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Quick report of Provence trip in April 2005

Quick report of Provence trip in April 2005

Old May 24th, 2005, 06:34 AM
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Quick report of Provence trip in April 2005

Hi Fodorites,

(Sorry I posted this twice. I forgot to put it into the France section the first time!)

Jim and I spent 7 days in the Provence and Luberon areas at the end of April, after visiting Barcelona for 6 days.

It was beautiful!! The weather was wonderful except for a dark cloudy morning when we were in Eze Village.

Just some highlights that I can remember without my notes for now.

St. Remy was a great base for seeing the surrounding area. Loved Mas de Carassins. Very nice room with private terrace and a nice buffet breakfast. Will get restaurants names later.

Pont du Gard was one of the highlights of our trip! We spent most of the day there, in awe of its size. The museum is wonderful and very interactive and informative. We never made it to Uzes. Once we get somewhere we like, we tend to stay there.

We stopped in Arles on our first afternoon and loved it. Very small but the coliseum was huge! Lots of really nice shops there. Ran across a very nice shop directly across from the entrance of the coliseum, on the corner of the main town road that leads up to it. Very nice things in there. Found the BEST looking Santon dolls we saw the whole trip. I bought 2 of the larger size, a man and woman. Their faces are so realistic. The owner was extremely helpful.

On Sunday morning I had planned on hitting the market at Isle sur la Sorgue but instead we went to Chateau Les Baux! We loved walking around the entire chateau remnants. The views from up there were wonderful. I am glad we went early because after a couple of hours, the crowds were pouring in.

In the Luberon, we stayed at Ferme de la Huppe. We loved it! We ended up in the largest room on the second floor. It was huge with the old stone walls and wood floors. The bathroom was huge with 2 sink areas, large tub and walk in shower.

We ate dinner there 3 nights in a row. Why would we bother trying to find another restaurant when the one of the best ones was right there? The food was amazing. Very gourmet. The service was impeccable. The wine steward/host was relatively new and very helpful. He knew his wine and always made the best recommendations from their extensive list and they were not expensive. The dining room was packed every night with half hotel guest and the other half local patrons who had been there before.

Their breakfast was nice but not much was included. Only the bread basket, coffee and juice with jams, etc. Omelettes or meat were extra. We always ordered something extra to hold us over. The bread was fantastic.

Gordes was very picturesque as you drove around it and caught glimpses of it from different angles. It was a fun place to visit. It is mostly shops and restaurants. The second morning there, we went to the Gordes market in the morning. It was large but not too large. I did most of my trip shopping there.

We spent a lot of time just driving around and enjoying the scenery in the area. We probably should have planned a day to go up to the wine country. Jim got a little bored just looking at medieval villages.

One highlight was Fountain du Vacluse. Sorry about the spelling but I can't find my notes or books right now. It was fun walking all the way out to the end of the trail to see where the water source is. Very beautiful scenery along the river. We ate lunch in town.

We stayed in Le Hameau in St. Paul. It was very charming and the owner was very nice. Our room was #2, on the second floor of the main building with a nice terrace overlooking the hills and the sea. Beautiful view. Unfortunately the air conditioner unit was not working but luckily it was cool at night so we kept our terrace door opened. It's a very pretty inn with lots of flowers etc. Just a warning on the A/C.

St. Paul is very cute - completely restored. It is loaded with high end artist galleries, and very nice shops for fabrics, etc. If you want to spend some serious money on original artwork, this is the place to come.

We drove over to Eze Village and loved rambling through it. Unfortunately, it was very overcast that morning so our view was not all the great. But we loved going all the way up to the garden at the top of the hill. It was worth the small entry fee as the gardens were very lovely and the views were fantastic.

We ended up having lunch at the terrace at the Chateau Eze. It was a splurge for lunch but the view was worth it.

We left there planning to go to Villefrance but missed the turn off and ended up in Nice. It was already after 4 so we parked the car and walking along the beachfront for a while and enjoyed the breeze.

It took us over an hour to get out of town and on the road heading north. Traffic is bumper to bumper and very slow. I did not plan on us driving into Nice, it just happened.

