Walk Around Beautiful Historical Avignon

We went to Avignon so Shirley could shop so I took the opportunity to walk around and see what was new or different after our long absence.

One of the first things I noticed, this was the first time in a long time that the Opera - Theater of Avignon didn't look like there was reconstruction taking place.

Opera - Theater of Avignon

 The Opera - Theater of Avignon is located near the Pope's Palace on Place de l'Horloge. Built in 1825, it was rebuilt in 1847 after a fire. The Opera - Theater offers music, dance, theater and opera performances throughout the year.

The Pope's Palace is a historical palace in Avignon, one of the largest and most important Medieval Gothic buildings in Europe. One time fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. Six papal conclaves were held in the Palace, leading to the elections of Benedict XII in 1334, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Antipope Benedict XIII in 1394.

Pope's Palace

Next to the Opera - Theater of Avignon on Place de l'Horloge is the neo-classical town hall known as the Hotel de Ville built in the 19th century as a replacement for an older building.

Hotel de Ville

Only the 14th century clock tower remains from the original structure. The Gothic clock tower which gave the square its name was incorporated into the construction of the later Hotel de Ville.

Bell tower of Hotel de Ville

The bell tower of Basilique Saint-Pierre Church seen below is a 14th century Gothic Church in the middle of Avignon. The current church was built over a 3 year and 4 month's period and consecrated on 20 September 1359. It stands on the site of a much older church which may date back to the 7th century though the first texts mentioning the church date back to 1068.

Basilique Saint-Pierre Church

If you are looking for crepes, several good creperies are located on a shady square by Basilique Saint-Pierre Curch. If you are with kids who might not enjoy sitting through a multi-course meal, we recommend Creperie La Flourdiliz.

Creperies near Basilique Saint-Pierre Church

As our scheduled time to meet up with Shirley arrived, I headed to Place de l'Hotel and La Fourchette restaurant a few steps away. More about our meal there in a post to come.

Petit Dejeuner (Breakfast) in Sablet

This is living! Breakfast on the terrace in Sablet. Baguette so fresh and hot out of oven from Festival Des Pains it was hard to hold. Nutella, lavender honey and butter from Normandy secured from Chez Mimi et Alain in Sablet and cheese (Banon and Roquefort) from Lou Canesteou in Vaison-la-Romaine. 

Breakfast in Sablet

Life slows down for us when we are in Sablet. So grateful we can be here.

If you are thinking about a trip to Provence, we invite you to visit our website. Our house is available for rent by the week or more. You can reach us by sending an email to me.

Sunflowers in Provence.

As soon as we finished our drive around the lavender fields we started hunting for sunflowers, called tournesol in French

You may not be aware that despite the fact that you find postcards,  photos and paintings of sunflowers all over Provence, they are actually native to the Americas. Sunflower seeds were brought to Europe by Spaniards in the 16th century where sunflower oil became a widespread cooking ingredient.

Sunflowers have rough, hairy stems, and what most people call the flower on a mature sunflower is a flower head of numerous small flowers crowded together. The outer flowers are sterile and the flowers inside the circular head mature into seeds from which oil is extracted. 

Sunflowers

Sunflowers generally grow to between 5 and 12 feet tall and bloom from late June to the end of July with harvest occuring at the beginning of August. 

Sunflower field near Jonquiere

A common misconception is that sunflowers track the sun. In fact mature sunflowers typically face east and do not move. The leaves and buds of young sunflowers do change their orientation from east to west during the course of the day; once mature the movements stop.

Sunflower field near Mornas

You may not know that the Jerusalem artichoke also called sunchoke and topinambour, is a type of sunflower. It is cultivated in temperate zone for its tuber, which is used as root vegetable and delicious roasted or in soup.

Sunflower field near Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Its hard to not pull over to take pictures when you come upon a field of sunflowers. Sunflowers give off a sense of happiness, like little suns shining on a perfect summer day.

Sunflower field near Courthézon

If you are in Provence during July, make sure you stop and snap a picture or two of yourself in one of the sunflower fields you will surely pass by.

