Bikes, Bridges & Booze

So Thursday morning my Dad and I drove eastward in the hopes of finding some lavender fields (which bloom from mid May to mid August). Our first stop was a cute little town on the way called Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It's built along canals and is super quaint, and we got lucky because their local market was happening as well. So my dad and I bought some fruits, cheese and tomatoes for a easy lunch while we were driving. Some of the cheeses were weird colors (obviously fake coloring was added). The blues were lavender and the flavor was strong from the flower but the actual cheese taste was non-existent. We got more normal cheeses. The tomato seller had tomatoes bigger than my hand, but we bought the small cherry tomatoes to keep the car cleaner. Unfortunately for our lavender plans, the Tour de France was making its way in the same direction as us and their needs take precedence so we had to stop. Fortunately we were only 30 minutes walking from the Musée de la Lavande (lavender museum) so we parked the car and hiked over. The Museum is in the town of Coustellet and the main road through town (which the museum sits on) was the route of the Tour de France. So we explored the museum and then went outside to wait for the bikes. It was only about 15min of waiting before we saw the first ones. I took pictures of each of the waves but between the crowds, police and motorbikes its hard to keep track of everyone...and they go by so fast. So we didn't see the yellow jersey (who we later determined was in the middle of the pack 3 groups back. My dad has a partial picture and I have one of his back at the edge of a photo. So it was pretty cool and we didn't have to wait long until they arrived or until they had all left. But at that point it would take too long to walk back to the car, turn around, wait for the blockades to be cleared then try and head up after them to the main lavender fields. So after we got back to the car we headed back to the west, past Avignon to the Pont du Gard, which is an old Roman aqueduct. You can walk across the lower part and walk all the way up to the top, but the side we were on was blocked off. And the wind was getting so bad that it was not comfortable to stand on the bridge. Le Mistral (the strong north wind) was pretty bad and usually blows for 3 days. It's why the Tour de France was shortened that day, because they didn't want them blown off the mountain. And it's possible with how strong it can blow. It was blowing at least 35mph with gusts up to the 60mph range. And that was where we were, not on any mountains. So we didn't spend too long on the bridge but it was very cool. Afterwards we headed into town for dinner and then got some sleep since the next day would be a busy one. >><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>> Friday we woke up to the sad news of the massacre in Nice, France. We were asleep by the time it happened because Avignon was not celebrating Bastille Day with fireworks (for some reason they are celebrating August 25th, possibly due to high winds). So we caught up on the world news through computers and the tv (we had one station in English) and then headed out to start our day. We grabbed a quick coffee/juice and croissant at a café then went into the Palais des Papes (Pope's Palace). In the 13th century the Popes moved to Avignon because it was not under control of the French king and they had security problems back in the Vatican. In the next 100 years they had 7 popes from this location before they went back to Italy. It found many uses after they left with various changes in architecture so recently they have been restoring it to what it once looked like as the Palace of the Popes. The picture with the ornate swirls on the walls and nice tiles floors is the Chamber of the Pope. We checked out the old Avignon bridge, also called St Bénézet's Bridge. Apparently there is a local French children's song about the bridge but I had never heard it before. It's about a dance done on the bridge and its called Sur la Pont d'Avignon. The bridge used to expand with 22 arches all the way across the Rhône but now only goes halfway across to the center island of the Rhône. It was rather windy on top of this bridge as well. After a quick lunch in our room (bread, cheese, fruit and tomatoes) we were picked up by our shuttle for a half-day wine tour. We weren't really sure what to expect but it ended up being really awesome. There were just four of us on the tour, my dad, myself and a couple from Australia. Our guide, Gordana, was also our chauffeur and we had a nice black shuttle/van that we were driven around in. We took a lot of backcountry roads to see the beautiful scenery and she told us all about the areas and history. We drove through some amazing little villages like Le Barroux, Beams-de-Venise, La Roque-Alric, and Vacqueyras, passing tons of vineyards on the way. Our first stop was in Gigondas. Gordana brought us to the top of the tiny village (it is situated on a hill) and we walked to the bottom and met her at the town square. We went into a little wine shop and tried our first four wines there, all from Gigondas. A rosé, two reds and a Muscat (from Beaumes-de-Venise because Gigondas can only plant red grapes). Obviously the Muscat was my favorite. Then we went over to Châteauneuf de Pape (further referred to as CndP)and got out to check out some vines. They were around 60 years old and were Grenache. The soil was amazing. All river rocks from when there used to be rivers that came from the melting of glaciers. There are actually 4 different types of soil in CndP for the 13 different grapes allowed to grow there. But that was the coolest. After checking out the vineyards (mostly GSM grapes: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) we went to a Musée du Vin to learn a little more about the terroir of CndP and to taste some of the wines from the family that runs the museum. We had a white, a rosé, a red and a Muscat (from Beaumes-de-Venise, not CndP). All pretty good. We went to the Château Fortia winery after this and tasted four of their wines: one white and three reds. This family has been making wines since the 16th century and they were the official winemaker of the Pope. This is also where the original idea of the AOC requirements originated. The grandfather of the current owner was the one who the other winemakers turned to for help creating laws and restrictions because they always produced such good wine, but some years Bordeaux might have a bad crop and they'd come down, fill their barrels with CndP wine and go back to Bordeaux, calling it their own and selling it. So these rules helped prevent that from happening. The winery is small but everything is on site. Our final stop was a quick drive to the top of CndP where an old castle tower still stands...well most of it. We walked down from there towards town and took a little turn into Les Caves St Charles, which is a cave/cellar for wine from the 13th century and they think it was originally made as a private cellar for the Popes. We got to try 6 different wines here: two whites and four reds. The last red that we tried was from 100 year old Grenache vines, no blending. It had some pretty crazy smells (like cured sausage and leather and tobacco) but the flavor was much better. I'm not a fan of reds but I can appreciate a good wine. The sommelier who guided us through the tasting is the wine merchant for this cave. He basically collects the best of the best of CndP to have people taste it and to sell it. It was pretty cool. All in all a really fun day. But we are tired so I'm hopefully going to load the pics and go to bed (or else I will finish those in the AM). Next stops are lavender, and a few little towns before we hit the beach!!! Can't wait! Bon soir!