Provence, Part 3 - Arles to Cassis

Just when we thought we couldn't see any more amazing villages, enter St. Remy and Arles. Two jewels of Provence, these are two great cities to combine together for a day trip from Avingnon. We began the day in St. Remy, which has a much smaller Saturday market than I was expecting. Regardless, it was nice to wander around the town where Van Gogh lived for a summer and got a morning espresso (or as the french say, cafe).

Following St. Remy, we took about 20 minutes of beautiful, windy roads past Les Baux (not recommended as it isn't really a village but more of a tourist trap) and to Arles. We caught the tail end of one of the largest Saturday markets in all of France, even buying a few goodies to go along with the photos.

After the market, we had lunch at A Cote, the little sister to the famous Michelin-starred L'Atelier that shares the same chef's and kitchen. I splurged for the grilled lobster, which was of course amazing.

Following lunch we did the tours of Roman Arles, checking out the amazing colliseum and Roman Ampitheatre. The colliseum is surreal and really relaxing to get lost in. And for €6 for the two sites, not a bad value either. It is really well preserved and worth a separate visit to the city just to see this site.

Following our tour of Roman Arles, including checking out Cafe La Nuit, which was immortalized by Van Gogh in one of his famous paintings, we wandered around the tiny streets of the town before heading back towards Avignon.

Once back to Avignon, Erin and I took the opportunity to see the sunset over Avignon across the Rhone from the city itself. It is really peaceful with lots of benches and grass to enjoy the views from.

We then made it back to our Domaine for one last night of home cooked Provencial food ala Erin. Below is the Domaine, a 16th century manor house converted B&B.

The following morning, our last in France, we made it back to the coast to Cassis, another amazing village that I had visited when studying abroad. Aimlessly strolling along the boats and promanade of the village is a great way to begin a relaxing day.

The weather was also amazing this time and we were able to take a Calanques tour. The tour itself was €20 for two and takes about 90 minutes to do all the Calanques. We would've liked to stop at the beach below but time didn't really permit, and the water was still on the chilly side.

Following the tour and a marginal dinner, we decided it was time to head home and get back to reality in London. It was a great return to where my passion for traveling began and was equally great to share all of it with Erin.

Provence, Part 2 - Chateauneuf to Avignon

After a nice lunch in Orange, it was back to try Beaucastel a second time. We made sure we arrived 15 minutes early so we didn't miss the second consecutive tour. We had several friends recommend Beaucastel as a great place to take a tour and do a tasting, and not just because they are perhaps the most well regarded estate in Chateauneuf de Pape. Also, with their top (currently for sale) wines selling at $550 a bottle, the fact that you aren't obligated to buy such a bottle as part of the tour is nice too. The tour itself was very comprehensive, and was (potentially) made more personal given the vineyard owner who took the tour with us has indirect business relationships with Beaucastels JV in the US.  

The estate itself was incredibly beautiful and as one of the most historic vineyards in the world, definitely lived up to its promise. We tried several wines in the old cellar, including the 2008, 2007 and 2001, all very good. It was interesting to try the three of those as well as some other wines in the region, and be able to tell just how much more complex and flavorful the aged Beaucastle was then all the others.

One of the other things they do is always keep a decent (but perpetually dwindling) stock of older vinetages on hand if some of their more important customers are looking to replenish their stock. And surprisingly, being such a historic vineyard, they haven't rested in place and have established stat of the art wine making  techniques.

Following Beaucastel, we did some more of the region wine experience in Gigondas, stopping first at the village just north of Gigondas called Siguret, which is only a few minutes out of the way but worth stopping for the view of the nearby vineyards if the Plus Beaux Village title doesn't convince you.

We then stopped at Gigondas on the way home. We didn't eat here, but there is a great restaurant in the village that is owned by the Perrin family, who own and operate the Beaucastel estate.

From Gigondas (after a tasting at the local wine "coop" and picking up a couple bottles, we made it to Isle sur La Sourge, which is home to some canals and argubaly the best antique stores and markets in Provence. The real reason we went there was for dinner at Le Vivier an affordable but amazing one star michelin restaurant.

The four course menu is only €40 or so and provides amazing value for the quality of food served here. I had perhaps the best steak I have ever eaten and Erin had a lamb trio that was amazing.

The following day we had a morning tour at Domaine de Giraud. While not quite as intimidating as the Beaucastel empire, the brother and sister run vineyard in creates some amazing wine. Marie was a great host, letting us try some 2010 directly from the barrels. It was interesting to try the Mouverde from the same year, but grown in different soil. Amazing how the type of soil (rock v. clay in our case) can completely dictate the taste of the wine.

That afternoon we walked around Avignon and took a tour into the Palais des Papes, which was as amazing as I remember it longggg ago. It was a great day and all necessary for a complete holiday in Provence.

Provence, Part 1 - Aix to Orange

After two days reminiscing of the times spent in Cannes so long ago, we embarked for 5 days in Provence, to see some familiar sights from years past as well as some new ones! Complete with our trusty but almost to detailed map of provence and a list of the most beautiful villages in the region, courtesy of the official website, we were set, taking off on a one tank of gas, six day journey. One tank of gas courtesy to the Renault Megane, which gets 68 mpg; most impressive. 

