Sablet

We have been here in Sablet for two weeks now. It is a small wine village in the Cote du Rhone area of Provence, near Avignon. It has been a wonderful time! We have seen a lot of the countryside, eaten delicious food and drunk bottles of amazing wine! We have also seen family for the first time since last September; Peter and his wife Tammy and their kids Claire and Jonathan were with us for 9 days! So this time has been a treat!

Our hosts Mary and Tony Byrne met us in the large upper apartment when we arrived. They also own a smaller, two person apartment which is underneath and where we are now. The house sits at the top of the hill upon which the ancient town of Sablet was built. It is directly across from the ancient church and we enjoy the bell which chimes on each hour and half hour, except blessedly during the night. The upper part is a good size house all on its own. It has 3 bedrooms (master and 2 others, 2 with king beds), 3 baths, a large living and dining room combination, and a kitchen and laundry area plus a small deck on the roof from which we enjoyed a 360 degree view! The entry is into the living room and stairs lead to the bedroom areas with another flight of steps to the roof. We had originally only rented the smaller apartment but when we learned that Peter etc. would be able to join us, we were able to switch places which worked out well. Claire got her own bedroom! We moved to the smaller unit after taking the kids to the train station yesterday morning and we will have this place until the sixth of August when we begin our trip home.

Before Peter and family arrived, we had four full days to explore. Of course the first two days were spent in settling in, doing laundry, exploring the village of Sablet and buying groceries at le petit marche, meat at the boucherie, and wonderful bread and croissants at the boulangerie! Doing laundry was fun! The smallish washer had an efficient 30 minute cycle and on the roof was a clothes line and drying rack. No dryer needed! Everything dried beautifully in the fresh air and 95 degree heat (more on that later). We spent Tuesday at the weekly market in the nearby town of Vaison la Romaine. Rick Steves claims it is one of the best markets in France and we agree! It was HUGE and packed with folks. Clothing - new and used - as well as food, household goods, souvenirs, and restaurants lined the streets for blocks and some of the side streets as well. We found a few things that we couldn't live without and enjoyed a great lunch. All the stalls shut down at about 1:30 which is when we had lunch and afterward we wandered our way back to the car. On Wednesday, we did a driving tour of some of the wine villages around Sablet (Sah blay), picking up a bottle or two at each, of course. That was a great opportunity to see the fields and landscape up close. Wine grapes are the majority crop but we also saw lots of wheat, lavender and some sunflower fields. This is certainly a region for artists; Van Gogh spent years in the nearby towns of Arles and St. Remy. It is beautiful here.

As I mentioned, the weather has been hot. During the first couple of days we were here, the Mistral wind blew fiercely - probably a good 30 mph constantly. That helped the temperature issue. It has been over 90 in the shade every day, with most days being around 33-35 (quick conversion = double the number and add 30, so 96 to 100). Two days ago, it was 37.5 on a time-temperature sign I saw in Arles (105). Since Peter and Tammy arrived, the wind has been minimal, leaving just the heat. We tried to drink lots of liquids and to stay out of the direct sun. We refused to just sit around in the house though; for one thing, since we had no air conditioning only ceiling fans, being in the cool car was more comfortable.

On the day after they arrived, we just relaxed, doing lots of catching up and playing with the kids. We met our newest grandson, Jonathan, for the first time! They needed time to do laundry too, since they spent several days in Germany prior to arriving for our visit. We also planned our days together. Jon and I had done a little research as had Tammy and Peter and we pooled our ideas and made a calendar. Months ago, I had made a reservation for all of us in the city of Vence, which is near Nice but inland a bit. I wanted us to have time playing in the Mediterranean and happily the hotel had a pool too. That turned out to be very important! On the day that we drove back, we drove through the tiny country of Monaco, right past the huge, famous casino! Antibes provided us with a great lunch on the beach with swimming in the Mediterranean afterward. We spent one night and two days on that trip; the other traveling we planned were day trips. The first was a trip to 6,000 foot Mont Ventoux where the temperature was a lovely 75 degrees. We traveled beyond the summit to Sault for lunch and where Tammy and I did some shopping and then onto to Gordes and the nearby abbey where we sat in on a service. Over the next days we went to the beautiful city of Arles which we loved and saw ancient Roman ruins and then on to Pont du Gard, the largest Roman ruin of them all! It is a huge 2000+ ft. aqueduct bridge over the Gardon river. It is the second highest Roman structure that survives, being only a few feet lower than the Colosseum in Rome. It has beautiful arches and a lovely river where we did some refreshing swimming and wading! We also visited the city of Avignon with plans to see the Palace of the Popes and the famous bridge of children's nursery rhymes. The Palace was home for hundred of years to the head of the Roman Catholic church when Rome was considered to be too dangerous. We saw the Pont d'Avignon while driving; the huge structure goes about 2/3 of the way across the Rhone and then stops, which is why the nursery rhyme says "they dance" on the bridge. Unfortunately, there was a festival going on in the city and parking was impossible for our 9 passenger van. It was way too hot to have to walk a long distance with the kids, so we drove toward Sablet and then on to Vaison and the Roman ruins there. It turned out to be a good choice, since the trip was shorter and the walking much easier. Tammy and I also got a bit more shopping in. Saturday morning we were up very early (5:00 am) in order to leave the village at 6:30 to take Peter, Tammy, Claire and Jonathan to the TGV (high speed train) station in Avignon. It was hard to say goodbye to them, so we didn't. We used the French "au revoir" which means "until we see you again".

After exchanging rental cars - gigantic for small - we drove back to Sablet to begin our move from upstairs to downstairs. We like our cozy, cooler place and slept well last night. Tomorrow we are off for 6 days in Switzerland. We will spend 2 nights each in Lausanne, Murren and Murten. We'll report on all those adventures next time!

Pictures, from top left: the little village of Sablet; Jon outside our first home in Sablet; Mary and Tony Byrne, our landlords - go to www.houseinprovence.net for more house info; locally grown, delicious tomatoes on display at the market in Vaison; wine at the market; Elizabeth, quilter and wine expert at Domaine des Girasols winery; wine grapes on the vine; a window in Sablet; the Sablet church steeple at sunset; looking at the sunset from our roof top deck; Grandpa with his newest grandson; Jonathan feeding himself; lavender fields near Sault; the valley farmland near Sault; the beach at Antibes; Jon and I - and Claire - at the Pont du Gard; Peter, Claire and Jonathan in the Gardon river; and Claire and Tammy in their matching Provencal outfits!