Grand Circuit

We are currently in the first day of another good blow, with chilly wind, I guess from the north. It's also the last Tuesday we will be in this area, so off we went for one more kick at the Vaison market. With the throngs swarming through the narrow streets it's easy to overlook the Roman history here. The ancient Romans certainly got around.

In Provence, it is hard to miss a market. This vendor's sign says it all. He must have three trucks selling shoes, because on any given day he might be in three different markets.

There is lots of merchandise in these markets that is pretty unique to just the markets, like the variety of tomatoes this vendor was offering.

The plan for today was made, partially due to an error made at Auchan, when they failed to remove a security tag from some merchandise we bought. So we thought, why not make a nice drive out of it. This is a drive I would highly recommend, by the way, even if on the Avignon end you avoid the shopping centre and head to the old walled city instead so you can dance on the Pont D'Avignon. On this route we never retraced our steps.

From Vaison la Romaine - bye bye for another year - we headed up the valley to Malaucene, staging town for the lunatics biking up to the summit of Mt. Ventoux. From here we drove in the direction of Carpentras passing the Impressive Chateau le Barroux.

We did our business at Auchan - as you can tell from the impressive washroom graphic - and continued on our Grand Circuit to Chateauneuf du Pape. Driving up to the chateau we discovered, as we have also noted driving through the villages in the area, that a lot of money has been spent fixing roads and sidewalks. In attempting to take this photo of us and the Chateauneuf, the wind kept blowing my phone camera over and 1 second after this pic snapped it blew over again. Some wind!!

It is always great to come up here since the panorama of the Rhone Valley is very impressive. They've also done a nice job of wine education here, showing us rows of all of the Chateauneuf grapes growing in the famous yellow rock of the area.

Next we made our way to the fortified village of Courthezon, surrounded by its impressive medieval walls. When you get inside the village and drive through its narrow winding streets, you get the feeling you have been transported back to ancient times.

Finally, wandering out the back door of Courthezon, we made our way back to Cairanne, where there was lots of evidence extolling the fame of the area as a wine centre. This our first experience with the new Appelation Cairanne Controlee wine, proof that this village is now producing Cru wine.

We finished the day on the terrace, despite the breeze, enjoying the sun and and getting communications from the donkeys. La Vie est Belle!!