Fortnight in France:
Our sun-soaked sojourn in the
Dordogne, Languedoc and Provence
Our sun-soaked sojourn in the
Dordogne, Languedoc and Provence
Minivan meets Mini Cooper - our Peugeot
1007
1007
Crossing the Millau Viaduct
Dinner on the back patio, Daglan
Pizza in Provence
Our evening ritual (St. Remy)
Lavender in Provence
Sunny morning in Pezenas
Mas des Carassins - breakfast in the
garden
garden
Daglan rental home
Cool inside the thick stone walls
Cool inside the thick stone walls
La Roque Gageac
The other logistics
Rental car/getting around
We found that having a car was essential, allowing us to do things on our
own schedule and to get away from the beaten track now and then.
After some research, we rented a compact automatic from Hertz at a price
of about 580€ for two weeks (second driver and our inability to find a petrol
station prior to turning it in increased the price by about 80€). Our AAA
Chicago Motor Club membership resulted in a 25% discount, making the
price well below that of AutoEurope – and paying for the annual AAA
membership several times over.
Our car was a Peugeot 1007, apparently a new model ‘city car,’ in shocking
bright blue. The woman at the desk in Nice warned us that there wasn’t
much luggage space and suggested that we might want to move up to the
next available automatic, a Mercedes at an additional cost of about 600€
(!). "We’ll make it fit," Chris said. We travel pretty light – three 22 inch rolling
bags and small daypacks. Barely one of the bags fit in the ‘trunk.’ By
folding down one of the back seats, we were able to squeeze it all in. But
there was no way to cover our luggage, meaning that we’d have to adjust
our driving plans so that there were no stops on the days we were moving
between locations.
The car took a little getting used to. Through trial and error, for example, we
learned that you had to step on the brake and turn the key in order to start
the car – this was as we sat blocking traffic on a very narrow street in
Pezenas. Although it was an automatic, it tended to roll backward when in
neutral, and using the parking break was an absolute necessity. The
accelerator required some finesse. And the gas tank was very small; we
had to fill up about every other day. But it was great when it came to
maneuvering through narrow streets and fitting into tight parking spaces.
And the doors opened like those on minivans, making it easy to get in and
out of the back seat.
All in all, it was a little trooper. We put a lot of kilometers on it in two weeks.
And not a bad price – well, the base price, any way. The total price will be
going up when we hear from Hertz corporate in a few weeks about the
(ahem) dent in the back panel.
Getting around was very easy. We had good Michelin maps to help us.
Roads were generally well marked, and we knew from a previous driving
trip in France to look for names of towns in the direction in which we were
going rather than for road numbers (which were there sometimes, but not
always). We only got ‘lost’ a couple of times.
We do want to put in a little plug for Mappy, for those who haven’t yet
discovered it. Plug in your starting point and destination, tell it whether you
want an express route or a non-toll route, indicate any locations via which
you want to travel…voila, your driving directions, complete with the text of
the road signs you should follow, exit numbers, and locations of speed
cameras. Brilliant!
Thanks to reading this board, we knew to gas up on Saturday; we saw very
few open gas stations on Sunday. And we knew to seek out manned
stations in order to use our US credit cards. Most of the time, we paid cash
for tolls on the Autoroutes, but we were able to use our US credit card at
peage stations– although the signage is a bit confusing at times. Imagine
us backing our little blue car out of a tollbooth lane, confused by the sign at
the collection point with an X through the Mastercard logo, and then driving
perpendicular to the traffic to get to a lane manned by a human.
One final note on getting around: many of the popular towns have free
parking that is a bit out of the center and pay-parking closer in. Payment
procedures vary – take a ticket and pay when you leave, or buy a ticket
when you arrive and display it in your windshield. Fees generally ranged
from 2€ to 5€. It is helpful to have some 1€ and 2€ coins on hand for this
purpose.
Food and drink
Although we enjoy good meals, we are not foodies and generally don’t
spend a lot of time seeking out specific restaurants when we travel. Plus,
Allie is very picky and also very allergic to one of the culinary specialties of
the Dordogne region – walnuts. So we generally had to look for places that
at least had something ‘safe’ on the menu, such as entrecote steak or
pasta or pizza.
