Wed 27th Aug
It was an overcast morning but that suited Mark as he had a rather grueling bike ride up to Mount Ventoux planned for today; something he’d been looking forward to for over a year! He rose just after 5.30 am for the 90 minute drive to the start of the ride and reached the 1,910 m summit just after 10 am following a 2 hour bike climb. The descent was only 45’ though.
The rest of us had a much lazier morning with a leisurely breakfast, a visit to the park and shops and then lounging at home waiting for the cyclist to return.
The only scheduled event for the day was a 3:30 pm visit to a nearby winery, Chateau Bas, for some wine tasting. The wines were ok but the venue was impressive as it was located on the site of a 17th Century Chateau that, in turn, had been built over some 1st Century BC Roman ruins. This made our outing much more interesting as we walked around and explored the historic setting.
Dinner was at home with a BBQ of some lovely steaks cooked over hot coals. Day 4 had been relatively quiet but was a good rest day…for some of us at least!
Thurs 28th Aug
It was an overcast morning in Mallemort but forecast to rain down in Aix en Provence, where we all planned to head this morning. Mark and I had a 2 hr walking tour booked for 10.15 am but the others planned to just explore on their own. Our trip was complicated with Mark being a bit unwell but we all eventually made it to Aix and easily found parking, which was a notable achievement given it was market day.
There was only one other couple on our walking tour, Steve & Anita, and they were from NYC. This ended up being quite fortuitous as it meant that when the rain tumbled down our group could easily find a table at a cafe whilst we waited out the worst of the weather. It was also a stroke of good fortune that Steve was a keen cyclist so there was plenty for the guys to talk about whilst we waited for the rain to pass. Our guide for the tour was Eduardo, a French / American and he was a friendly and chatty bloke who easily rolled with the rain-disrupted schedule. We found Aix to be a pretty and very vibrant place which was likely due to it being a significant University town: the population of Aix is around 150,000 and there are 40,000 students!
Eduardo informed us that Aix dates back to 122 BC when it was founded by the Romans whereas nearby Marseille dates back much earlier and was founded by the Greeks. Whether that explains the current difference between the two cities is anyone’s guess but Marseilles is often described as ‘gritty’ whereas Aix is described as the ‘city of fountains’ and often as the ‘21st arrondissement of Paris’ with the implication being that Aix is sophisticated and classy. We did find it had a very nice and chic vibe, even though we were only there for a few hours, and it is a place where I would happily return.
It was close to 3 pm by the time Mark and I got back to the house in Mallemort and the afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool and waiting to see if our chef for the evening would actually turn up. He had agreed, months ago, to host the evening but never quite followed up to advise us of a menu or of any details for the evening and was difficult to get to respond to any emails or messages. All I had was an arrival time of 6 pm and a price per head.
I’d almost given up expecting the chef to arrive and had started googling for pizza restaurants when Benjamin and Pauline eventually arrived at 6.45 pm! It was 7.30 pm before our meal was served but it turned out to be another delightful evening of great food. Benjamin provided a gourmet meal of 6 courses, with wine accompaniment, and every course was delicious. It was a lovely way to celebrate our last evening all together as Tom and Tara were to depart in the morning for their flight to Palermo, Sicily.
Fri 29th Aug
It was an early start for Mark and myself as we were taking Tom and Tara to Marseille airport for their 10 am flight to Sicily. We dropped them off at 8 am and decided to head home via Lourmarin as it was just north of our accommodation and it was their market day.
Susan Scarf had recommended we visit Lourmarin and I’d also read that it is regarded by many to be the most beautiful village in Provence so it warranted a peak. Our visit was only short but I agree wholeheartedly with all of those assessments.
Lourmarin isn’t a hilltop town, like many of the villages we’d visited thus far, and the surrounding landscape was of rolling hills with lush green vineyards which just added to the charm of the area. The village wasn’t too busy, despite being market day, and this also greatly added to its appeal. It was all rather peaceful. The markets were quite extensive and easy to inspect and we detoured at the end to wind our way through the old town area which was just picture-postcard beautiful. There were lovely stone facade buildings lining the narrow winding cobbled streets housing a variety of rather upscale cafes, bistros and boutiques. This village was definitely worth a visit and one to consider if you’re ever in Provence.
Mark and I stopped off in Mallemort village on the way home as it, too, was having a market day but this was much lower key than the other markets days we had experienced. Mallemort is a very small village and not really worth detouring to visit but we did notice a rather lovely restaurant in town that had tables set with cloth napkins so there was a little pizzazz in the village.
The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the house relaxing by the pool as we all had travel scheduled for the next day. Ali, Brett and Charlie had an overnight in Marseille before a flight to Milan and the rest of us had a 2.5 hour drive to Antibes. Dinner was a bbq at home.
We had all enjoyed our stay in Provence and the house was well set up to meet all our needs. I had thought the local village would be a bit more interesting than it was but that really didn’t matter for us too much. However, would we stay here again? The kids tossed that idea around last night and the verdict was that they would prefer to explore Italy for any such repeat of an overseas family holiday.
Our Provence house ended up being much more expensive compared to when we initially scoped a possible cost. This put it into a price bracket of houses that I had previously dismissed on their cost. Houses such as you can find on the website Only Provence. The advantage of the latter is that there are no restrictions on the bedrooms and most come with a midweek cleaning service. So if you are interested in a large house for a family holiday and Provence give that website a look. Just as an FYI I did also find this house in Gordes as an option for a large family holiday that looks lovely so this may be another website worth exploring.