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Donkeys at the amphitheater near Château de Crussol.
The Saturday my parents were visiting, we started by going to the outdoor market and buying picnic essentials like green olives, fresh fruit, Comte de Savoie cheese, and crunchy baguette to take up to the Château de Crussol. The market has gotten better and better as the temperature has improved and it’s definitely one of the things I’m going to miss the most about living in Valence. It’s always different due to the season and since Drome, the department where Valence is located, specializes in fruit and olives it’s constantly changing with the weather. Currently, red strawberries and green and white asparagus are covering the market tables.
A shepherd herds donkeys at the amphitheater.
Our hike up to the Château de Crussol was a little extended due to a wrong turn I made with the bus, but we finally made it up to the amphitheater to have our picnic. We were surprised to find the whole amphitheater filled with donkeys, about 20 of them, each with a bell ringing on their neck. Their owner was letting them graze on the green grass and, since they seemed very focused on eating, we decided to just have our picnic alongside them. I literally could have reached out and petted the donkey as I ate my sandwich, although I didn’t really want to get fur on my food. As we were finishing lunch, a shepherd came out of no where with a black and white sheepdog and the donkeys were rounded up and ran out of the amphitheater in what couldn’t have been more than a minute.
Rainy weather at the castle ruins.
After lunch, we hiked up to the Château de Crussol, a castle that is now in ruins. You might remember I visited it in March. Although the weather was a little rainy, we could still see most of the valley with Valence surrounded by the Rhone-Alpes.
Flowering tree in the ruins.
My parents nicknamed their trip “Fitness in France” because of all the uphill climbs and hikes we seemed to do. Crussol was definitely not an exception and it had some treacherous walking, although we did make it to the very top. I tend to spend a lot of my time in France walking uphill. Just today I was visiting a friend in Voiron who is leaving France tomorrow and we scrambled up a wet leaf-covered hill at what must have been a steady 45 degree angle. There were also disgusting giant slugs, but that is something I will describe in more detail on another post.
Wall of Crussol.
I would love to know what the castle looked like when it was still standing and what rooms were where. There isn’t any information in the ruins themselves and I can’t find much out online. I imagine not many people lived there as it would be a pain to have to hike up and down the hill to get anything. Then again, you would have a perfect view of the valley and I can’t imagine anyone would go to the trouble of attacking you way up on the hill.
I only have one more day of teaching and it’s tomorrow!
Space Invader on the city wall in Avignon.
France honored my birthday yesterday by reconnecting me with the internet! It certainly makes life easier to be able to access email and train schedules from my room. I met up with friends throughout the birthday day and it was laid back and exactly the way I wanted to spend it. I don’t really like to be the certain of attention, but still like to mark the day in some fashion.
Continuing with my travel posts, we have another Avignon visit. The photos in this post are going to be Space Invader-centered, so I apologize in advance for that.
Flowers for sale in Avignon.
This was my parents’ first day in Provence and the weather was gorgeous. We started by going to the indoor market where we met up with fellow assistant Kat and her parents. It was awesome, because we got to team up as co-guides for the day. After appreciating the cheese, olives, bizarre meat displays, and produce of the market, we decided to buy a few calissons and a decadent provençal chocolate bar. Calissons are a specialty of Aix-en-Provence, but can be found throughout Provence and even in the area around Valence. They are basically a little almond-shaped candies made with citrus fruit paste topped with white icing, and the ones we bought were quite delicious. After that snack, we had lunch at a cafe and I ate a chevre chaud salad, while others in my group were more adventurous and got a fish dish that included a few escargots on the side. I think my parents both sampled them, but I played the vegetarian card and didn’t try them.
Space Invader on the Palais des Papes.
After lunch, we went to the Palais des Papes. It was a lot more crowded than last time I visited, when its massive rooms were absolutely empty. I skipped the tedious audioguide this time and tried to take in more of the historical information and architecture. After our tour of the palace, we visited the church next door that has the graves of a couple of popes and then we walked over to the Pont d’Avignon. It was incredibly windy as usual, although much less than the other time I went on the bridge and I didn’t feel like I was in too much danger of plunging into the Rhône. Although that has to happen to some poor tourist at least once a year, right? Google isn’t helping me with this theory.
Space Invader on the streets of Avignon.
Kat’s family had to start their drive back to her town, while my parents and me spent the rest of our day in Avignon drinking coffee and wandering the streets. We ended the day with sandwiches at a bakery before catching the train back to Valence. I think I’ve visited Avignon more than any other city in Provence and although I might have seen enough of the Palais des Papes and probably don’t need to dance again on the bridge, its streets and ambiance haven’t gotten old yet.
The Suisses were all dressed up for Easter in Valence.
I’m still without internet and am reduced to using it in the creepy McDonalds in Valence, because that’s absolutely the only thing open on a Sunday. And as I type, a woman with few teeth is sitting across the room from me singing along to the music. Or muttering along to it in imitation English. Now I know how all the odd people in town pick up the random English phrases… Anyway, I’m going to try to make a quick post.
After visiting Nice and the French Riviera, me and my parents took the train up to Valence. We mainly walked around the town that day and saw the river. The next day, we visited more of Valence and saw the big sites like the park and the cathedral. It’s interesting how a city changes when you see it through someone else’s eyes. I’ve lived in Valence now for over six months, but being with my parents made me notice things all over again. This was mostly good, like appreciating again how spectacular the park is on first viewing and how charming the cobblestone streets are. It was also a little bad, as the creepy men in the streets and the trash on the sidewalk stood out a lot more to me.
Flowers at the vineyards in Tain l'Hermitage.
Their second day in Valence, we took the train over to Tain l’Hermitage. Every other time I’ve visited Tain, I’ve gone to the Valrhona chocolate store first and then climbed up the vineyards. This time, in order to avoid that ill feeling you get scaling a hill with a stomach full of chocolate, we did the opposite. It was a clear and beautiful day and little yellow flowers had grown amongst the vines. I was surprised that there were still no leaves on the plants, but I guess it’s still early spring.
Vineyards at Tain l'Hermitage.
I still haven’t found the most direct route up and down the hill of vineyards, but it was nice to wind around and see the Rhone Valley from the top. Later, after the chocolate store and on the way back to the train station, we stopped at a wine store and sampled some of the regional wines. Apparently the Hermitage wines are only produced on the hill behind Tain l’Hermitage where we walked and are therefore more valued. There are also Crozes-Hermitages that are produced in the surrounding area. We ended up buying a Saint-Joseph that was produced in the Ardeche across the river.
Church at the top of the Tain l'Hermitage vineyards.
Eventually, we made it over to the church at the top of the vineyards. It doesn’t get much more picturesquely French than the old stone Church surrounded by vines and flowers. When I’d first come up to the church when my friend Randall was visiting, we took the most direct, but nearly deadly steep route. I had sworn to never do that again. Nevertheless, this was the way we decided to take down and it was as much sliding as walking. Luckily, I didn’t have to use my French health insurance and we somehow all made it down the slippery 45 degree angled dirt path. We were rewarded with many chocolate samples at Valrhona and then had lunch across the river in Tournon-sur-Rhone before later going back to Valence for the evening.