Truth be told, some of our favorite meals were home-cooked breakfasts
and dinners on the back patio of our rental in Daglan, listening to the birds
and the shouts of neighborhood children playing. Having a grocer, a bakery
and a meat shop within a few hundred yards provided us with everything
we needed for some delicious meals, and it certainly helped out the wallet
as well. Produce was excellent and very inexpensive, although we
discovered that chicken isn’t a great bargain – we paid 15€ for a whole
chicken versus about $4 at home.
Nevertheless, we did have many decent meals out and several worth
noting:
Pezenas: Le Vieux Coq, located inside the old town walls. On our first night
in France, we dined on their outdoor patio in an attractive, lit square, and it
was a great way to get into the mood.
Daglan: Le Petit Paris, on the main street across from the town square.
This is Daglan’s fine-dining spot – white table cloths and candles in an
attractive outdoor patio overlooking the square. The service is very attentive,
the menu is creative, and the food is attractively presented (although we
wouldn’t call it exceptional). Adding to the ambience on some nights is
Rex, the large black dog, who will wander from table to table and
occasionally settle in for a nap at the foot of one – he chose our table on
the night we visited.
La Chapelle-Aubareil: La Cavatine. We took a wrong turn leaving Lascaux
on our way to Les Eyzies. We thought we were driving along the Vezere, but
instead headed up into the hills above it (east bank). When we reached the
small town of La Chapelle-Aubareil, we stopped to examine the map, and
decided it would be best to do so over lunch. There was a small
hotel/restaurant with outdoor seating on the square across from the town
school. It turned out to be perhaps the best meal of the trip. Not fancy, but
excellent food. The proprietors take great pride in the quality of their food.
The wife looks after the tables and the husband is the cook; he came out to
our table to check that we were satisfied with our food. We had an excellent
steak au poivre and confit du canard, and we considered going back there
again later in the trip.
Nice: Restaurant le Gesu in Vieux Nice. There are a great many
restaurants in Vieux Nice. Bypass the many set in the market area and
head to the heart of the city, to a small square facing the Eglise de Jesus.
Great pizza and pasta. Obviously a favorite; it was very crowded when we
arrived just before 8pm, and we had to eat indoors.
The one other thing worth noting – but certainly not surprising – is the
omnipresent wine, and at prices cheaper than soda. And this trip was a
good reminder that not all pink wine tastes like Kool-Aid. In fact, we grew
quite accustomed to a nice rose, so we will be making a trip to our wine
merchant soon to find some to consume at home – although most
certainly at a higher price.
Weather
It was quite pleasant, if a little windy in Languedoc – although we gather
that wind is the norm in the area around Carcassonne. There are signs
about the wind along the Autoroutes and a large wind farm in view around
Narbonne.
We hit a bit of a hot and dry spell in the Dordogne. The mornings and
evenings were generally quite nice, but the daytime highs were usually
around 33 – 35 Celsius, or so said the thermometer in the car. We don’t
have reason to believe it was lying. In fact, the first raindrops of the entire
trip fell on day 10 of 14, and even then they were very light. We experienced
one thunderstorm – which, luckily, hit just as we sat down (under a large
awning) for lunch in Arles – and a few evening raindrops in St. Remy and
Nice. That was it. We were very lucky with the weather, although we did
wish we’d packed more lighter-weight clothing. Having a pool in St. Remy
was a welcome relief after a day of sightseeing in the sun.
Packing
We packed for weather that would be a bit cooler, so anything with long
sleeves got little use. In addition (and with the caveat that we did not do any
fine dining), we found both the Dordogne and Provence to be very informal
as far as dress was concerned– locals as well as tourists. While the
locals, of course, dress up for events and work, it was not uncommon to
see the women of Daglan running around in…some here will
gasp…shorts and tank tops. And anyone who has any concerns about
blending in should visit Nice. Everything goes there. Everything.
Chris dragged around a linen sportcoat and never used it. With the hot
weather, Marisa found it better to stick with light-colored clothing. The very-
light-weight black capris were barely used; the white and khaki capris
pulled triple duty. Thank goodness for the week’s use of a washer and
dryer.
We did haul along some things to use in the house (hairdryer, iron) that
were not necessary, but it was hard to know. Next time, we’ll ask
specifically about those things before we leave.
