We had three reasons why we chose Avignon. The First, it was on the very western edge of Provence and could perhaps offer us a different flavor of the region. For almost seventy years, 1309 – 1377, the city was the home to a succession of popes; a veritable Vatican of France. Surely, there would…
Category: Provence
Between rocks and hard places…
The entrance to Grotte de Saint Cezare (“Cave of Saint Cezaire”) was deceptive. The nondescript beige-colored building with the undersized balcony in the middle of the woods could not possibly be the entrance to an underground network of tunnels. Maybe this was just the ticket office or the gift shop. We would still have to…
Moths to a flame…
Tuscany was replete with popular tourist attractions: the Statue of David, the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The same could not be said of Provence; it had a unique appeal all its own. There was the scenic esplanade, the Promenade des Anglais, in Nice. Further west along the coast was the…
The Grasse is always…
The Head Note, perceived immediately upon applying the scent. Maybe if I had known what a nose (perfumer) was much earlier in life then things might have turned out differently. But how was I to know that such a thing even existed, let alone dream of becoming one? I am an immigrant; a child of…
Crossing the line…
The Frecciabianca 9764 hugged the Ligurian Sea, known more famously as the “Italian Riviera”, as it arched northwestward to our connecting train station in Genoa. From there, Eurocity Italia 144 would take us further west across the borderline between Italy and France to our first French destination: Nice. FUN FACT. The Italian Rivera changes names…