A Provencal Lunch at Le Girocèdre Restaurant in Puymeras

Puyméras is a small village on a hill a few km northeast of Vaison-la-Romaine at the northern tip of the Vaucluse near the border of the Department of the Drome. 

When you approach Puyméras coming from Vaison-la-Romaine, the village is visible on the hill surrounded by homes, vineyards and lavender fields. 

There are quite a few good restaurants near Sablet. We come to Puyméras to dine at Le Girocèdre Restaurant because they serve very traditional, in our opinion, Provençal food and there are always good fish and vegetarian options for Shirley. 

We usually find parking across the street from the village fountain and lavoir and if not there, a little further down the hill in a small grassy lot reserved for clients of the restaurant. 

We walk a short distance up the hill as if we were heading to Saint-Michel et Saint-Barthélemy Church, to reach the entrance to Le Girocèdre Restaurant. 

Le Girocèdre Restaurant is owned by the Trappo family. Father Roger, originally from Marseille, arrived in Puyméras in 1977. The name Girocèdre is a combination of 3 first names; his wife Gisèle, born about 9 km away as the crow flies in Veaux, Roger and their son Cédric, who is a native of the area. 

Diners are seated outdoors except during inclement weather or when temperatures drop before the restaurant closes for the winter break.

We were seated at a well-spaced table under a very large Tilleul tree. The daily menu is presented on blackboards. On weekends, the menu is a-la-carte.

For entrée (starter), Shirley chose a goat cheese and raw vegetables and salad plate. 

I chose one of my favorites entrées at Le Girocèdre Restaurant, a small cocotte of ravioles with a Morel mushroom sauce. Delicious!

For plat (main course) we both chose Cabillaud with seafood reduction served in a small pot with quinoa, tomato Provencal, roasted baby aubergine and ratatouille. 

For dessert, despite some fancier dessert offerings such as apricot clafoutis, we both chose a couple scoops of ice cream. 

We were so happy to see that nothing has changed during our long absence from Sablet due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Le Girocèdre Restaurant is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. 

We recommend that you make reservations. At the present time, the restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesday for lunch. 

Le Girocèdre Restaurant 

Rue Portolet 

84110 Puyméras 

Tel: +33 (0) 4 90 46 50 67

web: https://www.legirocedre.fr

The Hunt for Lavender Fields

As I told you in my previous post about my favorite things in Provence, one of them is finding purple fields of lavender under a brilliant blue summer sky. So of course, our first outing after arriving back in Sablet after our long absence due to the pandemic, was to go to Sault to see if we could find lavender fields that had not been cut. 

From previous visits, we know that the town of Sault is famous for its many fields of lavender spread around the town. The town spreads out along a ridge above lavender fields in the north-east part of the Vaucluse department about one hour from Sablet. The name Sault comes from "Saltus" referring to the forests that covered the area.

Sault

Sault is know for its lavender festival held every year on the 15th of August where games, competitions, or any activities that have to do with lavender, are held. 

War Memorial in Sault

Center of Sault

The area around Sault is also home to many fields of spelt, the ancient form of wheat grown by the Gauls and now popular with chefs and highly appreciated for its nutritional value and taste.

Church of Notre Dame de la Tour in Sault.

Sault is also popular with cyclists because of its proximity to Mont Ventoux. The climb from Sault is considered to be the easiest route to the top of Mont Ventoux with an average gradient of 4.4%.

View of Patchwork of Lavender Fields near Sault

We were worried that because harvest starts mid-July that we might have missed the lavender season for this year. But fortunately as you can see in the pictures which follow, we found plenty of lavender. 

Lavender Field 

Lavender Field

Lavender Field

Lavender Field

Aurel is a perched village between Sablet and Sault with a joined 12th century church and 13th century chateau at the top of the village. There are also a lot of lavender fields around Aurel. 

Aurel

Lavender Field near Jonquières

Mont Ventoux from the Road to Sault