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Saturday, August 18, 2007

Market Day


We popped up from our GHO (Garrigue HideOut) to Uzès in a nice (and shaky) CV2 convertible, not unlike the photo at left, for the big (and terribly crowded) Saturday market - called "the most beautiful market in France" by Jean-Pierre Coffe (click here to see more about it).

Off to Aix en Provence later today to spend a couple of days at our friend Franco's place at the Château Maigre (see map).

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Calu !

In the Provençal language "calu" means "crazy, nuts" - see here for more. Ans with that as an introduction ...

Late start after yesterday's late night at Collias (rather "calu") but nonetheless a brisk mid-day hike into Uzès with Alain whence we did the round of bistros and bars in the town: Au Suisse d'Alger (rosé wine), Aux Amis (pastis x 2) then ending up at La Muscade (pastis x 3) where we ran into Tanguy (planning to pick grapes in Champagen next month) and where Jean-Yves joined us to drive us back to chez lui for lunch (with an excellent bottle of Les Garrigues 2005 from Domaine Richaud see here and here and here - and to boot Marcel is a buddy of Alain) and listening to the warbling of the 3-woman group Au Revoir Simone. Paradise!

Friday, August 10, 2007


We did an afternoon round-trip from Uzès up to Saint-André-de-Valborgne in Jean-Jacques' 1947 Dodge convertible with Jean-Yves at the wheel, Odile riding shotgun and Roden (formerly Chantal), Nicolas and myself jammed into the back seat at the mercy of the winds! This is the kind of thing (160 kilometers RT of winding mountain roads to pick up some suasage) that one does when on vacation - time is of less consequence and being together having a ball is a good enough reason to do wacky things.

The evening saw us stopping by Carole the bio-wine gal's place at Bourdic then all meeting again at J-Ys place for a nice (and late-ending - around 5am!) BBQ dinner and major "find my favorite tune" hijinks (via www.radioblogclub.fr, give it a try yourself!)

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Nyons -> Uzès

After our sleep-over at Jean-Philippe and Virginie's wonderful place here in Nyons (more info here and here about the town) we are off to visit the local market then driving to Uzès.

UPDATE: After a very nice visit of the marché we stopped for beer/wine and pizza at Le Café du Centre then returned and packed up to depart.

We headed south-west from Nyons on the D94, which follows the valley of the Eygues. About 6 km from the town, the village of Vinsobres sits above the road. This is one of the the 16 villages that have earned the Côtes-du-Rhône Villages appellation, so its wines can be labelled ’Côtes du Rhône Vinsobres AOC’.

The Domaine du Coriançon is on the main road a couple of kilometres before you reach the left turn for Mirabel-aux-Baronnies (where Jean-Philipe has his atelier) and then the right turn for the village - there we picked up a cubit of red wine to share with our friends in Uzès.

We arrived in Uzès after a watrering hole stop ;-) at l'Authentique in the town of Saint Siffret. Then off to Jean-Yves where we off-loaded and almost immediately headed off to dinner at les Caves de Collias run by our friends Anne-Marie and Christian. We were joined by an old local friend, René, and 2 new (to me) friends, Michel (who runs Wattson) and Corinne. Great crêpes and a heated discussion (sparked by Michel) about "foreigners" ruining the towns of Provence.

 
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