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| Dinner at our host's place with dog Smiley and the 3 cats |
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| The kitchen at our host's place |
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| Kite surfers on the beach near Giens |
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| Lac de St. Croix |
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| Camping du Fondue fortress near Giens |
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| The mouth of the Gorges du Verdon |
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| Gorges du Verdon |
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| Dijon |
Our holidays were approved on a very short notice. So my daughter Angela and me had to organise the trip last minute. Angela has been to the area before and she showed me an amazing part of France by driving through the area. We started in Mainz past Saarbrücken, Metz in direction Aix-les Bains. Apart from the French language along with pay stations for the use of the highway, it was clear that the European Union members have moved very closely together in terms of culture. Everything is now so familiar when you cross the border apart of the language. As we decided to get off the highway and buy petrol in a small town, we realised that it was Sunday. Petrol stations in small towns were closed and we needed to use our credit card to buy petrol. I have never used my credit card very often and I didn't know the password. The first culture shock in our neighbouring country but luckily a nice young man helped us out with his credit card.
We decided to have an overnight break in Aix-des-Bains, stayed at Ibis Styles Hotel in the spa and hospital area of the city. They gave us one of the worst rooms with view on the car park, a common practice in the hotel business, but we were too tired to dispute for a better room. In the evening we had dinner at the lake, observed fireworks and thought that the harbour was quite big for such a small town. Just after waking up the next morning I took a walk around the garden, viewed the spa and Thalassa hospital. The sky was grey and I could only catch a glimpse of the 'Dent du chat' or 'The cat's tooth', a 1200 m high hill with the shape of a cat's tooth which is a popular area for hiking.
The second stage: Aix-des-Bains until St. Maximin La SteBaume Monday 11 August
We still had a long drive in front of us and chose the Route Napoleon instead of the highway to enjoy the scenic part of the area. August is the main holiday season in France: All the campsites were fully booked until the end of September, reasonably priced licensed BNBs politely declined our request, even AirBnB rooms in good locations were booked out for the next two weeks. I started to become completely desperate and tried to contact a CS host in Moustiers Ste Marie. He responded very positively. I was surprised because I actually expected to be ignored. He said that he couldn't host us on the same day but if we could wait a couple of days, he would be very happy to host us. Filled with gratitude, we thanked him but apologised as our holiday was limited. Finally Angela could find a host on AirBnB and instantly booked two rooms for us in St. Maximin La Ste Baume. It was about 30 km from the Verdon area though a scenic drive by car with unique sights along the way. Frankly we didn't expect much from this small town and I was prepared for the worst: Sharing the bathroom/toilet and kitchen with 8 people was not our idea of a relaxing holiday but we didn't have much of a choice. We had a pleasant surprise as we arrived: The majestic Ste Baume hill and gigantic view of the Ste Victoire massive mountain range greeted us as though they had been waiting for ages. The cathedral of Ste Mary Magdalene immediately caught our attention as we entered St. Maximin la Sainte Baume
Our lovely host family in St. Maximin La Sainte Baume
The house was quite far out in the sticks but because we had a car we didn't find it overly inconvenient. Our host Christophe gave us a warm welcome, showed us around the house and garden and showed us our rooms. His wife and children were already away on holidays. A brief look at the house, kitchen and garden, we instantly gained the impression that this family was eco-friendly and health-orientated. The house was well-organised, in the kitchen we could find about every type of food processor.The crockery, pots and pans were very typical to the Provence culture. We could imagine ourselves in a provincial household in the Provence, the only thing which stood out were the dishwasher and the Nespresso machine. There was no microwave. On a wall shelf, they had a large variety of spices and herbs just inviting to cook the best and healthiest dish. Spices were international, among others Asian . On the first night Christophe had dinner together with us. We cooked fish and he made a mouth-watering Ratatouille from vegetables grown in his own garden. On AirBnB we didn't quite expect to spend time and have meals with our hosts the way we did very often with Couchsurfers. We only expected a room because that was what we booked. Christophe was only home after work and away for the weekend. Anyway, he was trusting enough to give us full reign over the whole house and huge garden. The two rooms were very reasonably priced and well-equipped.
Is a GPS helpful?
It certainly is, especially when you are looking for a certain address in an unfamiliar location. But the GPS will always try to find the shortest possible way. It is also a computer that works based on calculations, so it would probably say ' Please drive into the round-about and take the 4th exit'. A real person would have just told you 'Please drive around the whole round-about and turn into the last exit'. Many people have lost their natural sense for orientation because they blindly follow the GPS. We decided to take the scenic Route Napoleon instead of the highway and switched off the GPS. Instead we relied on the map, one is driving and the other one is reading. People have to be critical and realise that a GPS is just another computer and we still need to rely on our own sense of direction....
