Provence Blog by ProvenceBeyond

Lavender Blooming mid June

Our local lavender patches around Grasse (in the Alpes-Maritime) began blooming around 15 June this year (2006). It wasn't until today, 22 June, that we got a chance to drive up to the Plateau de Valensole [map] to check on the large lavender fields in that area.

Just 5 km north of Quinson we found the first of several lavender fields, and all were in full flower. A few photos for our blog, and some of an adjacent vineyard being pruned, and we continued on to Riez for lunch and a look around the town. There's more in Riez than the Roman columns - we'll update our Riez page in the near future.

Seillans le Cher?

We visited Seillans today during their biannual Fête des Fleurs, and were surprised to find that there is an entrance fee of 3 euros to visit the old village. Their reasoning is that the village streets are decorated as an exhibition with special themed flora displays, so visitors are really paying for that rather than to visit the village.

The result is that you pay to visit the village. It's the first time we've seen that in all our years in the South of France and we disagree with it in principle.

The people of Seillans put in a big effort to decorate the village (the inner part and the surrounding streets), and it is no doubt costly. We were told independently that the 3-euro entrance fee doesn't result in them covering their expenses.

Still, we think that having an entrance fee into a village is not a good practice and it presents a poor image to visitors. When you pay the fee, you don't know what you'll be seeing, and there's a risk that you'll be disappointed about whether or not it was worth it. Many visitors have come a long way, and probably agree to pay rather than leave without seeing anything. And that doesn't leave them with a good impression of the place.

We think another method of supporting the cost of the fête would be to have an "appreciation box" at the exit of the inner streets. Signs could ask visitors to contribute if they appreciate the decorations and presentations. We have a feeling that the monetary payback would bring at least as much, if not more, than the "entrance fee" method, and the visitors would be happier with having a choice about the cost.

We would really like to hear what you think about all of this.

Sunshine on the Lakes

June has started out warm and sunny, and Beyond's homepage photo shows a sunny Lac de Sainte Croix. We just updated the Lac de Sainte Croix page with some new photos, mostly taken last July.

To prove that  June has really started  out with some sunshine, we photographed  the Lac  St Cassien  today [the photo shown here],  and you can see the snow on the low hills beyond the lake, from yesterday's rain-snow storms.

Bar-sur-Loup revisited

Bar-sur-Loup was one of the earliest villages on Beyond, on-line in 1996. We've passed through or made short stops there several times over the years, and now we've finally done another Beyond Visit and took a few more photos.

We also took a loop hike in the hills above the village (the hike is described on the Bar-sur-Loup page), passing through several long, black tunnels through the rock, without a flashlight. The lovely waterfall, shown in our photo from 1996, was bone-dry. But the little fountain was flowing with nice, cold water.

Nice - Aspremont Hike

Stuck for the day in Nice, decided to head north out of town and into the hills. Monsieur Sarkozy and a collection of Ministers were in town for the day, so Nice was full of gendarmes and traffic was grid-locked, providing incentive for a wander up into the hills.

From Nice Nord, the area around the Stade du Ray, it was a half-hour walk, largely up-hill, where we found the first red-white mark for the Grande Randonnée trail. Continuing up and up, past a couple of nice looking auberges, past the Aire St. Michel, we arrived at a wilderness park about 1h15 after our start. (You could take bus #70 from near Stade du Ray to the Aire St. Michel.)

From our wilderness park at the northern edge of Nice we were truly in the hills. Wildflowers in profusion:  sun spurge, red valerian, pink cystus bushes, thistle, convolvulus oleifolius, scarlet pimpernil and thyme.

Following the rocky trail up the ridge towards the north, we branched off to the right to have another look at the Ratapignata pyramid, said to be from Roman Mithra worshipers or from the Templars. We chatted awhile with Willow, Beckey and Bill (spiritcyclists from California), then continued on up the trail. We had to move off the trail for a herd of goats, a rather amusing sight so close to the big city.

Two hours from the start of the wilderness park we were in the perched village of Aspremont. A nice lunch on the terrace of a simple café-restaurant, a wander through the steep little streets, and we headed south again.

No herd of goats, but a large fox did dash across the trail about 30 meters in front of us on the way back. Back down past the Aire St Michel, down into the concrete canyons of the city past the Stade du Ray, we had been out for 8 hours, with roughly 6 of those hiking.

