Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque and Gordes

Not far from Aix, is one of prettiest and most iconic places in all of Provence: the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque. The abbey was built in 1148 by Cistercian monks. A small group of them still live at the abbey today, farming lavender and tending honeybees. Every summer, people flock to this site to view one of the most spectacular displays of lavender. Pictures of the abbey are in every shop and guidebook in Provence. We were very eager to see it. Unfortunately, the lavender has still not bloomed. It was a cold start to the summer, even though the heat is raging now. We still had a very enjoyable time visiting the abbey. The drive to the abbey alone was incredible. Provence is impossibly beautiful. At the abbey, Madame Salade's arms proved to be too scandalous and was asked to wear a shawl. We paid for the tour, which was only available in French. The abbey is very simple and very beautiful. It was very interesting to see the stonemason's initials carved into the bricks which build the abbey. After the tour, we made a quick visit to the gift shop, where we purchased a local candy called nougat. Every bite tastes like a delicious spoonful of honey.

This is what the lavender will look like in a few weeks. (via Wikipedia)

After visiting the abbey, we headed over to the rocky cliff town of Gordes. This town is absolutely amazing. Above the village sits the Chateau de Gordes, a 12th century fortress. Rocky streets made from local river stones curve all around the town. Through buildings you get glimpses of the Provence countryside. Sunset against the town's gray stone and terra cotta buildings is especially striking. Gordes was one of the most active resistance villages in France during WWII and suffered heavy retaliation from Germany. It has been carefully restored and is up there with one of the most beautiful cities in France we have seen.

We strolled around Gordes. We walked over to a cool old church, stepping over the piles of dried lavender scattered in front (Provence's equivalence of birdseed at a wedding, perhaps?). The kids were tired and everyone was getting hungry, so we searched for a bite to eat. It's a small town and many of the restaurants were closed or too pricey for us. We eventually found a lovely, unpretentious cafe with a patio. Monsieur Bacon tried "râble de lapin à la moutarde" (roasted rabbit with mustard) for the first time and really enjoyed it. You know what we're going to say, right? Tasted like chicken. After dinner, he told the waitress that was the first rabbit he had tried, that Americans typically don't eat rabbit. We later heard her incredulously asking the cook if he knew that Americans don't eat rabbit! On our way back to the car, we ducked through a shady park where we heard a choir practicing through open windows nearby. We sat and listened for awhile, watching the sun move across the fields outside of town. In case this sounds all too romantic, we also pulled a stick away from our daughter, who had been using it to root through dog crap and then doused her in Purrell. Travel with kids, folks.

Probably not a lot of out-of-shape people lived here before cars.

The French Riviera

We spent the past week exploring the gorgeous Côte d'Azur. It's hard to imagine a more perfect place-lovely picturesque villages, fishing ports, and castles along the Mediterranean's clear turquoise blue water. We had an incredible time.

Cassis

We spent two days in this beautiful little coastal town. It is another ancient place, founded by the Greeks, home to a castle, etc. You know the story by now. Cassis is famous today for it's wine and it's rocky cliffs, known as the clanques. Driving in to town offers a beautiful view of the sea, surrounded by cliffs and vineyards. The port is really lovely. Postcard worthy, for sure. The town is laid back and unhurried, the perfect place to just hang out in the sun, eat at an outdoor cafe, watch a game of boule in the park and play in the ocean. It reminded us a lot of California. It's like a smaller French version of Monterrey or Carmel by the Sea. We loved it.

Fragrant jasmine and salty ocean air make the town smell delicious!

This could be California, right?

The sweet little town port.

Some castle on the hill.

Looking for some lunch. We settled on a great place right here on the port. Madame Salade got moules et frites (mussels and fries), of course!

Most beaches are very rocky, although we did find sandy ones later. The water is so clear, we saw a few fish, some sea urchins, and lots of underwater rocks.

"Let's throw rocks!"

"Let's climb rocks!"

A highlight of our trip to Cassis, was a boat ride into the clanques. We sat up front and  in one especially bumpy part of the sea, we got very wet. 3/5 in our family loved the experience. 

The next boat ride on the Mediterranean I want to take this boat!

This is a secluded beach in the clanques. We thought maybe we'd try this one out, but with no road in, it's either a long hike through the mountains or your own boat.  Maybe when the kids are older.

People sunbathe on these rocky slabs on the coastline.

Another beach in Cassis, this one is a bit sandier. The kids soaked up the last bit of daylight.

Mom and Dad enjoyed an evening apertif while the kids played on the beach.