We always travel with 22” rolling bags, but we generally check them for
international travel. You can pretty much carry the kitchen sink on to a
United flight, but we know that Lufthansa is pretty strict. One item that did
prove useful this time was the small, fold-out duffle that became our
additional carry-on for the trip home. And extra pillow cases.
Getting there and back
We were able to secure two United economy saver award tickets last
October, into and out of Nice. We purchased the third ticket at the not-
exactly-a-bargain price of $1,350, then watched carefully to see if the fare
went down (United will issue vouchers for a fare decrease, if you ask). It
did not. In fact, we never saw the price on that specific itinerary drop below
$1,400 in the eight months after we purchased it, and in the outbound
transatlantic flight was sold out several weeks in advance. Ahh, the World
Cup.
We flew United in Economy Plus from Chicago to Munich and Lufthansa
from Munich to Nice. Both flights were right on time, and the luggage
arrived with us. What more can you ask? The United flight had several flight
attendant trainees on board, in addition to the full complement of FAs, so
the service was quite attentive. The meal, while still an economy airline
meal, was actually edible. Bring your $5s for drinks. The five extra inches of
leg room makes a world of difference when you’re on a plane for nine
hours.
We had a scheduled 50-minute connection in Munich. We wouldn’t even
attempt that at many airports, but it is no problem there. We were able to
deplane, walk a fair distance for Schengen immigration, clear security, get
some cash, use the bathroom and still make it to our gate 30 minutes
before departure for the bus to the remote boarding site.
The Munich airport was hopping. This was right at the beginning of the
World Cup, and in celebration, Lufthansa (which surely is getting lots of
business from it) has painted the nosecones of some of its planes to look
like soccer….er, uh, footballs.
On the way back, it was Lufthansa from Nice to Frankfurt, then United in
Economy Plus on to Chicago – with the added bonus that the blocked
middle seat next to Marisa remained empty; love it when that happens!
Originally, we'd booked a return flight from Nice at a reasonable 10:30am,
but a Lufthansa schedule change would have caused us to misconnect in
Frankfurt, so we were moved to the much-too-early 7:30am departure. The
Schengen to non-Schengen connection in Frankfurt takes more time than
simply transiting, and it took us about 30 minutes just to get through
security and immigration. Once we were through, we had no desire for duty-
free shopping, so we beat a hasty path to the Red Carpet Club to work on
this trip report. The flight to Chicago left on time and arrived on time and,
again, the food was at least edible – particularly the cup of strawberry ice
cream. Cookies and candy bars were provided as snacks during the flight
and service was very good.
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
Rental car/getting around
We found that having a car was essential, allowing us to do things on our
own schedule and to get away from the beaten track now and then.
After some research, we rented a compact automatic from Hertz at a price
of about 580€ for two weeks (second driver and our inability to find a petrol
station prior to turning it in increased the price by about 80€). Our AAA
Chicago Motor Club membership resulted in a 25% discount, making the
price well below that of AutoEurope – and paying for the annual AAA
membership several times over.
Our car was a Peugeot 1007, apparently a new model ‘city car,’ in shocking
bright blue. The woman at the desk in Nice warned us that there wasn’t
much luggage space and suggested that we might want to move up to the
next available automatic, a Mercedes at an additional cost of about 600€
(!). "We’ll make it fit," Chris said. We travel pretty light – three 22 inch rolling
bags and small daypacks. Barely one of the bags fit in the ‘trunk.’ By
folding down one of the back seats, we were able to squeeze it all in. But
there was no way to cover our luggage, meaning that we’d have to adjust
our driving plans so that there were no stops on the days we were moving
between locations.
The car took a little getting used to. Through trial and error, for example, we
learned that you had to step on the brake and turn the key in order to start
the car – this was as we sat blocking traffic on a very narrow street in
Pezenas. Although it was an automatic, it tended to roll backward when in
neutral, and using the parking break was an absolute necessity. The
accelerator required some finesse. And the gas tank was very small; we
had to fill up about every other day. But it was great when it came to
maneuvering through narrow streets and fitting into tight parking spaces.
And the doors opened like those on minivans, making it easy to get in and
out of the back seat.
All in all, it was a little trooper. We put a lot of kilometers on it in two weeks.
And not a bad price – well, the base price, any way. The total price will be
going up when we hear from Hertz corporate in a few weeks about the
(ahem) dent in the back panel.
