Day 68: Tarascon to Cavaillon

November 13, 2022

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Our B&B stay in Tarascon was certainly at a lovely property, and the hosts were definitely welcoming and friendly.

But when they asked if everything was 100%, I had to fib slightly. For example, the breakfast food looked great, but that was not one tower of food (see below) per person but rather one per couple. It was perverse, because for example there were three small slices of cheese per tower. Did the hosts intend the couple to draw lots for slice #3?

Well no matter, because we quickly found a bakery in the town, figuratively held out our food bag and said "fill 'er up". There have been other occasions too, when a B&B breakfast is elegant, but designed for standard tourists and not ravenous cyclists.

We had downloaded the track for Eurovelo 8, to take us to Saint Remy and then to Cavaillon, and later, beyond. We just grabbed a miscellaneous version, from the excellent website biroto.eu. But quickly out of Tarascon we found signs for a voie verte that seemed new, at least from the smoothness of the tar. The route was good, not least because it featured two kinds of cows. Scott also saw these cows, but neither of us know what variety they are.

We also came across the bakery below, which despite its sign, was near Saint Etienne. We noted it because it claimed to specialize in fougasse. Until yesterday we had never really heard of fougasse, and now we were looking at fougasse specialists.

St Etienne had another claim to fame. It was a stop on the "Via Domitia", which was the Roman track from Italy to Spain. The Romans called this place Emagnum. If you look on the detail map, you will also see Glanum, which is today's Saint Remy. We would soon visit the Roman traces in Glanum.

The other claim to fame at St Etienne was a giant, mammoth "vide grenier" (collective garage sale). The British seem to pass their old junk around through sales at numerous charity shops on the high streets, but the French drag stuff out in their cars on Sundays and offer it for sale at local parking lots.

One thing that we did find intriguing, and that we have seen at other sales, was drawer knobs in attractive designs. Unfortunately we don't have any drawers that need knobs!

We carried on down the voie verte, enjoying the various sights. For example we again passed some crab apple trees. I sampled one apple and declared it good. But a nearby resident warned me that these were not edible and were just for decoration. I put him straight, explaining that they are good for jelly. This was news to him, but he thanked me for the information. So it seems I instructed a French person on a food topic. That's an achievement.

There were a few of these along the way.

There were also many pleasant houses. We liked the one below, though its shutters were not blue enough. They did however have a fence made from the local reeds. Those reeds, by the way, have made a small comeback here, though it's nothing like in the Camargue.

As mentioned by Scott, the way in to Saint Remy is beside a moderately busy road, but one soon can be in the old town, which can clearly be seen if you zoom in with the above map. The Saint Remy old town spawned a minor debate between Grampies. I claimed this was the most beautiful town in France, but Dodie would only concede it as "one of" the most beautiful.

This memorial plaque is not in French. What local language are they using here?

Saint Remy is known as the birthplace of Nostradamus, in 1503. "Michel de Nostredame, usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book Les Prophéties, a collection of 942 poetic quatrains allegedly predicting future events"

I am not sure exactly what type of store this was, but it was colourful!

Dodie noticed this 17th century chapel for sale, with a downtown location!

The building on the right is the Estrine Museum, which often houses Van Gogh displays.

"Vincent van Gogh arrived in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence on 8 May 1889 after suffering a major mental crisis in which he cut off his earlobe. Arriving from Arles, he voluntarily committed himself to Saint-Paul de Mausole psychiatric hospital. Vincent van Gogh stayed there for a whole year, until May 1890." During his time in Saint Remy, Van Gogh made many paintings, with a Provence theme. One of these is highlighted next to the Estrine Museum, but similar panels are found all along Avenue Vincent Van Gogh, which is the street where his Saint Paul asylum is. Each panel shows a Van Gogh Provence painting and something that he wrote, usually to his brother, that is relevant to the painting. These panels are terribly moving. We will soon go to Avenue Van Gogh, and the asylum, to appreciate more about Van Gogh.

A beautiful building, with brown shutters.

I tried some truffle and did not particularly like it. The taste, I must say, did linger for a long time.

As we learned at St Etienne, we are on the Via Domitia, which was the main Roman route to Spain, around 120 BC. Here in Saint Remy there is a major archeological site with ruins from this time. Two of the major pieces are out by the road, with a large billboard explaining them. But the majority of the site is down a hill, with paid admission, and we have never explored it.

The carving is a pretty jumbled battle scene.

The Glanum site is on the same road as Vincent Van Gogh's sanitarium. Van Gogh's presence here, his paintings and interpretations of Provence are very significant to us. As was the case with Judy Collins and Paris, there is a well known song that adds meaning to this place for us - Vincent, by Don McLean. Let's listen to it now:

We went to St Paul's. They have Vincent's self portrait on a stone wall, plus Starry Night, and others.

This statue seems quite accurate, but was Vincent really that slight?

All along the street were additional Van Gogh reproductions, showing where the originals are currently housed, and giving a quote from the artist that is relevant to the painting. It is a unique and powerful art exhibition.

We left Saint Remy, along the voie verte. I found a pomegranate tree, and one was legitimately in reach! It showed up at lunch. Though small, it was really good.

The voie verte featured these rather strange barricades, reminiscent of the trains that used to run on this line. Andersons also looked and commented on these.

We now entered an section of ineffable beauty. The trees, the hills, the plants, and the path all combined to give the impression of floating through a carefully contrived park. Vincent was on our minds, and we were thinking that though he is considered an impressionist, he might perhaps be a realist, because the scenes before us looked much like his paintings. Here is our gallery:

We returned to some of our own, non Van Gogh, visions of beauty, with another mother and foal Camargue horse pair, and those gorgeous ones standing together.

Finally, in this group of horses which we think play polo, look at the Camargue horse. He is almost an apparition, certainly not one with the others.

Coming to Molleges now, not far from Cavaillon, we see another village of great beauty.

Many towns have a bull statue, but here we have a horse.

Near to the spot where the shot below was done, a guard dog was in a field with many sheep. He came and barked at us dutifully. Scott at this point photographed the sheep, but I have neither sheep nor dog to show. However I do have a few of what must have been thousands of pheasants.

I had no preconceptions or knowledge about Cavaillon, except that I knew it to be the melon capital of France. I supposed with that I imagined a sleepy agricultural town. So it was with dismay that we came to town and into a busy traffic area featuring a HyperMarche, Decathlon, McDonalds, etc.

Usually we like Decathlon, but not in our imagined sleepy agricultural town!

The hill behind town is a major feature, and the bit of town shown here looks ok.

Here are the only two remaining Roman artifacts, just off the main "square" of town, which is a parking lot.

At one corner of the parking lot is our hotel.

We headed down the butt ugly main street, in search of some beauty in the form of the Cathedral.

This is the most elegant view we could manage of the Cathedral.

Like in Nimes, the Cathedral has been built up to and swamped.

However the panels in front of the building tell a brave story.

Our very plain hotel in this very plain town turned out to be fairly pleasant inside. It will do fine, and we are starting to get used to the ugly duckling town. We had thought to use Cavaillon as a central point for rides out into the surrounding region. We will still do that, in that tomorrow we will ride the bikeways out to one or more of the "perched" villages (Menerbes, Lacoste, Bonnieux) (probably just Menerbes), leaving one way and coming back another. After that we plan to shift to Apt, and from there ride to the Ochre Cliffs villages, and so forth. And oh, we think there will be a market here in town in the morning!

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 3,160 km (1,962 miles)

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Scott AndersonWe should have commented on Cavaillon. Probably my least favorite town in Provence.
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1 year ago