It comes to an end tonight... Steve's last night! One part of the trio is finished then..... how is it, being on a holiday that might have been flirting with you for years.......... I am going to just put out here a few pics of things that I have taken as we have been moving.........

Blue Beast Voyages....

Markets and food; goats cheese and olive oil; strawberries and apricots; lavender; cherries and figs....... taste of Uzes! Olives and wine; tapenade and tomatoes; serenading the senses....... music under my window as night falls.....
Rue St Jaques....... chez moi!

Yesterday was a day for seeking timelessness in landscapes and towns. Travelling across limestone hills, winding twisted roads , lavender in the fields and vines green and lush..... villages perched on hills, wary of interlopers and battles, remain eternally vigilant, carved into the stone of the land by ancient hands.
Lussan.... but it was the lure of the Lussan birds for me..... so we found where they made the fowls and I have one now.... one poulet de Lussan.

Aigeuze, mentioned as a monument to the One Hundred Years War. I think of this then as a monument to fools and greed; religion and politics causing death of the rulers' peasants; but this city sits on the high up banks of the Ardeche River down which wanderers paddled kayaks, basking in the heat and cooled by the water....

So many photos to take but which ones to keep? how do photos convey what it was like at this place? It was my choice for places to return to.... maybe next holiday.....
Pottery of Aigueze

But I am driving
I am driving the blue beast

Onwards to other towns, old... ruins neglected, fields and more fields of lavender ... passed cottages and vines, castles and lost kingdoms ..... so many so long ago.
Tired now.... but one more... the spectacular Le Roque de Ceze... very steep, very high, cobbled streets and houses merge into the cobbles.... very old. The castle on top.. the cherry that is now owned by someone who has closed it off and has a helipad and swimming pool...... but I am tourist and cannot see.
Black and white cat wants to come with us, miaowing and following.... go home , puss......

Home, through forests of Oak trees, stunted on the arid ground but thickly together, shaded..... windy roads, narrow and only us in the blue beast travelling up out of the valley up onto the high country again.... headed to Lussan across the limestone floor.. through more old towns and villages.....

Finally back to Uzes...... truffled omelette for dinner.. thanks to the resident chef, Steve!

Have been to the markets this morning - need some food for our kitchen..... raining this morning too unlike yesterdays sunshine.... hope to get out this afternoon to another pottery and Pont du Gard....

Uzes in the morning and Figaro!

So I sit; just hearing the sounds of French voices, loud and friendly, conversation and exchange- little tables along the sidewalk with people walking through carrying their baguettes, leading children off to school, newspapers in hand, coffee at the cafe... I am really amongst it now.
This is really being in France .

Pathway down to the valley

Down in the Vallee d'Eure

Ancient  mill in the valley

Walking down , early in the morning, to the valley..... down past the Cathedral and down the rough, broken stone pathways, steeply steering me into the valley. Trees and bushes shelter the path from the hot sun, even this early in the day...

And I look back towards the slopes lining the valley and wonder about the ancient peoples who first moved through here, through this verdant  and warm place, moving water .... who were those people?

Limestone hills surrounding Le Valle d'Eure

Walkinf up to the top

I have now a sense of place as I walk along the paths, lined with stones , placed as walls,,,,,, up to Avenue Andre Gide, past the Cathedral. down some unknown streets- narrow and cobbled....

The coffee is strong and enlivening......A large black dog- Figaro- sits on his haunches across from me, attached to his person by a striped lead. Is he bored by the conversation, does he want to run through the streets, challenging all other dogs?
It is not so busy this morning as the weekend tourists have left and the locals carry out their normal living. Figaro leaves, looking more enthusiastic than he had done for the last hour! I met a wire hared sausage dog this morning and spoke to his owner in french, commenting on the wonderful little doggies! How clever am I?
Then it is time to be back at the apartment and time for breakfast...... blogging and then it will soon be lunch... a leisurely affair in the town square......

Voyageurs .....