Getting around St. Maximin and a day on the beach: Tuesday-Thursday 12-14 August
On our first day we needed a rest from the trip and enjoyed their beautiful garden. We also bought some food at the Aldi and Hyper U supermarket.The next day we visited the old town of St. Maximin and viewed the cathedral which was famous for the biggest French historic organ. The tourist office was located in the Royal Court building where they gave us individual information for the independent traveller. In the afternoon we drove to Tourves, visited the Gorges du Caramy before we continued our scenic trip to the coastal area. We observed kite surfers and enjoyed the beautiful view of the sea fortress in La Tour Fondue near Giens. The carpark was expensive but it included sightseeing in the fortress. Once arrived in Giens, we had a lovely but expensive fish dinner in a restaurant with a gorgeous view on the water. The next day Angela's French colleague invited us to join them in Aix-en-Provence, walked through the city and had lunch in a local restaurant. We had beautiful Anchoiade, a typical dish from the Provence consisting of a salted sardine sauce and vegetables. They showed us the view on the gigantic St. Victoire and drove us to his parent's beautiful place near our village. Another unforgettable day.
Grand Canyon du Verdon Friday and Saturday 15 and 16 August
The folllowing 2 days were just the highlight of our trip and the word 'pretty awesome' was just not enough to describe the scenery that once inspired the paintings of Paul Cezanne. Lake Quinson was very beautiful but less frequented than Lake Verdon. We hired a canoe to explore the lake further. The wind was very strong, the lake was quiet at times and suddenly we found ourselves paddling against heavy stream. We needed to be very alert to the sudden change of the stream and paddling rhythm, to relax was nearly impossible. After two hours of hard work canoeing against different types of streams, we arrived at the boat quay exhausted. Anyway, we could enjoy the breathtaking scenery and have a challenging exercise at the same time. We spent two consecutive days in the Verdon area, the drive through the Grand Canyon in Verdon was something we couldn't forget in our whole life.
I have seen many national parks in the U.S. and Australia, this looked very familiar to us. And yet it was different and in fact the Verdon grand canyon is the second large grand canyon in Europe. The many tourists were a bit irritating but somehow it was a different kind of tourist than those lying around on the beaches of the Cote d'Azur like Cannes, St. Tropez or Nice. The Verdon Canyon is famous for its challenging hikes and most people had robust hiking shoes on. Apart from this breathtaking scenery we had the opportunity to enjoy several types of foods the Provence was famous for.On our way home, we had a lovely 4-course- dinner in Sillans. Unfortunately it was too dark to walk to the Cascades du Sillans(waterfall). We also drove past Barjols, a small town famous for its many fountains.
Last night in France: Dijon Sunday-Monday 17-18 August
The last station of our travels was the city of Dijon where we stayed for the night before heading home to Mainz. Dijon is Mainz' twin city. As I visited for the first time, many historic buildings were not yet completely refurbished so the city only left a so so impression on me. I was quite pleasantly surprised as I strolled through the old town and saw the historic buildings after the renovation. Mainz doesn't have as many historic buildings, such as the colourful Dom(Cathedral), Notre Dame du Dijon, Palace, many smaller buildings and half-timber houses. The atmosphere with the many students reminds a lot of Mainz.....
What we have learned from our trip
The whole trip has been very eye-opening thus far. We have been to France many times but every trip reveals a subtle cultural difference. Thanks to our host and Angela's colleague, we could experience the Provence from a very different perspective. The area is horrenduously expensive, even the so-called restaurants populaire(mostly restaurant serving every day dishes for the average person) have skyrocketing prices on their menue . But we thought the culinary specialties were so unique that we took the chance to indulge ourselves in French gourmet and popular meals . Unlike in Germany, if you order a coffee they'll give you a short black if you don't specify it. So if you want milk coffee, you have to explicitly say cafe au lait. The Frenchman in front of us said 'pain au chocolat' when he bought a chocolate-filled croissant. Of course he was one of the many French travellers who were not a local to the area. Later I heard that people in the region would understand you but definitely know that you were not a local. The local expression for a chocolate-filled croissant is 'chocolatine' and next time we will behave like the French when in France. In the future we will also try hard not to buy petrol on Sundays and if we have no choice at all, we'll have to carry our credit card pinword. France's roads are not sign-posted as well as in Germany, so apart from a GPS, be prepared to carry a roadmap along with special maps from local tourist offices
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