CHAPTER 17. SOUTH EAST FRANCE CONT.

Leaving Villefranche-Sur-Mer we first drive down by the quay then up and around St. Jean-Cap Ferrat before going back to Nice. We go west up high on the mountainside to Grasse, then north west on Napoleons route, stopping for lunch in St. Vallier de Thiey at La Bergerie Restaurant. We drive down the Grand Canyon du Verdon, a very deep gorge of gray rock with a green river at the bottom, with spectacular views from a corniche road high on the canyon wall. We stop for the night at Hotel Le Verdon in Les Salles overlooking Lac de Ste. Croix.

A market is being set up in a vacant area under our balcony as we leave. We drive generally west toward Cavaillon; at first the road is up and down hills with twisting and turning, with many small villages sitting on hill tops, but not much agriculture. This changes as we approach Cavaillon; there are many cherry orchards, vegetables, and melons in good looking farm land. We have lunch at L’Assiette au Beurre Restaurant in Cavaillon. It has very elegant Louis XIV decor, and excellent food. We buy a Cavaillon melon and it is so delicious we buy some seeds to try growing them at home. (They grew well in Sacramento, but didn’t quite have the flavor we remembered). We drive thru St. Remy and our Hotel Van Gogh is “compleat” so we go on to Beaucaire and stop at the Vignes Blanches.

Today we drive to Quillan for a last therapy session tomorrow for Betty’s broken kneecap before going on to Barcelona and home (#16). En route we stop in Nimes to see the outside of the Roman Maison Caree and Arena, travel south on the toll highway to Narbonne, then go west to Carcassone, and turn south toward Quillan. At a Limoux winery we buy a bottle of Blanquette du Limoux which would be champagne anywhere but France.