Hello!
My second week in Avignon began with an excursion organised by SUAPS, the sport department at Avignon Uni. We would get the coach to Baux-de-Provence and visit the castle there, then walk from there to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. We would explore Saint-Rémy before getting the coach back to Avignon.
It all sounded fun, so very early on Sunday morning I headed out to meet the coach. There Bea took a great selfie.
The journey was okay - we were pretty quiet, as most of us were still in the process of properly waking up! We passed through Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and into the mountains, eventually coming to a halt at the entrance to the town of Baux-de-Provence.
The sky was blue, the scenery green and white and it was already scorching hot though it was still early morning. We were warned about forest fires, which were a serious risk due to the combination of heat, dryness and wind. Once everybody had promised not to smoke, we made our way into the town.
Baux-de-Provence was quite reminiscent for me of the Provence hill towns I'd visited during my stay in Antibes, such as Gourdon and Saint-Paul-de-Vence. There was white jasmine everywhere, as well as shops selling ceramics, lavender bags, soap and ice cream. We didn't have the chance to go in them, though, as we were being marched briskly towards the castle.
At the castle we split up and roamed around, learning from our audio guides all about its history.
Don't know why there was a feather duster sitting among the medieval games!
The views of the surrounding countryside were absolutely stunning.
I saw a big cricket that reminded me of the giant one we found back in Girona.
There were various workshops at the foot of the castle, showcasing different trades,
After mooching around the courtyard I finally plucked up the courage to climb the very iffy steps up to one of the turrets. They were scary, half of them crumbling away and others with huge dents in the middle. Clinging to the railings was essential! But I made it, and the views got even more amazing.
Pigeons!
Pillories!
I wanted a souvenir of my trip to Baux de Provence, so after some deliberation, and a lot of searching for the right coins, I invested in a souvenir medallion from the machine.
I resisted the medallions for a long time because they seemed to be replacing penny/cent presses - I even wrote an angry poem about it. And I still think they are overpriced (two euros each). But I really like the design and I'm glad to have a memento of that day.
We regrouped and marched back through the town. I enjoyed grabbing one last look at Baux-de-Provence, a place I hope to investigate properly in the future.
We stopped for lunch and again I was reminded of the Chalet School girls. Those books manage to make sitting under pine trees appear quite idyllic. They didn't mention how obnoxious pine needles are; how you will still be pulling them out of your clothes hours later. Or how small holly bushes seem to grow everywhere in the Alps, and finding a space to sit among them is near impossible!
Soon we were back on the road again - literally. The woods were deemed too dangerous for us to walk any further in due to fire risks, so we walked along the side of the road the rest of the way.
After an exhausting but enriching trek through the hills, we saw the very welcome sight of the Roman ruins of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The teachers had us pose next to them, and then we walked the rest of the way into the town centre.
One thing I couldn't help noticing was how snails grow from shrubs. Back home snails hatch from eggs but here in Provence snails seem to all blossom like tiny white flowers among green leaves. It's quite a lovely sight.
Phase Three of our day, a tour of Saint-Rémy, will be recounted in my next blog post, so watch this space!
Thanks for reading.
Liz x
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