Gordes

We had a lovely light dinner last night – it’s a bit humid at times here, which is surprising so light meals are really the best. We had several kinds of green olives, local goat cheese, one of which tasted like lavender (guessing the goats ate a lot of it!), and a variety of shrimp/langostine/craw fish with aoli, and smoked fish spread with bread. Finally local strawberries, peaches and dark cherries with fresh mint, topped with a combo of crème freche and local wildflower honey – really good. And a little bit of white wine :-)

We have a stray cat or a camp cat who visited as night fell, licking very quietly and discretely all the yummy bits off our dirty dishes which we will do tomorrow.

Jim got the car inspected this morning, so I walked in to town for croissants. Got a little turned around but finally found the patiserrie. We left around 11am for the lovely hill town of Gordes. Saw several huge fields of sunflowers and poppies on the way.

Today was market day in Gordes so it was very crowded, plus it was very hot. Sadly, the restaurant we had hoped to visit for lunch called L’Artegal – which Nancy and I really liked when I was here several years ago -- is closed on Tuesdays. So while Nancy checked out the market, Jim and I quickly walked the town to try to find a substitute lunch spot, since it was by this time 12:30. We came up mostly empty but finally walked by a 5-star hotel -- La Bastide de Gordes -- that had a lunch service, along with a gorgeous terrace overlooking the valley and the Luberon Regional Nature Park below, so we decided to give it a try, assuming it would not disappoint. Needless to say we had an incredible lunch – only 2 courses but both excellent and great local white wine with them. First course was shrimp on zucchini sautee with cilantro, roasted red pepper puree and a parmesan crisp. I am going to try to make this at home, it was great. Main course was cod over pesto broth with white beans and vegetables with fresh dill and tarragon on top. The hotel/restaurant was beautiful. Our waiter, Vincent, was from Brittany and gave us advice on good places to visit there.

We did a bit more shopping and site seeing in Gordes, including the war memorial in the town center – 50 men from the village were killed in WWI, compared to 15 in WWII. But the heat was really intense so we decided to head home. On the way out of town we stopped at a roadside fruit stand, got some peaches and cherries and had a nice chat with the farmer owner about growing seasons for various crops. Quick dinner of leftovers and fruit for dessert.

There’s a young family with a very very young baby who just moved in to the camping space across the way from us. Hopefully he will get used to the heat, he’s pretty unhappy. As it turns out the camp manager, Bruno, and his wife are expecting a baby any minute. As I am sitting here typing, there are a group of young kid campers playing bocci ball in the moonlight. We’ve finished up washing dishes, so time for bed soon. We are thinking of seeing Senanque and Silvacane tomorrow, very much looking forward to that…Bonsoir.

Photos from today here.