After a morning breakfast in our gite, we headed off down the hill, through the vineyards and olive groves toward L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue with Lou at the wheel. On the way, just outside St Sifert we saw hunters and their dogs at the edge of the road spaced at about 15 or 20 yards all along the road – nobody had bagged anything yet.
We cruised through the streets of Isle-sur-la-Sorgue looking for a place to park. Finally, we found some folks leaving, though they took their sweet time getting into their vehicle and acquiring satellites in their Tom-Tom. They took so long, folks behind us were tooting their horns, but Lou held his ground and, when they left in their “peanut” car, he parallel parked our big car with ease. We strolled through the market, came upon a jazz trio entertaining in the street. More about jazz later. We made a few purchases at the market; found a quaint lunch spot on a square in the shade. During lunch, the owner came over introduced himself (he had resided in Buffalo NY, NJ, and near Lancaster, PA), retired to Provence with his wife, and purchased the restaurant as a hobby three years ago. He also introduced us to a singer from New Orleans who normally entertained on Sundays at his restaurant, but he was hired to perform at a wedding this afternoon. Yes, that’s right – he was the entertainer we had heard when we entered town – part of the jazz trio. Pretty good!
We left the market and headed toward Avignon, the walled city where the French popes took up residence when they left Rome. The city has fortified walls, covering about 4 miles with 39 towers and 7 gates.
We parked along the Rhone River, near the Porte de Rhone, and walked over to the Pont St-Benezet, made famous by the song
Sur le pont d’Avignon
on y danse, on y danse,
Sur le pont d”Avignon
We discovered that the “sur” or “on” was originally “sous” or “under” and, that was a restaurant/music hall known for dancing and music actually built under the bridge. The original wooden bridge was opened in the 12th century and was replaced with stone. To great laughter, we discovered a boat (of sorts) race going on. Each boat was built by its rowers, out of oil drums and platforms, manned by 7 fairly inebriated, costumed people rowing against a strong current. The current was so strong and the boat/rafts so poorly designed (square bows and no rudders) that there was a considerable amount of sideways and backwards movement. What a hoot!
Back on the road, we headed to Tavel, a town noted for its rose! We found a few tasting rooms open, sampled some rose and red. Made a few purchases including: a box of rose from a cooperative (Cave Association de Producteurs Tavel), two bottles of Lirac from Chateau de Segries, and a red wine from Petit Mignon, a very small winery where we met the vintner’s mother. She was very proud of her winemaker daughter!
We left Tavel and headed back to our gite in St Sifert. Just out of Tavel, we encountered a road rally blocking the road. Hiding behind our sunglasses, we passed participants – and, oops! they started moving. As we moved toward the front, the first two cars took off engines roaring. We drove on, through the switchbacks, past the finish line! The rally was breaking up and we went on back to the gite, remarking how we had encountered some unique French happenings today!
Mike, Shoe, and Lou uring dinner, the phone rang and it was Eugene, owner of the property checking to see if everything was a-OK. We watered plants on roof terrace and retired for the night.
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