Nice

Alright, so everything we've read and heard says Nice is the Queen of the Riviera and a city you can't miss. It's where you go when you go to the Côte d'Azur. We considered making it a day trip, but when we found an awesome hotel near the beach at a steal, we decided to book it and spend the night. Once in Nice, we inched through traffic, found parking, and tried to check into our hotel. Tried. Due to a mix up (hotel's fault) they could not give us a room. Oh, well. We eventually found another hotel, a Best Western in the shopping district of town, about a 20 minute walk to the beach. The hotel staff was super friendly and helpful and we were glad to finally have a place settled.

Nice is incredibly beautiful. The beaches and water are gorgeous, the many streets and squares are lovely, the buildings are pretty and interesting, the restaurants top notch, the museums renowned (including the Matisse Museum, who lived here next to the Flower Market), and aside from a couple sketchy looking groups, the people were very friendly. It's all around, great. However, it's not really our style. We value tranquility, Nice was exhausting. Too big, too crowded, too many cars, too expensive. There was construction everywhere. It wasn't easy navigating around with three small children. It seems that in Nice, people shop, go clubbing, and pay through the nose to sit on a beach lounge chair under an umbrella and have overpriced drinks brought to them. That's all well, but not for us. We felt hurried and tired the whole time we were there. We enjoyed seeing some of the sites and also enjoyed having a coffee next to the town's cathedral on the sunny, breezy morning we were there. We were happy to visit Nice, but it's not on our list to do again.

On the Promenade des Anglais, named after the 18th century English who spent winters in Nice.

The Place du Palais, the square with Nice's Palais de Justice (courthouse).

The city clock, located in the Place du Palais.

The beautiful Opéra de Nice. There was a lady busking operas on the street in front accompanied by a boombox. Never seen that before, it was a first.

Mussels again for Madame Salade.

The town's main square, the Place Masséna.

A fountain near the Place Masséna.

Lots of colorful, lively streets.

The Notre Dame de Nice, near our hotel.

We had to go in, of course...

The boys on the hotel balcony.

Evening walk on the Promenade.

Another view of the Place Masséna, this time at night. We loved those colorful lit statues.

The beautiful St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Russian nobility had been vacationing in Nice since the railway line reached town in the 19th century (Russian snowbirds!). When Tsar Alexander II began vacationing in Nice in 1864, he decided he needed a proper place to worship and funded the construction of the Cathedral. After the Russian revolution, many Russian nobles decided to stay. It is still a popular Russian vacation spot and we heard a lot of Russian being spoke on the street.

The Cathedral is amazing. We walked all around it and enjoyed it from all angles. You can go inside for a small fee, but since 3/5 of our party were wearing shorts, we were not allowed to enter. The outside was worth the trip alone, however, so we were not upset.

Antibes

"It's so beautiful here, so clear, so bright! You swim in the blue air, it's terrifying. I'm fighting and struggling with the sun. And what amazing sun here! You need to paint here with gold and precious stones. What I will bring back from here is softness itself, with pink, blue, all wrapped in this magical air."  -Claude Monet

We had no set plan for our Riviera trip, but we originally thought we'd hit Monaco or St. Tropez next. However, after our time in Nice, we had no desire to deal with traffic, crowds, resorts and fees. We headed down the coast towards Cannes, hoping to hit a relaxed beach town. What we found is a little piece of heaven, called Antibes. Antibes is, again, an ancient town founded by the Greeks and the home of a big castle. The castle was actually home to Picasso for a time, who lived and worked there. Today, the castle is the Picasso Museum, displaying over 300 works by the artist. The town was also home to Monet for a time. Monet arrived in Antibes expecting to stay only a few days and couldn't bring himself to leave. In just three months, he shipped off 39 canvases from Antibes to Vincent van Gogh's brother in Paris for an exhibit.

It's easy to see why Monet loved Antibes. We love it too. First of all, it's stunning. There is no end to it's beauty. Like Monet said, you could only paint this place with gold and precious stones. The water is gorgeous, the beaches are sandy, and the Alps in the distance are snow capped. The town is filled with the most charming streets and elegant squares. There were lots of tourists, but the town still feels peaceful and calm.

We found free parking easily, right next to the beach. We ate at a delicious, reasonably priced pizza place where all the waiters spoke Italian to each other. We swam in the sea and dug moats in the sand. Our boys thought they heard a couple of little girls speaking English and ran over to play with them. Turns out, they were from Denmark and did not speak English, but the kids still all had a great time playing with each other. We walked along a coastline path and explored an old shipwreck (it was a modern fishing boat, but the boys thought it could be from pirates). We strolled the adorable town streets. We ended up forgoing the busier beach towns and spending two days in Antibes. On our second day there, we went to a public beach next to a string of restaurants and private beaches. A wedding reception was going on at the beach right next to us and who do you think the band was? The Gipsy Kings. We pretty much got our own private concert while we played on the beach. Here are a couple of our favorites that they played: here and here.  It was a great day, the kind of day you couldn't plan if you tried!

Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Platea d'Antibes

The Château Grimaldi