Chateauneuf-de-Pape, Orange and L'Isle sur la Sorgue

We had a lovely excursion today.  We started off north and took backroads into Chateauneuf-de-Pape.  This was the place that the popes in Avignon built a summer palace (on the hill, of course).  They also were the first ones to plant grapes in this area.  The wine industry is huge here and you have probably all heard of the Chateuaneuf-de-Pape brand.  The vineyards were very interesting.  They are full of small rocks which, according to my guide book, retain the heat and make the grape vines struggle which produces better grapes for making wine.  They use 9 different types of grapes to make their major brand.   This was about the prettiest little town we have seen so far (and they had terrific chocolat croissans, as well!)

Then we continued north to Orange where there is one of the best remaining examples of the roman theatres that were built all over the world by the roman empire.  It is still very much used today, but impossible to get tickets to.  It seated 10,000 in its heyday and was most magnificent.  It had quite a history having been a prison, a fort, a theatre, and a village over the years.  It was restored starting in the 1800's with serious renovation occuring only in the last 80 years.

Unfortunately there was a massive picture on the stage which hid the amazing stage wall.  Just above the picture you can see a statute of the emperor.  The romans always put up statutes of the emperor to remind people who was in control.  The part I liked best was that these fairly massed produced statutes had removable heads, so they could put different heads on them when the emperor changed.  Clever people those romans!  The pictures don't do it justice, I'm afraid.  We will get to see another example of a roman theatre when we are in Valencia, Spain in a few weeks, as there is one there also.

Then it was on to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, known as the "Venice of France".  We passed some beautiful sun flower fields on the way, so I made Larry stop so I could get a picture.  The Sorgue River originates about 5 miles from town from a spring.  It is extremely clear and cold.  I put my feet in it but I couldn't leave them there for more than about 10-15 seconds at a time - it was that cold.  The river is split into many canals through town and there are ancient water wheels which used to run all sorts of factories on the river. Before the water wheels were there, this was primarily a fishing village - catching most of the fresh fish needed by the papal palace in Avignon. It was a very cool place!

Then, last but not least we went to the Museum de Lavande which was fascinating.  They have audioguides in English which we used to go around the museum as well as a little film.  We learned all about the different kinds of lavender and how they distill it to abstract the essence (oil) from it for all sorts of uses.  Really, interesting...and, most important, I learned that I was right  - it is a little too early to see the lavender fields in full bloom - they are late this year, so we will need to go up into the mountains again in a week or so to try again.

We dine at home again tonight (bread, cheese, ham, wine, beer, etc), trying to stay cool and prepare for a trip to the Mediterranean tomorrow.  Finally, a beach day!  We will head to Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a real seaside town, supposedly.  We'll let you know how it goes.