Miesiąc: lipiec 2015

Provence Day 6: Avignon and Orange

Our last day in Provence and only two places to see: Avignon and Orange. I have to say, we have had enough of cities and towns, I miss mountains, nature etc. It’s nothing new – I’m not really a city person, but I have a feeling that I used to handle touristic places like that better than now. In any case – I’m not moaning or anything. I enjoyed the whole trip, it’s just that I liked our lavender fields trip, and ochre fields more than places like Avignon or similar.

We started from Avignon castle and here another confession – my expectations twoards it were much higher than what I saw. Perhaps once it was a splendid place but now only walls are left. On top of that, Wojtek started to feel a bit bored but our programme and he showed his discontent in a pretty obvious way, so we really had to rush through the castle. To sum up, the castle wasn’t the highlight for me. But I did enjoy the walk around the city. Avignon is pretty big and there are quite many places to look around. We wandered without any destination and made a longish loop that gave us a gist of how people live in this city.

 From Avignon we headed north to our home, however we stopped in a little town called Orange. It’s widely known for its amphitheater  and I have to admit – it was spectacular. A place worth doing a detour.

And so our journey has finished. Next holidays: skiing somewhere in Tatra mountains.

Provence Day 5: Sound of the sea

If you know me well you know I love planning. What I love planning most is my holidays and it was no different this time. Before departure on vacation I buy a guide, search the Internet and do a very detailed list of „to see” places. It’s rather rarely that I don’t stick to my plans, as there usually are various variants to choose from and one of them always fits. Today though we decided to make a drastic change and we headed to the seaside – which was not planned at all. I guess we both have had enough of „hard core sight-seeing” and needed a day-off from running around. So we took a map and basically chose a place that seemed nice and had a beach. So it happened that it was in a national natural park and since I love nature – we made our steps there.

It

It was unbarably hot so we didn’t spend much time with the flamingos. Sure they were cute but I really needed a water breeze to cool down so we shortened our walk around the ponds and headed to the seaside.

At the seaside… What can I say… Oh sweet laziness. We did absolutely nothing. I spent the entire afternoon under the umbrella reading and relaxing. The weather was perfect – it was super sunny but also windy from the sea so I didn’t feel hot at all. Wojtek loved the beach and in principle we didn’t need to entertain him at all. Am I getting old? I really wish I planned more of such days this year 🙂

Provence Day 4: Cities of Provence

Today we decided to wander around some small and big cities of Provence. I have to admit – this is not my favourite way of spending time on holidays – I prefer natural marvels way more than architecture must-sees. But I still enjoyed the day. In the end, there is some charm in sitting down for a coffee in a busy cafeteria at the heart of a centre.
We started the day with Saint-Remy-de-Provence. We made a quick walk around its morning market and headed to Glanum – the archaeological site of an ancient Roman city. Radek was delighted to see all of that as he always admires engineering skills. And you can’t rely deny that Romans had them!

Our next destination was a well-known city Beaux-de-Provence. There were loads of tourists but no wonder as the place had a lot to offer. The first thing that sticks out is a hilltop castle (or its remains to be precise) with a great view on the plains (see 1st photo). The ruins are really maze-like as there are lots of different little paths that you could follow and the area is huge.

But the real attraction to me was Carrieres de Lumiere – a high-end light and sound spectacle shown in a former limestone quarry. I have to say this was real something. Classical music played loudly in a chilly cave with visual images accompanying the sound made us really contemplative and relaxed. Worth visiting for sure!

From there we drove to Arles – a somewhat bigger city with a huge Roman amphitheater perfectly preserved and still operative.  Again – Roman architecture and engineering amazed us.


Another city that has an amphiteatre is Nimes. This time we didn’t go inside but from the outside it looked spectacular. We were already a bit titred by this action-packed day so we decided to stroll around Nimes without any specific destination and made quite a long loop like that.


And finally, a cherry on a pie for the day – Pont du Gard. Yep, that’s right, another masterwork of Romans.

Provence Day 3: More Lavender and Ochre

We didn’t feel like we had enough of ochre and lavender the previous day so we decided to see more of this beauty. Also, it’s not really a new discovery to me, but I so much prefer visiting nature resorts than the cities and typical touristic places. So the plan for today was to follow a Colorado Provencal ochre trail and then drive up to Chateau du Bois region to have a walk around the lavender fields.

Colorado Provencal is a truly remarkable place. It’s a 3-hour trail of no technical difficulty that leads through ochre canyons and deserts. The path leads first above a panoramic point where we had a look over the marvels of nature, then we reached a White Desert full of pale formations and white sand, then through a panoramic view of the canyon at the other side and finishing with another desert – this time red. See yourself.

From there we drove to Chateau du Bois to have a strall in lavender fields. Pretty romantic scenery for commemoration of our 7th wedding anniversary (that would fall on the next day).