Tavel Lake Hike

We had a good, 8-hour hike into the Mercantour yesterday, testing that the snows were gone enough to allow mountain hiking, and to test our early-season legs and lungs. [The photo is the Col de Salese, the low saddle near the left of the far ridge, taken from trail.]

We hiked in the area of the Col de Salese, which we've done many times before, including a month ago when we had to struggle through deep snow to see Nut Crackers, with a small group of bird people. This time, though, with the snow gone from the trails (mostly), we hiked northwest from the Col de Salese, through the wooded hillsides, and eventually to Lac de Tavel, a new site for us.

We saw quite a few chamois on the way up, including a small herd of 6 or 7. Most were very close, but usually running at our approach, even though we moved quitely (or so we thought). We photo-stalked a couple, but they were watching us, and moved away a few paces every time we moved a bit closer.

Alpine Spring flowers were starting to bloom, including the lovely blue Stemless Gentian [photo], and a wee white flower nearly opened, that grew in the hundreds, even covering the path in many places.

The final climb to Lac de Tavel was steep, off the trail, and through several small snow fields. Arriving finally at the lake, we found it to be covered by snow, with just a hit of the bluish water showing through. Lovely and pristine. There was only one other pair of human footprints in the snow, a few days old, and the tracks of a few animals. Clear, blue skies, a nice warm sun, but a brisk cold wind to remind us of reality.

The hike up to the lake was four hours, with a side trip near the beginning because we were too smart to bother looking at the map until we were well up the wrong trail, necessitating a cross-country plunge down through the woods to get the correct one. [Our photo shows a low cloud over the mountain above Tavel Lake, but the rest of the sky was clear blue.]

After a nice picnic lunch and some flower photography, the return hike was another three and a half hours, with this "back down" route having a suprising amount of up-hill trails.

The hiking area of Salese is in the Mercantour, up the Vésubie valley, past the town of St Martin-de-Vésubie and past the Lac de Boreon. It's about an hour and a half drive from Nice.

Napoleon marched in March

Napoleon's return from Elba on the 1 March, 1815, is celebrated every year at Golfe-Juan, where there is an historic reconstruction of the landing with officers, soldiers and camp followers all in period dress. Napoleon and his men bivouac on the beach for the weekend, beginning Friday, and on the Sunday there's a realistic reinactment of the landing.

One memory we have of Napoleon in this part of  Provence is his route from Golfe-Juan to Grenoble, the famous "Route Napoleon".

[Our photo is from the Wikipedia]

Mimosa Festivals in February

Mimosa, Festivals and Carnivals. February is celebration time in Provence.

Mimosa festivals are celebrated in towns and villages across the land, from Pégomas and tiny hill-top Tanneron (both beside Beyond's home in Grasse) to Mandelieu, Saint Raphaël, and of course Bormes-les-Mimosas, on the 19th. Pegomas celebrated the last weekend of January.

The dates are: 4-5 Feb Tanneron, St Maxime; 10-19 Feb Mandelieu (great procession on the 19th); St Raphael 11-19 (grand corso on the 12th); Bormes-les-Mimosas

February is also Carnival time, with the famous Nice Carnival taking place from 11-28 February in 2006. The theme this year is the "King of Dupes", apparently referring to fantasy and illusion.

Then there's the other "yellow" festival: Menton's Lemon Festival, taking place 10-26 February in 2006.

October in Provence

Autumn colors arrive in October in some parts of Beyond. This photo was taken on the road up to Mont Ventoux on the southeast side. Much of Provence doesn't change colors dramatically, since many of the hills are covered with evergreen pine trees or the rather monochrome colors of the pubescent oak.

Mosquitoes in the Camargue 2005

A rather special, but not unheard of, climatic situation of several weeks of hot dryness (secherese) followed by heavy rains has produced a local natural product of mosquitoes in the southeast of France, and especially in the Camargue. Mosquitoes are fairly common there, but now we seem to have a couple of months' worth of them produces in about a week.

The problem began a few days ago, around the 20th of Sept 2005, and has become a serious annoyance for locals and visitors. We've seen on local television programs scenes of people covered with scores of mosquitoes, and of many people with many mosquito bites.

The problem is not a health problem, because there's no particular disease attributed to these mosquitoes, but still it isn't a great deal of fun to be confronted by these whiny little beasts.

The excessive mosquito issue is expected to last a few more weeks. Since Beyond is planning an October visit to the Camargue to watch the Autumn bird migrations, we're hoping it's a very few weeks.