 So we emerged from the apartment into the hot Provence sun... even at this hour , the sun was radiant. The place of focus was the flea market which is held each Sunday on the park next to the road coming in from Nimes. So one of the trio wandered off as the others felt like some spiritual nourishment ..... so into the magnificent Cathedral

 Uzes has an interesting history with its Huguenot v catholic background and before that , it appears that the Cathars are entrenched int his area - the Cathars( to me) appear to have been a very farsighted and tolerant group. They were Christian but had the temerity to believe in the equality of men and women, they did not believe in priests and churches nor in th epaying of tithes to line the pockets of already wealthy bishops. Hence the Catholic church decide they wanted the lands of the Cathars.... so a religious war was begun so that the Cathars became homeless, poor and certainly the murder of over 600,000 people by the Pope Innocent was a sure sign of pure greed......... It is thought that Protestantism/Huguenots might have their origins on this religion/way of life.

 So , one of us got lost and the other two faded off to the markets on the very hot sun... one fair skinned maiden retreated to the town whilst the other leathery one soldiered on.... and this is what she found as she returned to the town of Uzes, walking through tiny streets and shaded by arches and stone buildings....

But then it was sooooo hot and I was fortunate to find Steve and Roya in a little outside eatery....... I had been to an amazing antique shop where I found the dressers of my dreams...

Time for  a siesta..... then off out later to sit in the town square, sipping a little rose and reading a book, while gazing surreptitiously at he passers by..............

Uzes ancestors?

The shutters were closed... all night, to block out the joys of some random football fanatics who seemed to be excited about something or the other...... I found myself not really caring a whole lot.
Then it was morning and the market people were setting up at 6.30, right outside our apartment( which is 3 floors high) and down into the Places des Herbes... I lay still for as long as possible but !I had not coffee and there was no tea- we were poorly prepared so............ off to the market! Superb! The olives, from the local farms; vegetables; fruit- so many apricots and cherries and fresh figs........ and the cheeses! MWAH! Le Chèvre  and some from the Camargue   , all sorts of local ones.......... sausages? fig and pork, olive and pork etc etc; langoustines and huge prawns..... the Provence pottery! Awesome food.... cepes of every shape and colour..... and clothes? The colour  and the style.... cotton and linen.... and all Italian made.! It was truly a myriad of sights and colours..... I loved it.
So I wandered and looked and tasted....... finally came back to the apartment a bit later then headed off again with Roya so she could have a look ... great lunch of fresh salad ...... then off to clothe the female rally driver of extraordinary talents!.............
Time for a sleep
Then a wander........ so I wanted to see the extent of this place and the walls. t is all so so old and it is not only Roman history of tis area but it is thought that the neolithics well and truly had this as a settlement. I will find out more about the Roman history tomorrow as I begin to find things like the ancient aqueduct and the surrounding things.  I found out today that the Bellet family were around this area- they are my ancestors and were Huguenots. This town was one of the largest strongholds of Huguenots in France and one from which many made the exodus when the wars became too much and when they were actually expelled.
Steve arrived tonight..... nice to have him here........... bring on the good food!

It is so nice to be warm......
Uzes is like no other place.............. I need to read more and to explore more but I will do that tomorrow as I do a bit of history tracing.....

Rouge, Femmes and travelling......

Hotel de Garlande free view!

Such an ancient city is Avignon.... this morning we had the chance to move around Avignon..

The apartment in Uzes

Found a place at Uzes

Palais de papes  and lots of tourists!

Maison et contemplative maiden!

And we ate exquisite French food at a restaurant called the taste ..... and then came the time!
It was time to go forth and drive to Uzes!
Two women
Who drives on the right hand side?
I don't!
She can!

Who is the hero?

You will notice the leeeeeetle blue vehicle in the background? She drove us from Avignon to Uzes... only a few moments of excitement such as when there was no reverse...... and when we missed the turn and other huge vehicular mountains were bearing down on us............ such a great calm driver.... Hats off to Roya!

And when you get to Uzes, it is a walled city and there is a road that encircles the town. Within the town are al the ancient stone buildings .... but loads of one way streets!.. After several trials we finally found our apartment ......11 Rue St Jacques.......

And we parked the car in a minute street,,,

So tired

Wanted to do more but , here we are in the centre of the most ancient Duchy in France.... and a walled city with an ancient Roman Aqueduct close by..... cobbled streets, shutters on all windows ... thick ochre walls........ and I can now melt into the integrity of culture for two weeks.... such a thing as never before!

Later.................