We got hungry so decided to pass by a neighbouring village – Saint Saturnin les Apt. It turned out to be a lottery win as the place was secluded by tourists – I really don’t know why as I would say it was one of the prettiest settlements we visited throughout the whole visit. There was a castle on a hill, a dame, charming streets, fountains etc. The views were really nice as the whole place was situated on a hill. Worth doing a detour!

Next we visited Mines de Broux – another place worth recommending. It was an old minery complex that now was open to tourists. A 40-minute long tour with a guide tought us a lot about the industry and was really interesting. The day was getting to an end so we had time to visit just one last place and decided to go for Menerbes which is on the list of the most beautiful villages in France. We were super lucky as there was a men choir concert for free that we attended with pleasure. Even our son liked it and it’s not often an almost 2-year old sits quietly and listens to the music! Another beautiful day past us!

Provence Day 2: Lavender and Ochre

Mission completed. Lavender fields: check 🙂
Our main goal of a trip to Provence was to see the lavender blooming.  In the end, this is the main attraction there. So our first tourists’ steps headed to Abbaye Notre-Dame de Senanque. The view you see above appears in most of the postcards sent from here. No wonder… 🙂 Although we were a bit late to see the lavender in full bloom it was still pretty. We also made a walk in the abbey but to be honest – without the violet frame it would have been a bit boring.

We made a stop in Gordes where I discovered my utter love to lavender ice cream. I ate at least two boules of them every day throughout the whole visit. Even now, when I think of them, I start drooling and wish I was there again.

Our next destination was Village des Bories –  beehive-shaped stone huts that date back to the Bronze Age (and have been restored some time ago). A short 30-minute walk around the settlements and we’re off to the next place – Lavender Museum.

Ok, so there was a lot of lavender that day. But what not many know, Provence’s treasure is also its ochre industry. Ochre is a pigment used in all sorts of products. Starting from rubber, ending with cosmetics. To be honest, I never heard of it earlier so I didn’t know what to expect but when we visited ochre trails I was simply stunned. The three ochre-connected places we visited were the most interesting to me from the whole trip. First on: Rousillon.

It’s worth mentioning that these photos were not retouched. The landscape was simply like out of this world. The soil was red. Like… red red red. Check out this (untouched) photo:

Can you see the colour of the soil? Amazing! We made an hour walk around the Sentier des Ochre and then we headed to Rousillon which was … wait for it … red too 🙂 Truly amazing place – worth paying a visit.

Provence Day 1: Pernes-les-Fontaines

Holidays! Knowing that we’re soon coming back to Poland and have lots of days off to be used, we booked a last-minuted stay in Provence, just a 4-hour drive from Geneva. Our main goal for the trip was to see lavender fields. We’ll get to that 🙂

The village we’re staying in – Pernes-les-Fontaines – is a nice touristic place but definitely not impudent. It has lots of little fountains scattered around the place. They are really tiny – don’t expect anything sumptous – but they give a charm to the streets. As every place in France, this one also has a little castle (or what’s left of it), little old city square and a market place. It’s a pleasure to walk around.

We made a short walk around the village, stayed for a beer and ice cream and went back to our quarters to prepare for the next day that would be full of adventures. Stay tuned!

Pointe Percée (2752m)

Holy Graal of Aravis – Pointe Percée. The first time I heard about this mountain was 2 years ago in winter when one of my colleagues proposed to hike it in ice and snow. I was wise enough to turn down this offer but put my focus on this mountain and started sniffing around the route. In the end, it’s not that often to see a T5 hiking grade. In the next two years I heard a lot about it. That one should not underestimate it, that it is extremely difficult etc. The legend of the mountain grew strong and fearsome. At some point I even decided to check it myself from a close up and I went up Col des Verts to have a look. This is when I took the most beautiful picture from all of photos I did in mountains. But we chickened out that day and didn’t hike up to Pointe Percee. But this summer is different.

There are two possible routes to Pointe Percee – a T4 one that goes up and down by the same steps; and a T5 one that goes in a loop through Col des Verts. We tried the latter. We already knew the path to the col so it went easy and smooth to reach it. A short break on the ridge and the true fun began.

There was no path as such – in principle we had to scramble the rocks all the way up to the summit. Sometimes it was a bit challanging but most of the time it was pure and utter fun for both of us. Except for maybe two very delicate and technical passages, there was nothing to fear of from my perspective.
Have a look at this short video for the notion:

And a couple of photos from the process:

Once we reached „gendarme” (a pointy rock that looks like a guard of the entrance to the other side of the mountain) we were back on a T4 path and we were only minutes from the top. Since Pointe Percee is the highest of the Aravis mountain chain, it’s pretty well-known and cared for. That is why on the top there is a huge cross and even a guest book where we left our memento.

