02/09/2017 (Saturday) – day 1
We left the Hotel Corniche du Liouquet and we said goodbye to the beaches as we hit the road to Aix-en-Provence, main city in the region. We arrived there after an hour on the road and were lucky enough to find the little market with several local delicacies still open. These markets in France are wonderful! <3
We followed the signs indicating parking spaces and parked our car in one of them that was close to the tourist center. We walked around the market, bought some treats and continued to explore the city. We loved the medieval atmosphere!
We were starting to get hungry and decided to stop for a bite to eat. Bistrot des Philosophes, which is located in an interesting square and had tables outside. I really liked my dish, but Celo didn't like his so much, and the service was OK.
We stopped later for dessert at Christophe's Madeleines And guys, what a delicious thing! We bought a bag of some and they didn't last 5 minutes. I recommend it!
We then entered the St. Sauveur Cathedral and we strolled without haste or direction through the city's streets, shops and squares. We found the city very pleasant, even with the unbearable heat.
We left there late in the afternoon and drove to our hotel in the city of Trets, the Citotel Hôtel de la Vallée de L'Arc. It was chosen simply because it had a good review, good price and a good location for us to go the next day to see the famous Verdon Gorges, but I can already tell you that the city is nothing special and to make matters worse, it was all under construction. The only way we could do it was to get a pizza from the pizzeria in front of the hotel and eat it in the comfort of our room.
09/03/2017 (Sunday) – day 2
We woke up excited to meet the Gorges du Verdon, so we stopped at a bakery on the way and bought a breakfast of the type Take Away so as not to waste too much time. We drove for more than 2 hours to get there, but the curves along the way made me very sick and we had to stop a few times to recover. We took a beautiful road that had a view from the top of the Sainte-Croix Lake, a turquoise blue lake, but then we realized that we had to be on the road that bordered the lake to rent a boat and sail through the Canyon. We decided to follow the road from the top until further ahead to finish seeing the canyon from above and then go down to rent the boat, but the seasickness got much worse and we ended up giving up on the last part….
I have the feeling that we will need to go back slowly to navigate through that beautiful place (see the photo below from Google) and also to visit the famous lavender fields of Provence and the smaller towns that must be super charming. These 2 days spent rushing around the region with a baby in our belly ended up showing us that we can't take it too hard... lesson learned!
We left the road and went straight to the last accommodation of the trip, the B&B On the Bike Lit, in the city of Bagnols-en-Forêt. We were very well received by the owners and loved their little house and our room on the top floor. We went out for dinner at one of the few restaurants in town, Le Bistrot. Delicious food, good service and peace...a great way to end the last night of the trip.
04/09/2017 (Monday)
We left the hotel early and drove to Nice airport, where our flight to Dublin departed. It was impossible not to think that I would only see sun and heat when the baby was able to travel…
Come soon, son! <3
Ah, this is the map with our stops:
Read all about this trip in the links below
- Summary of 10 days in the south of France – this post!
- 3 days in Nice, Monaco and surroundings – see details here
- 4 days on the beaches of the South of France – see details here
- 2 days in the Provence region – see details here
