We've slipped into Ches's idea of holiday mode ... a very slow start to the day. We didn't walk into town till 8.00. Purchased some lamb chops for dinner and other necessary items such as Fig Jam and a baguette and some croissants for breakfast. We found that they were pumping out the sewage pipes the full 2km length ot town. Now there's an experience you don't include in your travel/holiday itinerary. Given the street is barely wide enough for two cars to pass, they close the street as they start a new section and the traffic is diverted through the back streets. Apart from just once having to doge the back spray out of one of the manholes, the only impact on us was that when we finally set out at 11.30 for the short drive to St Remy-de-Provence, our street was closed.

Tom was thrown by us ignoring him and working our way to Le Paradou where there is a goat track that cuts across country to the Le Baux-de-Provence road. We passed by La Baux and headed to St Remy-de-Provence. Only 15 minutes away. Apparently the Grimaldi's once owned the town, as they did Le Baux, and Caroline stills slips in quietly to get away from it all; whatever "it all" is.

It must be stunning in summer with all the Plane trees in leaf. It must also be fairly prosperous as there was restoration work going on all over town. I made the mistake of passing by the tourist information office and driving into the middle of town to park. When we realised we didn't have a map of the town and the guide book was useless without a map, we walked back to the "i" only to find it was 12.35 and it had closed on the dot of 12.30, as you do in this part of the world. At least there was a map on the wall that identified Place Flavier where there are the two oldest renaissance building in the town. Both are now museums and of course they were closed. That wasn't an issue however as we mainly wanted to take in streetscapes.

We wandered the back lanes, all quiet during this siesta hour or two. Just out of town on the way back to Le Baux, there are two of the most significant Roman monuments in France, so we decided to head there and have the baguettes Ches had made up for lunch. Then again, Ches needed a loo stop, so we pulled into the tourist info. carpark.

I don't know what it is about us that attracts the con artists everywhere we go. As Ches returned to the car, this guy came up to my window and said that we had to pay the parking fee, of 1E for 3 hour parking. We said that we had only stopped for 3 minutes. He said the place had cameras and that it was enforced. He said we needed to get a parking permit ticket form a machine in the building over there. To cut a long story short, and even I'm getting bored with the retelling, he planned on mugging us, as the machine was a cash card. He had hoped that Ches would go to the machine and when I went and then refused to go along with his con he didn't even follow me back to the car.

A km up the road we stopped at the Triumphal Arch and "Mausoleum" This used to mark the
end of the road from Arle and the entrance to Glanum. The archaeological dig at Glanum was closed however I don't think we missed much. In fact it's something of a contrast. Glanum was one of the most Roman settlements from 100 BC to 260 AD. Originally a Celtic settlement with a strong Greek influence, the Romans seized it and the Franks destroyed it 360 years later. The people moved and founded St Remy.

Apparently its existence only became known in the 1920's and today it's little more than foundations. Contrast that with two large marble structures 100 meters away. Apparently the former is supposed to be most significant of roman sites in France and hard work and requiring an imagination to visualize the villas and forum while the Triumphal Arch and Mausoleum obvious. This was a day for the obvious.

From here the road winds up and into and over the Les Alpilles and to Les-Baux-de-Provence. Get this, all road signs are happy to drop off the "les-Alpilles" and just say "Maussane", but always Les-Baux-de-Provence. Arrogant in the middle ages and arrogant today.

Listed as one of the most beautiful villages of France, it has a lot going for it even on an overcast day. I suspect that few people still live in the village as most buildings are shops. I looked it up, there are around 400 compared with 3,500 in the mid 1700's. I guess there was less tourism then and more rape and pillage. This was probably at the time that the Baux finally acknowledged the French king.

There is little parking and mostly on just the one side of the mountain road that winds around the base of the village. We paid the 5E at a meter, climbed up through the town and I do mean climbed and then paid another 15E each to enter the Chateau. A reminder, "chateau" in France really mean defensive castle, even if later chateau looked more like palaces or massive country homes. In this case, Chateau means a castle built into and on the rocky peaks of the mountain. Most of the rooms built onto the inside of the rock are now gone and only the foundations and scars on the rock left to mark where they were. There are staircases to clamber to the top of the twin castles and the views are spectacular. The castles were originally joined however the mid section now gone, it is bitter when the mistrals (from Switzerland) blow through the gap. Cold but not bitter for us.

We spent so long clambering around the chateau that we only had time to walk back through the town and around the top road to a cavern where they were having the final 5.00 pm show of http://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/. The new show starting in March is the art of "Michel-Ange , Leonard De Vince and Raphael". Their spelling not mine. They have dug a massive cavern with rooms and pillars onto which they project the images while a musical soundtrack makes conversation impossible; a visual and aural feast. I filmed it using the new camera and the reproduction is fantastic.

We decided that because "Les Baux" is so close, we will return in the next day or so just for the village experience. There also seemed to be a lot of shops selling table cloths and bed coverings and I think Ches has a motive.

We weer so tired when we returned home we were both heading to bed by 9.30

p.s.
We decided to buy a bottle of wine at the local minimart, just for a glass or two over any dinners we have at home. I specifically wanted to try a local wine and as we are only 15 minutes from Les Baux-de-Provence, I bought a Hauvette, Le Roucas for 26E
Two days later we discovered that until recently, Rose was the main wine in the region. The way forward in blended reds has been due to Doninique Hauvette. This area produces the majority of France's olive oil, but were glad there was enough room for Doinique.