A weekend in Provence

On the second May long weekend, Y and I hot-footed it down to Provence in the south of France on the train, to spend a lovely 3 days with my parents who were visiting from Australia. On arrival late Friday night we were met by the parents and whisked away to the nearby village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
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Our accommodation for the 3 nights (6 nights for my parents) was in the beautifully French villa of Australian host Susie. The villa (above) is set up with 2 ensuited bedrooms, several lounge areas to relax in, and (my favourite) a terrace in the Provencal sun. Susie also lives in the villa and provides a lovely breakfast on the terrace each morning of fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereal, baguettes and pastries (which she ducks down the street to collect, fresh from the oven of the baker). Susie is happy to cook dinner for guests if given sufficient notice, but we preferred to buy lovely produce in the markets each day and enjoy a grazing dinner of hams, cheeses, tomatoes, foie gras, bread, olives … you get the idea. We usually managed to twist our hostess’ arm and she would join us for dinner (and contribute further delicacies from her seemingly bottomless fridge) and the odd glass of the local Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine.
On the Saturday, once we were able to drag ourselves away from the sun on the terrace, we headed to the nearby town of Uzes (near Pont du Gard, where there is a lovely place to sit and enjoy a glass of wine with views of the viaduct - although beware the wild Labradors that guard it), where there is a market sprawling through the streets. The market ranged from stalls heaving with delectable goats cheese, strawberries bursting with ripeness, and spicy cured meat and sausages, to every day household items like soap & socks. We recognised some of the food stalls the following day at the market in L'Isle sur la Sorgue, which is a gorgeous town with several canals running through it. I preferred the Sunday food market and we bought all sorts of goodies for our dinner including marinated anchovies and artichokes. The town had an incredible antiques market (the biggest in France outside of Paris) and if I'd had a car (ok, a van) with us, I could have relieved those stall holders of many a rusted iron chair or battered long wooden table.

In L'Isle sur la Sorgue we also discovered Couleurs Cafe, into which we installed ourselves originally for a caffeine hit, but when push came to shove we couldn't resist a selection of these lovely biscuits as well (below). (They have great coffee cups too which my parents eventually tracked down in a nearby village)
One night we ate at a tiny restaurant in the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Pistou (below). The food was unpretentious, simple French food and the service was most welcoming. At night you can sit out on the front terrace which is rather lovely on a spring evening.
Other villages we enjoyed visiting in the area were Gordes and Roussillon (below) which are just beautiful, particularly the view of the former from the approaching road, and a stroll to the top of the latter.
On our final day we explored the Papal Palace in Avignon and then grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe in a theatre in the back streets around the palace, before jumping on the train back to reality.

A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, particularly memorable for the gorgeous food markets, the relaxed feel of Susie's villa and, as always, fun times spent with the folks.