Monday 19 September 2011

Trip to Nîmes

We started well!  Vita had been sick over night (too many over-ripe figs?) and continued to throw up as we drove along the motorway heading for Toulouse.  As between "episodes" her tail was up and wagging, we decided to press on. After a couple of unscheduled stops she finally calmed down and curled up asleep and content on the back seat.

We've become real country bumpkins, used to our quiet lanes and empty villages. Our side of France, tourists have long gone, but in the hot, dry south of Provence the French, Americans, Italians, Germans, Scandinavians, English and Japanese are still in holiday mood and milling round the star attractions.

So we visited Aigues-Mortes, Arles, Avignon, Les Baux, the Roman aqueduct of Pont du Gard and Saintes Maries de La Mer in the Carmargue along with the world and his wife and his dog.  We ate exotic flavoured ice creams (lemon meringue pie the favourite), strolling with the throng window shopping, marvelling at the number of street cafes and restaurants (how could they all stay in business?) and trying to take in a bit of history and scenery along the way.  Next time we'll come "out of season" (if there is such a thing).

Our hotel, with its individual houses and three swimming pools nestling among oleander bushes, was our place of sanctuary and good food.

In the brisk wind, the swimming pools and the Med, were too cold to do more than dip toes into, despite the heat of the days.  We've become soft and spoilt with our own warm pool on "our" side of France.

Aigues-Mortes
Arles

Les Baux


Our Hotel outside Nîmes



Palace of the Popes - Avignon



Pont du Gard


Saintes Maires de La Mer






Street Scenes












Link:
Our hotel: L'Enclos des Lauriers Roses

4 comments:

  1. Looks as if you all had a super trip. We went to the Gard last year all on the strenght of being able to swim in the river that, by the time we got there, had virtually dried up! With a distinct lack of map and poor use of SatNav we also missed the Pont du Gard!
    Your Nimes hotel sounds great as they must be happy to accept a well behaved dog. Would you share their details?

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  2. Hi Lesley, the hotel is L'Enclos des Lauriers Roses at Cabrieres, just off the road between Nimes and Avignon. There are a number of individual "apartments" in houses scattered through the grounds, so great for dogs. We had our own little veranda where we could sit. And the food was excellent. I'll add a link at the bottom of my posting.

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  3. Thank you SO much for this post and the super photos, Sue. Many years ago, at the age of 16, I visited France for the first time on a school trip and went to every one of the places you mention. Your holiday has awakened a lot of happy memories for me.

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  4. Hello Perpetua, glad you enjoyed your trip down memory lane. :) What a glorious part of France to be your first trip.

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