We knew that going down would be a bit of a pain on a route like that but we really didn’t expect it would take as long as an ascent. But in the end, it’s way more difficult to descent in such conditions than to go up. Personally, I was glad when we reached Gramusset hut and the annoying rocks ended. On the car park we entered a local farm to buy some goodies – cheese, youghurts and fresh cow milk. Yummy!

Stats: length: 9.1km; Time: 5h 20min, Elevation gain: 1200 m

Mont Buet (3096m)

With no doubt a top 3 hike for us – Mont Buet. I was pretty excited to be doing this one as I know of many people who did Buet and they all underlined the magnificence of the route. We started early in the morning as the walk would be long (all in all over 8h) and the day was exceptionally hot (like all the others this summer) so we wanted to reach high altitudes by the noon.

Apparently, departure at 8 AM was still too late to avoid the heat wave and I barely reached refuge de la pierre a berard. Fortunately, soon the heights started to cool down the air and after 10 minues in the shade we continued our walk in changing landscape.

Our next stop took place at the plateau right before a final ascent to Buet. Oh dear lord, look at the views! The final metres were rather easy, although quite slow and tedious as the altitude gave us signs with shortened breath. But we made it and it was totally worth it!

Goodbye Mont Blanc

It’s not really a secret that I set my heart on claiming Mont Blanc. Although I never felt the goal was near, I’ve always had it in my mind and every time I saw the mountain it reminded me of my dream. Today I already know it’s not going to happen during our current stay in France, as we are soon leaving.  It doesn’t mean that I let go but it for sure complicates a lot. So I feel lots of regret when I see climbers like in the photo above. I have to say – my last trip to Chamonix was very nostalgic.

We took Radek’s mum to Chamonix and we did all the musts there:
– we took the cable car to Aiguille du Midi (at staggering 3842m)  to get as close to Mont Blanc as possible for tourists,
– then we took Montenvers train to Glace de Mer glacier where we entered the ice cave.
Ok, what’s missing is step into the void (the glass cage on top of the steeple) but that was closed at the moment and Radek’s mum didn’t really feel like hanging over a chasm. We made a rather fast tour over Aiguille du Midi because lack of oxygen was taking its toll. So last final look at the climbers and off we go to the lower land where Radek and Wojtek were waiting for us.

In Chamonix we walked to the train station, stopping by at Pattisserie’s to stock up on some gooddies. Montenvers train is very nice itself, meandring slowly through forests and mountains. A 20-minute ride took us to the glacier departing station where we had an unexpected mandatory break because the baby got rocked on the train and fell asleep in daddy’s arms.

Once nap time was over we all headed to the ice cave. Because the level of the glacier decreases every year, we first needed to take a cable car down and then walk some good amount of stairs to reach the cave. This really makes you understand what global warming is… Call me an eco-freek but it was very depressing to me. Nevertheless, the amount of ice in Mer de Glace glacier is still overwhelming. It’s not seen at the first glance as it’s mostly covered by rocks and dust but the gray surface down there in the photo above it’s all ice underneath. Should you not believe, have a look at our photos from the ice cave carved at the heart of it.

 And so we finished the day. It’s hard to be parting with places I love but I’m looking forward to what future brings. Some new areas to discover – that’s for sure.
 

Refuge du Plan Glacier (2680 m)

Another place from our „to do list”. Last year we didn’t have weather good enough to realize all our hiking plans so we must make it up this year. Refuge du Plan Glacier is not exactly a mountain, but it’s situated in the heart of Alps, with such beautiful views on the valleys and glaciers around. We started close to Chamonix, so the area well known to us. At first the path was pretty mild, going mainly flat or with mild elevation gains.

Then we continued on a very steep, physical passage (but nothing technical) up to Col de Tricot. That was quite a work out! Up there – lots of amicable sheep craving for our lunch, lovely views and many tourists having a break.

From there on we continued in the direction to Plan Glacier refuge. Not many hikers followed our footpath as the whole tour from Gruvaz would be rather long and require a lot of stamina. That didn’t put us off though! The landscape soon changed as vegetation left place to bare rocks and we approached the glacier. Did I mention I love glaciers? 🙂

At times it got technical but nothing scary in good conditions like that day.

And finally, the refuge. I was pretty happy we finally reached it, I was a bit worn down by this long ascent. We sat down under the shelter, ordered some local goodies, studied the map and ate some chocolate (thanks Arnaud!). The glacier was at my fingertips, really and every time I find myself in such a situation I just want to put on the gear and continue… I guess some day I’ll grow to this and we’ll start mountaineering. I think Arnaud had the same feelings because two weeks later he went on a trip with his friend and the route they covered was from Plan Glacier, to the next refuge (crossing the glacier) and up to the neighbouring mountain. But that required the gear and skills that we currently don’t have. I’ll put it on my „dreams wish list”.



Stats: Length: ~20km, duration: 7h 45min, elevation gain: 1650m.