The last day we drove around the hills behind Nice to some of the smaller villages. The drives are lovely and some are kind of scary as you are right on the edge of the hills on curvy roads.

This is getting long and I will get names of the restaurants we liked and report back later.

Thanks to all who helped me with information for this trip!

Ginny



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Old May 24th, 2005, 07:00 AM
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Ginny, I remember we chatted when we were both planning our trips! We liked Room #2 at LeHameau too. We wondered if we were lost in Nice, but finally decided it was just construction and traffic.
I really wanted to eat at Ferme de la Huppe in Gordes. We stayed somewhere else and they recommended another place which was nice. I drove by and peeked in Mas de Gordes because they had been full when I booked. I don't think it had the great view we found at Les Romarins.
Keep posting. It sounds like you maybe found the driving easier on the Riviera than we did. The scenery was beautiful, but way too many people and traffic. We did enjoy driving out of the hills above Grasse the day we came from Moustiers. Unfortunately, it was hazy. Did you have clear skies?
We also loved St. Remy. Did you get out into the Luberon. That's an area we'd like to see again, but are wondering if we'll ever work long enough to pay off this last trip!
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Old May 24th, 2005, 07:52 AM
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Glad that you liked La Ferme de la Huppe and Le Hameau, two of our favorites. Traffic around Nice is usually fierce, particularly when construction is going on--which it often is. We've never quite gotten clear how to use the autoroute north of Nice and several times have wound up in Monaco as a result.
I think I know the shop where gopack bought the santons; I got one there also. Another excellent shop is in Nyons, where there's a place that has the finest-quality Provençal fabrics, olive-wood products, and exquisite santons. Several years ago we were in Provence in December and were able to go to a santon fair in a small village near Valbonne. The person in charge gave me a lesson how to choose santons, starting with "The color of the face and hands should be the same." Once I knew that I was much better able to assess the quality of santons on display.
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Old May 24th, 2005, 08:23 AM
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I just looked at my Santon dolls. The name of the artist is Daniel Scaturro. The details and quality of the faces are exquisite. The clothing is also finely detailed. The owner of the shop told us that this person was one of the top Santon doll makers. Of course, we didn't know any better but he had other dolls in his shop that were not nearly as nice as these were.

Just thought I would pass that along in case anyone has heard of this artist. I am sure there are others that are just as nice.

Ginny
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Old May 24th, 2005, 08:56 AM
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7 of my girlfriends and I are spending 8 days in Provence and then up to Paris for 8 days for 60th birthday celebrations. We are spending alot of time in the Vaucluse/Luberon area. Gordes is included in one of our daytrips and I was wondering about the shopping. Your post stated that you did most of your trip shopping there. Was that in a market there or boutiques/stores? What types of items did you purchase?

We are trying to plan our itinerary to include at least 1 (and maybe 2) markets as the first stops on our daytrips and then drive to other sites/villages in the area.

Anything you think we should do/know/find/see?

We have a question mark as to going to Arle or not. We are going to St. Remy. What would you suggestion re: Arles?

Thanks!

Joy
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Old May 24th, 2005, 09:01 AM
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One of the very, very best santon artisans is Marcel Carbonel--especially for the painted rather than painted and clothed variety. If you have time in Provence in the future you could visit his studio in Marseille, which has a marvelous santon museum in addition to the area where you can watch his artisans at work.

Another spot for finding good santons is the town of Aubagne, home to Maurice Pagnol and near the delightful Relais de la Magdeleine in Gémenos. The hotel is set in a wooded area outside the town and has lovely rooms (and even an elevator, rare in small hotels) and a very good restaurant.
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Old May 24th, 2005, 09:57 AM
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Personally, I didn't find a lot to shop for in Gordes, but maybe I was jaded after St. Remy. I did enjoy wandering around there though.
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Old May 24th, 2005, 04:16 PM
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Gopack you did very well seeing the highlights, I'm another fan of Fontaine-de-Vaucluce, with it's Jewish mueum, paper facrtory and our favotite lunch stop there, Chez Philip , overlooking the falls.
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