Getting around was very easy. We had good Michelin maps to help us.
Roads were generally well marked, and we knew from a previous driving
trip in France to look for names of towns in the direction in which we were
going rather than for road numbers (which were there sometimes, but not
always). We only got ‘lost’ a couple of times.
We do want to put in a little plug for Mappy, for those who haven’t yet
discovered it. Plug in your starting point and destination, tell it whether you
want an express route or a non-toll route, indicate any locations via which
you want to travel…voila, your driving directions, complete with the text of
the road signs you should follow, exit numbers, and locations of speed
cameras. Brilliant!
Thanks to reading this board, we knew to gas up on Saturday; we saw very
few open gas stations on Sunday. And we knew to seek out manned
stations in order to use our US credit cards. Most of the time, we paid cash
for tolls on the Autoroutes, but we were able to use our US credit card at
peage stations– although the signage is a bit confusing at times. Imagine
us backing our little blue car out of a tollbooth lane, confused by the sign at
the collection point with an X through the Mastercard logo, and then driving
perpendicular to the traffic to get to a lane manned by a human.
One final note on getting around: many of the popular towns have free
parking that is a bit out of the center and pay-parking closer in. Payment
procedures vary – take a ticket and pay when you leave, or buy a ticket
when you arrive and display it in your windshield. Fees generally ranged
from 2€ to 5€. It is helpful to have some 1€ and 2€ coins on hand for this
purpose.
Food and drink
Although we enjoy good meals, we are not foodies and generally don’t
spend a lot of time seeking out specific restaurants when we travel. Plus,
Allie is very picky and also very allergic to one of the culinary specialties of
the Dordogne region – walnuts. So we generally had to look for places that
at least had something ‘safe’ on the menu, such as entrecote steak or
pasta or pizza.
Truth be told, some of our favorite meals were home-cooked breakfasts
and dinners on the back patio of our rental in Daglan, listening to the birds
and the shouts of neighborhood children playing. Having a grocer, a bakery
and a meat shop within a few hundred yards provided us with everything
we needed for some delicious meals, and it certainly helped out the wallet
as well. Produce was excellent and very inexpensive, although we
discovered that chicken isn’t a great bargain – we paid 15€ for a whole
chicken versus about $4 at home.
Nevertheless, we did have many decent meals out and several worth
noting:
Pezenas: Le Vieux Coq, located inside the old town walls. On our first night
in France, we dined on their outdoor patio in an attractive, lit square, and it
was a great way to get into the mood.
Daglan: Le Petit Paris, on the main street across from the town square.
This is Daglan’s fine-dining spot – white table cloths and candles in an
attractive outdoor patio overlooking the square. The service is very attentive,
the menu is creative, and the food is attractively presented (although we
wouldn’t call it exceptional). Adding to the ambience on some nights is
Rex, the large black dog, who will wander from table to table and
occasionally settle in for a nap at the foot of one – he chose our table on
the night we visited.
La Chapelle-Aubareil: La Cavatine. We took a wrong turn leaving Lascaux
on our way to Les Eyzies. We thought we were driving along the Vezere, but
instead headed up into the hills above it (east bank). When we reached the
small town of La Chapelle-Aubareil, we stopped to examine the map, and
decided it would be best to do so over lunch. There was a small
hotel/restaurant with outdoor seating on the square across from the town
school. It turned out to be perhaps the best meal of the trip. Not fancy, but
excellent food. The proprietors take great pride in the quality of their food.
The wife looks after the tables and the husband is the cook; he came out to
our table to check that we were satisfied with our food. We had an excellent
steak au poivre and confit du canard, and we considered going back there
again later in the trip.
Nice: Restaurant le Gesu in Vieux Nice. There are a great many
restaurants in Vieux Nice. Bypass the many set in the market area and
head to the heart of the city, to a small square facing the Eglise de Jesus.
Great pizza and pasta. Obviously a favorite; it was very crowded when we
arrived just before 8pm, and we had to eat indoors.
The one other thing worth noting – but certainly not surprising – is the
omnipresent wine, and at prices cheaper than soda. And this trip was a
good reminder that not all pink wine tastes like Kool-Aid. In fact, we grew
quite accustomed to a nice rose, so we will be making a trip to our wine
merchant soon to find some to consume at home – although most
certainly at a higher price.
