Today we took a long drive (and *I* was the driver!) to a little Provençal village I'd never heard of, called Trigance. It's one of those ancient villages made of stone and red clay tiles, and way up above the village was a real, honest-to-goodness medieval castle. (Yes, I'm American, and easily impressed by such things.)
It was roughly a 2-hour ride each way from Saint Raphael, up and down many winding mountain hills. For me, this wasn't much different than the kind of winding roads I learned to drive on as a teenager, only the hills were a bit higher and rockier, and the climate much more dry. We didn't see fields of lavender but we did see wild lavender and stopped to pick some... it smells amazing. I also spotted the last of the roadside red poppies... I really love the poppies.
We went there primarily because my sister-in-law felt up to doing a drive somewhere she hadn't been in a long time, and she's been house-bound for nearly 2 years with various health issues so we were delighted to take her anywhere she wanted to go. It's only in recent weeks she's felt well enough to go out, and since our outing to see the Bastille Day fireworks went well, we decided it was a good time to go and see something different (especially since swimming is verboten for me on this vacation). And of course my own recent health scare means there are limitations on what I can do... but driving to a charming village in the country was a novel experience and just my speed.
There is a bakery in this village that has amazing bread, and the owner remembered my SIL even though it had been a long time between visits. We also bought some clementine confiture and some griotte cherries marinated in some liqueur (I picture enjoying this over some vanilla ice cream at some point).
We had lunch in the tiny square (this is not a village that is overrun with tourists, which I really liked), and then my SIL relaxed at the table while Georges, the Little Guy and I walked around and I took all kinds of photos with my new iPhone and Hipstamatic. So here are a few of my favorite shots, and I'll post more tomorrow as well.
This was an old house with some interesting architectural details, and it was next to the outdoor terrace where we were eating. I liked the niche for flowers high up on the left, and the closed up archway "door" on the lower right.
When my sister-in-law saw this photo, her first comment was that it was "recent", and I thought at first that she meant it was a reproduction. Then she said it was Louis XIVth era (I'm not sure why). I guess in France, that qualifies as "recent"?
