June 2 - Sisteron

On June 2nd we went to Sisteron.  We had driven past Sisteron a few times on our way to go skiing, but the citadel site is only open starting in April.  Sisteron is a fortified city on the banks of the Durance river, which guards a narrow passage between two mountain ridges.  The town was the northern border of the counts of Provence.  The citadel dates from the 12th century.

The citadel is built on the high ground of Sisteron, and overlooks the town, and the Durance river.

Looking up at the various levels of the Citadel.

The view down into the town of Sisteron.

The multi-layers of defence, the Donjon(L), and the Cathedral (R)

Sisters in Sisteron.

The poppies are in full bloom, and provide a nice contrast to the walls and guard towers of the Citadel.

It feels a bit like looking at the prow of a ship.  One deflects water, the other direct attacks.

One of the Guard towers, with the Rocher de la Baume in the background.  The rock is vertically tilted strata, providing a natural barrier on the other side of the River from the Citadel.

The upper ramparts (Great wall of Sisteron?) with Rocer de la Baume in the background.

The view from the upper ramparts showing the multiple levels of defence, both outer to inner, and upper to lower that the Citadel offers.

The Durance river far below.

a very cool weather vane.

Someone decided that there needed to be a passage from the top of the ramparts to the lower levels of the Citadel to move troops and arms.  So dig dig dig, 258 steps later you can travel inside the rock from the top to the bottom.

Rocher de la Baume, and the Citadel of Sisteron will continue to look out over the Durance watching for the next invasion (more Tour Buses no doubt)

May 12 - Eze

Eze is located on the Moyen Corniche, between Monaco and Nice.  Eze is perched on the edge of a cliff about 400 metres above the Mediterranean.  As remains true in real estate, location, location, location.  When all your neighbours have pointy sticks, and want your stuff, then the place to be is up a hill somewhere, so you can roll rocks and other stuff down on them.  So given that this was/is prime real estate, there were lots of previous owners of the property, Phoenicians, Romans, and now, Tour Bus Operators.

There are no cars inside the walled city of Eze, as the "roadways" are all built to accommodate only things as wide as a donkey-cart.

Lots of little shops to peer into

Lots of stairs to climb up.

A few sculptures to mimic.

See... if those people down there had pointy sticks, we could roll some rocks down on them.

Best real estate in Eze, a real fixer upper.  You-know-what trickles down-hill, and its all down-hill from here.

The clock tower.

The twisty brown thing is the road

This is the vehicle designed for the twisty brown thing.

May 9 - Lourmarin

Wednesday - Castle Day!

Today we venture off to the small village of Lourmarin which boasts being one of the most beautiful villages in France, and it has a well-kept castle to boot. The oldest part of the castle was built in the 15th century by Foulques d'Agoult, on the ruins of a 12th century fortress belonging to the Baux family....remember the Baux family? Les Baux

The gargoyles on the tower walls are quite unique, they are goats, and dogs...this one is a goat.

This Italian style loggia houses a library containing 28,000 rare books, which are available for review, with an appointment.

 The view of the 3 church steeples of Lourmarin, the one in the foreground is a protestant church.  The fact that it is still standing is quite interesting as Lourmarin was very involved in the religious wars that started in 1545, and ended when Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which essentially said, stop killing all the protestants, their religion is now allowed in France. (later revoked by Louis XIV in 1685)

 The ladies' chamber

 The large fireplace in the Sallestre, the hall where the lords of the castle would receive guests.  The fireplace has some interesting aspects, Corinthian columns on the bottom and stylized columns on the top in the shape of amphorae with heads of Aztec or other new-world residents (the new world was only newly discovered when the fireplace was built)

The grand spiral staircase, which is a double helix (the DNA staircase).  Each step is a single block of stone that forms the a portion of the double spiral central pillar, the stair itself, and fits into the tower wall.

 

At the top of the grand staircase is a cupola, supported by a slender column.

 A view of the inner courtyard, with the Loggia, and the Hexagonal tower.

 In the field across from the castle you will find a herd (or drove, or pace) of donkeys.  The one has some thing going wrong on his donkey (or the other word for donkey)

 The town of Lourmarin

 Ivy, are you there, open the window and come out for lunch.

 The opening in the roof is on purpose, it is actually a second floor terrace.

 This is fountain was built to commemorate what happens if you drink too much in Lourmarin.

May 1,2 Monaco, Nice, Cannes

May 1st and 2nd took us with the Figliomenis to Monaco, Nice, and Cannes.  The trip to Monaco was a bucket list trip for Tony, and the girls all seemed hopeful that there might be shopping in Cannes.  We drive to Monaco first (about 2.5 hrs) and work our way back to Nice, staying overnight in Cannes.  We are about two weeks ahead of the Cannes film festival, so there are hotels available.

As we drive to Monaco, we find that there is an aquarium that is worth a visit.  For some reason we are having difficulty locating parking, and Ken (our navigator) is having difficulty with some road closures.  We finally discover that the reason the roads are re-routed, is in preparation for the Monaco Grand Prix.  Here is a shot of us driving  a section of the Grand Prix circuit (slowly).

A bird of paradise plant in the gardens on the way to the aquarium.

Turns out the aquarium has a petting zoo....ok they call it something else, but you know what I mean.  A very tall (and I am told, good looking) marine biology major gives an excellent description of many of the creatures in the tank.  The girls here are touching a sea star (aka starfish).  Poppy is not in the picture, but is busy `giving mommy a migraine``

The main aquarium building has about what you might expect, tanks of sea water, filled with sea creatures.  Unlike many visitors to Monaco, these sea-dwellers don`t appear to be rich, or play cards.

Moray Eel, along with a shrimp.

Nemo

A very cool tank, which might have had some black lights, to help illuminate the very cool Jellies.

I think this guy was in a James Bond movie.

The main port of Monaco, with just a wee bit of money tied up at the docks.

Enough of Monaco, we need lunch, so naturally we drive down the road.  Why you ask, well because we want something `Nice` for lunch.

The weather in Nice, wasn't, so naturally that brings out the fishermen.

The promenade des Anglais, stretches along the waterfront.

After lunch, and our fill of Nice, we head down the road to Cannes.  The film festival is less than two weeks away, and the big boats have arrived to secure the primo parking.  Hard to tell from the photos, but all of these boats are over 100', most around 150'.  This is Melanie, in front of her future home.

Money.

If you have money enough for the boat, you need somewhere to put it .... right?  Well, Mel found just the place, nice little carpet-bagger purse made by some outfit called Dior.  This little number costs something over 2000€.  If you have to ask the price, well you get the picture.

Dinner, in a side-walk bistro.  Served in Le Creuset.  Mushroom Ravioli, with Foie Gras.  YUM.

Shopping!!

The harbour at Cannes

Our girls frolicking in the sea, while Mel and Christine are shopping...

More boat shots.

This is where you can stay (across from the beach) for a mere 2500€ per night.  You should see the cars in the parking lot!

Beach Girl.