Weather
It was quite pleasant, if a little windy in Languedoc – although we gather
that wind is the norm in the area around Carcassonne. There are signs
about the wind along the Autoroutes and a large wind farm in view around
Narbonne.
We hit a bit of a hot and dry spell in the Dordogne. The mornings and
evenings were generally quite nice, but the daytime highs were usually
around 33 – 35 Celsius, or so said the thermometer in the car. We don’t
have reason to believe it was lying. In fact, the first raindrops of the entire
trip fell on day 10 of 14, and even then they were very light. We experienced
one thunderstorm – which, luckily, hit just as we sat down (under a large
awning) for lunch in Arles – and a few evening raindrops in St. Remy and
Nice. That was it. We were very lucky with the weather, although we did
wish we’d packed more lighter-weight clothing. Having a pool in St. Remy
was a welcome relief after a day of sightseeing in the sun.
Packing
We packed for weather that would be a bit cooler, so anything with long
sleeves got little use. In addition (and with the caveat that we did not do any
fine dining), we found both the Dordogne and Provence to be very informal
as far as dress was concerned– locals as well as tourists. While the
locals, of course, dress up for events and work, it was not uncommon to
see the women of Daglan running around in…some here will
gasp…shorts and tank tops. And anyone who has any concerns about
blending in should visit Nice. Everything goes there. Everything.
Chris dragged around a linen sportcoat and never used it. With the hot
weather, Marisa found it better to stick with light-colored clothing. The very-
light-weight black capris were barely used; the white and khaki capris
pulled triple duty. Thank goodness for the week’s use of a washer and
dryer.
We did haul along some things to use in the house (hairdryer, iron) that
were not necessary, but it was hard to know. Next time, we’ll ask
specifically about those things before we leave.
We always travel with 22” rolling bags, but we generally check them for
international travel. You can pretty much carry the kitchen sink on to a
United flight, but we know that Lufthansa is pretty strict. One item that did
prove useful this time was the small, fold-out duffle that became our
additional carry-on for the trip home. And extra pillow cases.
Getting there and back
We were able to secure two United economy saver award tickets last
October, into and out of Nice. We purchased the third ticket at the not-
exactly-a-bargain price of $1,350, then watched carefully to see if the fare
went down (United will issue vouchers for a fare decrease, if you ask). It
did not. In fact, we never saw the price on that specific itinerary drop below
$1,400 in the eight months after we purchased it, and in the outbound
transatlantic flight was sold out several weeks in advance. Ahh, the World
Cup.
We flew United in Economy Plus from Chicago to Munich and Lufthansa
from Munich to Nice. Both flights were right on time, and the luggage
arrived with us. What more can you ask? The United flight had several flight
attendant trainees on board, in addition to the full complement of FAs, so
the service was quite attentive. The meal, while still an economy airline
meal, was actually edible. Bring your $5s for drinks. The five extra inches of
leg room makes a world of difference when you’re on a plane for nine
hours.
We had a scheduled 50-minute connection in Munich. We wouldn’t even
attempt that at many airports, but it is no problem there. We were able to
deplane, walk a fair distance for Schengen immigration, clear security, get
some cash, use the bathroom and still make it to our gate 30 minutes
before departure for the bus to the remote boarding site.
The Munich airport was hopping. This was right at the beginning of the
World Cup, and in celebration, Lufthansa (which surely is getting lots of
business from it) has painted the nosecones of some of its planes to look
like soccer….er, uh, footballs.
On the way back, it was Lufthansa from Nice to Frankfurt, then United in
Economy Plus on to Chicago – with the added bonus that the blocked
middle seat next to Marisa remained empty; love it when that happens!
Originally, we'd booked a return flight from Nice at a reasonable 10:30am,
but a Lufthansa schedule change would have caused us to misconnect in
Frankfurt, so we were moved to the much-too-early 7:30am departure. The
Schengen to non-Schengen connection in Frankfurt takes more time than
simply transiting, and it took us about 30 minutes just to get through
security and immigration. Once we were through, we had no desire for duty-
free shopping, so we beat a hasty path to the Red Carpet Club to work on
this trip report. The flight to Chicago left on time and arrived on time and,
again, the food was at least edible – particularly the cup of strawberry ice
cream. Cookies and candy bars were provided as snacks during the flight
and service was very good.
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
