Today we are officially in Provence! And staying in St. Remy at a romantic hotel: Mas Valentine http://www.mas-valentine.com/. It sounds like a cliché but the light is different in St. Remy and overall Provence- it filters thru the trees, it seems to push the clouds lower to the ground, it casts soft shadows across ancient buildings and landscape. It may be the most beautiful light in the world. So many artists have been attracted to this same light.
Our hotel restaurant was closed on Monday, but our friendly front-desk person recommended a good place in town, so we headed to ‘Le Bishot Decouverte’http://www.bistrotdecouverte.com/ on the main drag which was excellent: Escargot, warm goat cheese salad (the ‘hocky pucks’ below are the warm goat cheese), and rack of lamb. We share plates wherever we eat. [Ed. sooo sweeet!] (Photos below)
We’ve been staying at Airbnb’s since we left Paris and it was luxurious to have a nice soaking tub and breakfast delivered to your terrace. Oh, and fresh eggs every morning from the hens on the property. Provence is known for their Rosé wines which are dry and quite good. There is a huge variety of English roses growing everywhere in France… climbing roses, low lying bushes, roses capping the ends of vineyards (photos below).
There is a large vibrant market in St. Remy every Saturday morning selling fresh produce, chickens, fish, soap, textiles and lots of clothing. The energy here is amazing.
Oh, did I mention that we are running out of gas and so is everyone else visiting Provence? There is not a single open gas station for miles around. The labor reform protests blockading petroleum production sites is having an affect on people’s psyche and gazole. We had a 45 minute wait, but it gave Lisa a chance to run inside and pickup supplies. We found out that gas station wine in France is every bit a bad as gas station / quickie mart wine in the USA. Alas, our car needs diesel and not bad wine to run. BTW, diesel and gazole are the same thing in France. Use the color-coded yellow handle pumps.
From the center village of St. Remy, you can take a 2k walk towards the mountains along the road that is called the Van Gogh walk and find three interesting sites. The first one is the mental hospital that Van Gogh stayed at (more next post). The second is the Monuments Les Antiques (see arch and tower below), and the 3rd is the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Glanum (photos below)
The roman city of Glanum was originally a city the Gauls settled in the present St. Remy region in the 6th & 7th century BC. The inhabitants also had ties to the Greeks and eventually became a Roman colony in 63 BC. The cities huge monuments, Les Antiques, were built but in 260 AD. Later the residents abandoned the town and moved to St. Remy proper.
St. Remy was a very romantic place to visit.
