Provence!!

I have dreamed of going to Provence for most of my life. I finally made it!!! On 9/28 we took the train from Barcelona to Perpignan, France. I rented the car from a 'downtown' location, as they charged a hefty premium to pick it up at the train station. I mapped it out and the Europcar office was 3 miles from the station. The taxi driver must have driven us the LONG way, because we drove further than 3 miles and he charged us 25€. We got ripped off. It is hard to argue with someone when you don't know the language very well. The rental office was getting ready to close for their 2 hour lunch, so they rushed us through the process. They didn't even have a map of the area!! We were left on our own to find our way out of there. Luckily we had Jim's GPS, now known as Pepe. He helped us find our way to Arles. Just for your information, France has toll roads, many toll roads. Also they are VERY fond of round-abouts.

We finally made it to Arles after a long day. It was great. It turned out to be a great base to see Provence. We got some lunch, a delicious ham and cheese crepe with salad. It was the best food so far!! After that we walked around the old village. Dinner was just as good as lunch. Welcome to France!!!

The next day we explored a few villages. We started in Les Beaux de Provence. I think it can be quite touristy, but we got there before the tour buses, so it was really a cool old town. From there we went to St. Remy. The plan after that was to go to the Pont du Gard. We got there and discovered it cost 15€ to park. We are on a tight budget and that just seemed like too much, so we kept on going to Nimes. Fun fact - denim was first made there, in De Nimes. Hence the name denim!! After that we headed back home to Arles for another delicious dinner. Both nights, at two different restaurants, we got the plat du jour for 9€. What a deal! And the wine, well let's just say that it was good AND cheap! ;-)

For our last full day in Provence we headed for the sea. Cassis was incredible! It was market day, so we checked it out. Very interesting. As we left town we drove up to a high point that gave us tremendous views. We stopped in Aix-en-Provence for a few hours on our way back to Arles. We took a little tourist train around to see some of the area, but they mostly took us through shopping streets. There were a lot of shopping streets! Back to Arles for dinner at the place we ate the 2nd night. They had the best deal for wine. Both restaurants we ate at had the same plat du jour (plate of the day) all 3 days we were there. Shouldn't it be different each day? Just asking... Saturday, 10/1, we sadly left Provence. It was market day in Arles, so of course we had to check it out before we left. More on the market later...