A Week in Provence - Aix en Provence

Cezanne is honored throughout the city

A pretty small church on a lovely square

Our day in Aix-en-Provence was cloudy but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm for this pretty bustling city. There aren't the huge monumental plazas and buildings we saw in many, but an overall distribution of lovely smaller spaces and beautiful buildings. In the tourist information office we got a map of the city with a route of the native citizen Paul Cezanne sites and explanations. The route was duplicated physically with small bronze disks embedded in sidewalks and streets. It was fun way to see the city although most of the "sites" had pretty contrived relationships to Cezanne (and friend Emile Zola).

Dolphin Fountain

Lots of places to sit, have coffee and watch the crowds

We only visited one museum, the Musee de Vieix Aix, and it was really fun. They have a collection of "santoro" crib figures and wooden puppets celebrating the old festival of Fete-Dieu. Another favorite of mine was a doll house with historic figures dressed perfectly in beautiful rooms and only several inches high. We also enjoyed the Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur with it's lovely cloister and 15th C organ.

Or have a little chat in the sun

Two figure heads grace this door

Charming plazas dotted the city

Fountain and the Cathedral St. Sauveur

A little Mary Poppins?

Conservative shoes -pink and aqua laces?

The best bread we ate in France!

We never did find out what this was.

The Hotel de Ville and a beautiful entry

Found a Peruvian store and a charming llama

An unusual Peeping Tom

We saw a lot of these bulging walls.

This beautiful big fountain was in the largest plaza but there
was a busy road circling it.

Rowers at Martinques-

And many lovely stores.

A Week in Provence

Our home in Provence, the first half at least

Honoree whipping up dinner

Our terrace - it was warm enough one night to eat out there

Our very attractive living room

Walt clowning (and cooking)

During our time on the boat we checked around on the internet for a rental for the week following in Provence and Honoree came across a charming place listed on the internet. It turned out to be a great place with a terrific couple hosting us (details on a forthcoming blog entry detailing all of our hotels, restaurants etc.) It was just outside of Arles and allowed us to visit a number of cities and sights around the area.

Scott on the Rhone River walkway

Posing for the auto timing camera at dinner time

Arles had some interesting street art

Arles itself is very charming with a number of well preserved Roman remains, a theater, an amphitheater, viaduct and necropolis among others. It is an ancient city known to be a Ligurian community by 800 BC, then Celtic and Phoenician before being taken by the Romans in 123 BC. It was an important center for the late Roman period and continued on as a major port on the Rhone until the introduction of trains. Vincent van Gogh lived there for a time and was visited there by Gauguin.

And a bustling informal  flea market

Fall colors on the ivy covered walls

Typical narrow streets

The beautiful main square with it's obelisk

The Coliseum is still used for many events

As is the theater

Scott, Walt, Honoree and myself also visited Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, both beautiful cities. The first is also set on the Rhone, further north and is often referred to as the City of Popes as they were in residence from 1309 to 1423. It is one of the few cities in France to retain it's ramparts and it is very atmospheric for sure. Like Arles it was an early Roman city and then occupied by the Goths in the 5th C, followed by the Saracens and the Franks. In 1033 it became part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1274 it became a possession of the Popes and in 1309 it was chosen by Clement V to be his residence. This caused a schism in the Catholic Church but even after that was resolved the city remained part of the Papacy until 1709 when it was finally joined to France. The Palace of the Popes takes a hours to visit as it is enormous. Here as elsewhere we have found the audio guides indispensable.

Main courtyard inside the Palace

This bridge was destroyed a number of times and they've 

given up

View up at the Palace facade from the Plaza

Looking down at the Cathedral

Honoree with friends in the Crypt

Interior of the Cathedral

Cobblestone plaza with Walt and Honoree

The Public Market "Les Halles" with it's garden exterior

The Grand Staircase in the Palace

The view of the pliza in front of the Pope's Palace from the roof

Cruising the Canal de Midi - the last days

The countryside from the boat as we traveled up the Canal de Robine back to the Canal de Midi

Dancing trees accompanied us after we rejoined the Canal de Midi and passed Angeliers

Honoree and Walt cuddle up as the sun sets 

The moon rose over Capestrung and the beautiful flood
lit Cathedral

Shadows playing on the stairs leading to
the Cathedral

We enjoyed having breakfast sitting in the quiet square

The Cathedral looms over Capestrung. We went into the
town center the next morning and explored.

Scott enjoying the internet with his morning coffee and
croissants.

Last look at Capestrung - notice picnic table, very typical
along the side of the Canal

You can see in this picture how far the water
descends. Scott walked from one lock to the
next to handle the lines.

The start of the Fonserannes Staircase, a series of 9 locks
descending to Beziers. We only needed to take 7 of them.

We saw several monuments commemorating
Thomas Jefferson during our trip. This was
on the wall at the Staircase.

Good shot of the roof deck by Brenda

View of Beziers over the roof tops

Beziers Cathedral at night from our boat. We moored
right on the aquaduct over the River

It was a long day evidently - John still has his drink in his hand!