Our journey began at the towns of Cotignac and Villecroze, where we picked up a picnic and wandered around the narrow lanes and popped into antique shops. One of the best picnic snacks were the sausage sticks in the market. Not quite your average beef jerkey stick, this is the real deal! It washed down well with an Orangina. 

After the towns, we made our way to Aix en Provence. I had been to Aix during my stint abroad, but it was literally for 2 hours and we didn't get to see much. Aix is a great town with LOTS of little shops to keep you occupied for a day. Lots of fountains too!

After going into the church in the old town, Saint Sauveur, we walked around for a couple hours, grabbing a couple beers at Brasserie les Deux Garcon, where Cezanne and Matisse used to mix it up.

We had dinner that night at a thai restaurant - it was decent but not worth recommending, so I won't include the name. Most of all, it was to change it up after French and Italian meals for so many consecutive nights. We stayed at Hotel du Globe, which is moderately price and very central. They even have a small parking lot that you can stash your rental in for the night. A good option for EUR80 a night. 

The following morning we were up at the crack of dawn to explore some more villages before our wine tour and tasting scheduled at Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Pape. We went to Ansouis, Lourmourin, Roussillon and finally Gordes, before getting to Chateauneuf.

All of these villages are on the Plus Beaux listing that is linked to above. Our favorite was Gordes, mostly because of the stunning situation of the town, hanging on the side of a cliff. All were nice, but if you time to do only one, go for Gordes.

Following Gordes, we treked to where we thought was Beaucastel, incorrectly directed by a google map search. We showed up right on time for the tasting, but it was just the wrong estate! If you are on google maps, there is a point on the map called Beaucastel, just follow to that point, not trusting other suggestions! As we finally made it to the estate 30 minutes late, one of the Perrin brothers allowed us to re-book for the following day, joining a couple who owns a vineyard in Paso Robles, California.

This freed up the rest of our afternoon so naturally we crammed in a trop to Pont du Gard, perhaps the best and most in-tact roman aqueduct in the world. I visited this in 2001 with my CSB/SJU group, canoeing from a couple miles away for 30 minutes before concluding at the aqueduct. The weather was nice enough to splash into the water a little. I always had such a great impression of this UNESCO site, and returning just reinforced that impression as one of the coolest sites I have ever seen. It is a must see if you are around Provence. 

We then ventured to our accommodation for the next four nights, Domaine de Rhodes. The Domaine is situated on Ile de Barthelasse, a surprisingly undeveloped island between Avignon and Villeneuve-les-Avignon that made a great base for exploring Provence. We got a gite so we could cook a couple meals ourselves. Our gite was EUR400 for five nights, which is pretty good for that area.

The main house on the property is extremely beautiful, dating back to the 16th century. It is a nice tranquil oasis to return to after a long day of touring the region and we recommend to all. We made dinner three of the four nights we stayed, highlighted by a mussel and prawn pasta.

The following morning we went to Orange, to check out the Thursday market and the Roman amphitheater. Orange is a nice city to wander around for an hour or two in addition to checking out the roman sights. One doesn't need more than an hour or two to do this however.

The amphitheater itself is fabulous and worth the EUR8 admission. Your ticket includes an audio guide which is helpful to explain the significance of the site and its place in history. After the tour, we had a nice lunch before heading to the second attempt at a tour of Beaucastel!!

Cannes, France - (almost) 10 years later

Back in Cannes, nearly ten years from the memories that has prompted a decade of traveling, what should I expect? Surely it won't be the same, but hopefully the times engrained in my mind will come alive again, albiet sans 6am train rides home from Juan Les Pins!

Returning to Cannes to show Erin where my passion for travelling began has been a goal since we started dating nearly 9 years ago. When I was a junior at SJU, I studied at the College Internationale de Cannes for a semester, falling in love with Europe and travelling in general. If you do the math and that suggests its been almost 10 years since studying abroad. MAN WE ARE OLD!!

That said, it was about time to return to Cannes, check on good ole’ room 100 to see if the Tuesday Champagne parties are still on the menu, and see whether the beach, Quays, La Frigate, students hanging out at the picnic tables etc. is still status quo. Hopefully all my classmates in Cannes get a chance to read this and smile when they hear not a lot has changed over the years and many of the spots we enjoyed are still around. Now it was a different experience to experience Cannes with the wife, much different with more disposal income and also with less friends to stir up mischief with.

Let's raise one to Orangina, a loaf of french bread at every meal, "wine" with plastic wrap tops, crepe nights, late nights, Tuesday nights, easyjet flights, Geneva death freights, "a demande a telephone sil vous plait", volleyball tourneys, paninis, scandanivian country clubs, Murphy's Irish Red, get out of class at noon and walk 100 feet to the beach, absinthe, Dann, Willy, Claude, Trash bitch, Helge, Hansson, Sarah, Tanya, Wicker, Adam, Julie, the rest of the CSB/SJU class, the 213 click, the black eyed peas "weekend", the Norwiegan girls, and everyone else at La College Internationale de Cannes!!

