Leeses Loose in France - Part 2
In which I describe the next couple days of our April, 2025 France trip...
Welcome back to the second of, I don’t know, five posts about our trip to France. I’m currently sitting at a table at the Lagkagehuset cafe in terminal C of the Copenhagen airport. Lizzy’s here with me, playing Roblox, as we wait to board our flight back home in....3 more hours. Yes, there’s a lounge we can access but not until 2 hours prior, so we camped out here for the time being.
Rainy Day - April 13
L’Isle sur la Sorgue
We had to return to this gem as it was market day and we truly enjoyed our stay there back in 2011. The town is famous for its water wheels, particularly the one right in the middle of the market. During our market visit we got the usual produce - tomatoes, garlic, carrots - as well as two sets of provencal table linens, flavored salts, and small packets of lavender.
Gordes
This cute town is best seen from an overlook..but it was raining and windy the day we stopped by, so it was a quick photo shoot then return ot the car.
Abbey
The abbey is famous for being surrounded by lavender fields. Since it was Sunday, we managed to arrive before you could tour the building but did hang around long enough to visit the gift shop which was full of goods from Provence, with special sections featuring items from this and other Provencal abbeys.
Roussillon
We ate lunch first at a place that had a lovely heated and covered from the rain terrace. I had the grand aioli which was a ton of vegetables with cod and whelks, all designed to dipped or covered in the homemade garlic mayonnaise. Lizzy was happy to have a kids meal of chicken nuggets, fries, sirop (water with flavoring, in this case, grenadine), and an ice cream bar. Matt had a lamb stew then chocolate lava cake. After lunch, we walked around town and found a store that makes its own water colors and you can either buy them pre-made and dried on a palette or in powdered form to be mixed with your choice of liquid later. Outside of town, we visited two wineries - one very basic with tastings in an old building, the other very fancy. The second make two sparking non-alcoholic wines and, for the first time ever, I was able to try them!
(Sorry, no photos from the rest of our day as, well, it was still raining.)
Better Weather - April 14
Flamingos!
Did you know that Provence is home to tons of wild flamingos? Well, it is! You’ll find them in the wetlands of the Camarogue National Park. There are no fees associated with visiting them, not even parking fees, just a drive through the area. With all of the rain that was falling that day and the day prior, some parts of the wetland were flooded and/or uneven. Matt wanted to look out for the flamingos and other wildlife, so I took over the driving. Wound up being my old time driving the entire trip.
No exciting photos of lunch as, well, we grabbed savory pastries from a bakery since the entire town we were near seemed to have decided not to open up.
Baux
After lunch, we headed back to Baux which you may have heard of as it’s where Bauxite was first found; you can even look and touch a sample of the stuff in this very touristy little town that has a castle at the top. We got really lucky with parking, finding a spot maybe a quarter mile from the town entrance. Up the longggg hill to the destroyed castle. It was fun to get to go wherever it was safe to do so which meant lots of tower climbing for Matt and Lizzy. I like seeing the siege weapons they had on display. After, we wandered past the little shops and managed to find the same shop we’d gotten a bowl from back in 2011, only to find out the lavender pattern Matt loves so much is no longer being made. (We did manage to get one small bowl with that pattern plus one with lemons on it and a dish designed for deviled eggs or “oeufs mimosa“ which is similar.
Where We Went
Stayed at a rental in St. Remy, booked via Booking.com - information is here. HIGHLY recommend as it’s got a great use of space, private parking spot, and is only a couple blocks from the main street of the old town
Abbeye Notre-Dame de Senanque: tickets and information here
Lunch in Roussillon: La Grappe de Raisin; Trip Advisor site here
Shop that sells watercolors, pottery, and more in Roussillon: online information here
Rustic winery: domain de TARA - site here
Fancy winery with two non-alcoholic sparkling wines: Chateau d’Estoublon - site here
Flamingo wetland/park: Parc Ornithologique Pont de Gau - information here
Baux castle: visit information here
Ceramic shop in Baux - can’t find a name or website but believe there’s only one shop that sells just ceramics