of the story: always ask what time the tour ends and tell the driver if you need to take a train.

We rushed to the next stop – the village of Roussillon, famous for its beautiful red, orange and ochre coloured houses. The clay for the houses was taken from the nearby cliffs – which are of red, orange, ochre etc. It was probably the prettiest of the three villages we had seen that day. But the sun was going down and the shops were starting to close. Anyway, we rushed straight back to Avignon TGV station and got there by 7.30am – just in time for the Argentinian lady to catch her train! We gave Caroline a round of applause.

We drove back to Avignon city centre after that exciting dash to the train station. Since we were tired out, we had a quiet dinner of moulles frittes at a German eatery we had seen the previous day. Washed down with a glass of Kanterbrau beer.

Toujours Provence, indeed. It was A Good Day. Lots of great photos.


p.s. Incidentally it was not exactly my dream day in Provence. It was slightly overcast. But then, it does make it more comfortable to walk around.