Gordes

We woke up in Roussillon all ready to hike to Gordes, only  to see a huge rain storm with water bucketing down.  The people who owned the B&B were super nice.  The lady borrowed her parents car and drove us to Gordes which was only about 10km away but would have been a very  wet walk.

Our first view of scenic Gordes was through a very wet windshield.

Once we had found our hotel and settled in we set out to explore Gordes.  The rain had eased off somewhat so we didn't get soaked as long as we wore our rain gear.

There was a mist hanging over the valley.

In the center of Gordes main square is this huge old castle.

There were many narrow streets paved with stone.  Gordes is very old  and according to our driver, one of the richest (most expensive) places in Provence or maybe even all of France. Many famous people own houses here.

The area is famous for its honey.  We didn't buy any because of the weight and the thought of honey leaking throughout our backpacks.

Who can resist a patisserie?

This was one of the narrowest, steepest streets with a great view at the end.

The countryside beyone Gordes was beautiful and interesting because we know we would be hiking it the next day.

This street was so steep it had to have steps in the middle.

Finally getting rid of the  rain coat.

This little grocery store looked interesting but unfortunately closed from noon to two for siesta, as they do in this area.

This tunnel was actually a street. It was dark and spooky but we walked through it anyway.

We stopped for coffee, chocolate and  a shared tarte tatin.  That didn't take long!

The entry to this little shop was quite unusual.

We encountered many more dry stone walls and stone buildings.

Our hotel here was a three star, one of the few on our trip and had a wonderful shower.

It had a pleasant courtyard too but it was too wet to eat out there.

It was called Les Romarins.

You can see from a distance that Gordes is perched on a steep hill.

The weather cleared up in the afternoon so we set out to hike to the Bories, which is an old deserted village all made of dry stone buildings. No mortar was used at all in their construction.

Some of the walls even have designs worked into them and all are made  without mortar.

Here you can see the Bories in the background.

It is quite amazing that these are all built with no mortar. They reminded me in a way of igloos.

They were quite primitive and you can see why the people eventually moved into traditional homes.

The day had become quite  warm so when we got home we went for a dip in the icy water of the hotel's pool.

We walked back to the village center for our evening meal.  The dinner hour in France starts no earlier than 7pm but our Tarte Tatin was long gone so we were the first customers when they opened the doors of this restaurant.

We had fish with vegetables.  The carrot mousse on the top left was the best carrot dish I ever tasted.

For dessert I had an almond cookie with three kinds of sherbert underneath.

Lori had chocolate mousse.  We usually seemed to end our days with fantastic meals.