Days 1-4

Where do I begin?  We spent Saturday night in Franconia, NH.  Despite living so close to Boston, we prefer to fly from Montréal since only they offer non-stop flights to southern France.

Since we don’t want to drive to the Pierre Trudeau airport in one day, we break up the drive by spending the night in the rural quiet of the White Mountains, which is a most pleasant respite from the Fourth of July crowds of Cape Cod.  

The highlights of that first day were dinner at Shilling Beer company in Littleton.  Their maple-bacon-ranch pizza is tough to beat.

Our flight on Sunday was not departing until 9 PM, so we had plenty of time to have a relaxing breakfast at Polly’s Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill.  Needless to say their pancakes are the best, and certainly worth the one hour wait.  So, breakfast really became brunch, but that was fine; we were in no rush.  Taking our time on the way to Montréal, we took the scenic route through the Quebec Eastern Township village of Knowlton, best known for inspiring Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels.

Being very familiar with airline food, we planned to have our dinner in downtown Montréal, returning to the Burger Bar on Crescent, a short distance from McGill University, where we had dined two years ago.  Our burgers were yummy, and the air conditioning was very welcome since it was 97° in the city.

Poutine and a bison burger

Sangria

Our flight departed on time, Joni and I were both able to sleep, we landed 25 minutes early, customs cold not have been quicker, and our baggage was delivered within 10 minutes of arrival.  Nothing could have been better… except a two hour wait for our rental car at Europcar.  In addition to the wait, I hated the car we rented, a Dacia Duster, and ended up returning it after driving it for to Aix-en-Provence .

Somewhere in the center of this pic is our first sighting of land, Brittany

Looking down on the Mediterranean along the coast to the west of Marseille

We finally arrived at 5:30 pm at our home for the next seven days, Le Mas Perreal, in Saint-Saturnin-les-Apt.  This will be our nineth visit to Le Mas Perreal; obviously we love it!

We relaxed, caught up with our host, Kevin Widrow, unpacked, and headed to our dinner reservation at l’Hôtel Saint Hubert.  We had never eaten here before; it’s relatively new.  Kevin highly recommended it and we were not disappointed; our dinner was fabulous!

The amuse bouche.  Notice the size of the forks in the upper right of this pic.

Vitello tonnato

Gazpacho

Filet de canard

Eggplant with a variety of other vegetables and fruits

Panna cotta with seasonal fruit

Peach parfait

Day 4-Tuesday

Up at 6:30 and off for my first bike by 7:00.  My typical ride is about ten miles round trip to the village of Rousillon.  Compared to Cape Cod, the roads in the Luberon are much hilly and much narrower.  The scenery is gorgeous and there’s little traffic at this hour, mostly farmers.  In Rousillon I usually stop in a bakery for a fresh croissant and a coffee, and then pick up a the daily edition of l’Equipe, which is France’s national sports newspaper.  Their coverage of the Tour is incredible.  The final kilometer into Rousillon is very steep, and ignoring the “route barrée” posting I continued on.  Unfortunately the route was impasable, new sewer pipes were being laid and an excavator completely blocked off the road.   So my vacation routine was foiled for the day.  Tomorrow I’ll try another route, which unfortunately is much steeper.

Breakfasts at Le Mas Perreal are outstanding and clearly one of the highlights of our trips to Provence. Coffee, fresh orange or grapefruit juice, melon, omelets, and choices of pastries are all part of his menu, not to mention conversation with our hosts Kevin and Elisabeth.

The pool as viewed from Kevin's breakfast area.

After breakfast Joni and I headed off in our Renault for market day in Vaison la Romaine, an ancient city originally settled by the Romans.  This is one of the larger markets in Provence, but because it’s a 1+ hours drive from Saint Saturnin so we have not been there for several years.  Parking is always a challenge, but since the market closes at noon, our late arrival freed up a space that wasn’t too far from the market’s stalls. 

Our purchases were limited today, but people watching was not.  According to the pedometer on my phone we walked over two miles at the market, so a relaxing lunch was well deserved.  

By 2 pm the streets were empty, allowing us to notice this mural which celebrates the Roman history of this town.

Leaving Vaison, we headed toward the village of Sault which is located to the east of Mont Ventoux which dominates the landscape of Provence.  Sault is surrounded by lavender fields, many of which were disappointingly drab as a likely result of the scorching heat wave that lasted nearly two weeks before we arrived.

While Joni shopped I enjoyed a beer and worked on this blog at an outdoor café.  As I sat, the Mistral, which writer Peter Mayle noted "will blow the ears off a donkey", played havoc with many of the umbrellas is this area.  

Returning to Le Mas Perreal, we reunited with our travel companions who arrived mid afternoon.  We spent the next two hours chatting before heading to Rousillon for dinner at 

Le Piquebaure, which Trip Advisor rates as the #1 restaurant of this picturesque town's many.  Joni and I have dined here several times, but it was new the Gars and Carloughs.  We were not disappointed as the cuisine clearly lived up to its reputation.

A pistou and basil soup

A lemon flavored dessert.

Sorry, due to the excitement of our wine augmented conversations I did not photograph the menu, so you'll have to let your imagination guide you, but needless to say, everything was delicious.