Erin and I were in town for two nights and a day and a half, just wandering all the streets, checking out the castle, exploring the market, walking through the marina and spying on the fancy boats. It was really great to return.

Not only did we visit Cannes, but as a former student, you can stay at the College for €30 a night, which is naturally what we did. Here’s the lowdown on things Cannes 10 years later.

Still strong – Quays, La Pizza, La Frigate, the market, the Petanque players, the little grocery store on the shortcut to town, 100 foot yachts, lots of expensive shops, beer at McDonalds, cold water.

Room one double O ain't rockin like its duce double O one.

The room interior definitely hasn't changed, though the desks have been upgraded.

Gone – the beach outside the college, the Moonlight café (now a gay club I believe – we didn’t try it out), the Panini shop, Tuesday night Champagne parties, Nutella and made to order items at the College Sunday brunch.

I was expecting my perception of Cannes would be completely different from reality, but thankfully it wasn’t, Cannes is about as I imagine it, a beautiful holiday spot with fast cars, expensive clothing, luxurious boats and lots of Sun. It was really great to return to the roots for a couple days and I poured a little for my homies in rememberance for a great semester abroad.

Cinque Terre, Italy

After years of trying to make our way to the Cinque Terre, we finally made it during the most recent bank holiday. We had initially booked flights to the Cinque Terre in July 2007, from our DC apartment right when we found out we were moving to Ireland. Due to a work trip we had to rearrange the trip and ended up going to Riga for a quick night versus a long weekend in the Cinque Terre. Alas, we made it. The pics we had previously seen and those you’ll see below do not begin to the villages justice. You’ll have to go yourself!

The area, Cinque Terre represents the five villages that are all connected only by footpaths and a railroad. As you'll see below, the villages are all perched on the side of the mountains amidst vineyards, lemon and olive trees and lots of woodlands.

To get to the Cinque Terre, its not too easy, but much easier than it used to be. You can fly to either Pisa or Genova and then get trains to the villages. From Pisa, you get the train to Pisa central and switch to a train that takes you to La Spezia. From there you have to get on the Cinque Terre regional train, which stops at all the villages. trenitalia.com allows you to plan your journey and even will give the trains you need and transfer times at all the stops. From the airport, it was about a 2 hour journey to Manarola.

We choose to stay in Manarola to stay in as it has the best recommended restaurant, it’s away from the more touristy Monterosso del Mare and Vernazza, and its beautiful! Manarola is the second city from the south (with only Riomaggiore more south).

We found a great place to stay called Vandiris (info@vandiris.com), which just opened (€120 per night, discounted based on number of nights). We were literally the first ones to stay in the hotel. There is currently only 2 rooms I believe, but they were working on the top floor units when we stayed. The view is spectacular and is perched right on the cliffs, overlooking the trainstation on the back side of Manarola. The view from the bed looking out over the terrace was incredible, definitely the nicest place we stayed on the trip. See the sea from our balacony, the first taken from the bed! There is a terrace below our room that the owner was working on when we were there and is expected to open in the next year. It will be amazing once it gets finished (the rooms need no more work as they are great). The shower in particular is great and is exactly what you need after a long hike. If you are looking for a place in Cinque Terre, book here and book early as there are only a couple rooms. I envision this place being sold out nightly once word spreads.

We stayed two nights in Manarola, doing the hike between Riomaggiore the first afternoon then the other hikes the second day. All of the villages were beautiful, but in particular we thought Vernazza was the prettiest, followed by Manarola. However, Riomaggiore is pretty close as you can see below.

Cappun Magru is the restaurant I mentioned before. It is in the little hamlet of Groppo, about a 20 minute gruelling walk up the mountain. We got the local bus up the hill to the town before dinner. The restaurant is an old house that has about 8 tables over two floors. The food itself was cooked great and the wife of the chef is the server and sommelier. What a great meal. After dinner I got a couple nice night shots of Manarola, the villages are equally pretty in the twilight. I suggest enlarging this one!

We got to Vernazza at about 10:30 the second day and tinkered around the town for a couple hours, having a picnic lunch on the pier before embarking on the hike to Cornigila. Vernazza is really amazing.

Once you get to Corniglia, you can see Manarola from afar. This pic is using a 200mm lens at dusk to scope out our base from afar. You can actually see our hotel, the very last building on the right, perched out on the cliffs, in redish colour (you may need to enlarge as well)!

The second day we had a great dinner at a restaurant in Corniglia - Cantina de Mananan. You need to make a reservation at this all-Italian speaking place that has it menu scribbled on a chalkboard (in Italian of course); you should probably bring your English-Italian dictionary as well, however, if the people next to you (generally Italians) speak English, they may be able to help! It makes an interesting meal when you are trying to figure out. We were seated at a table for four next to a nice Italian couple which added to the experience.

All in all, the beauty of the cinque terre and the accompanying amazing landscape exceeded all expectations and was worth the 3 year and 5 month wait!!