Eygalières and Savoie — great August destinations

So, this August was a chance for the three of us do a bit more exploring around the area.  First, we visited the great Friday market in Eygalières.  Then, it was up to the Alps for a few days in Savoie.

First, here are our images from hanging out in the market with our good friends René, Pascale and their two lovely daughters.

This is a view of the church ruins at the top of the village.  You can see Mont Ventoux in the background.  There will be some images from our trip to the top of the mountain in a later post.

Here is the village of Eygalières with the collines (little hills) in the background.

The happy, absolutely adorable family walking ahead of us.  🙂

Salesmen seem to be the same pretty much all over the world. This guy was demonstrating his great cutting utensil.

The lavender had just been harvested and was all over.

Mmm…sausage.  Very tasty.

The olives were, of course, a highlight and ubiquitous.

As you may be able to discern, this woman is weaving stalks of lavender with a ribbon.  She’s got 20 shoots of lavender … quite impressive.  Each one took her an hour to make.

A typical lunch scene.  Not too bad, huh?

That does it for the market … time to move into the mountains.  We stayed at an absolutely AMAZING place.  Château des Allues.   http://www.chateaudesallues.com/ Although I don’t have any images of the place (they were accidentally erased), it was simply perfect.  The service, room, and exquisite food/wine.

This is the start of a hike we took with X.  As you see, there were vineyards all around.  Our kind of place!  The Savoie wine was a hidden gem.  We didn’t know much before staying there, but it was a nice treat to discover it’s delicious.

This is Château de Miolans.  It dates from at least the 11th century.  On our way back, we stopped for a tour … pictures of that to follow.

Anna cruising down the trail.  X was hangin with me at this point.

The beautiful valley.

Anna and X by the valley.

Touring the Château.  This is the garden that was of great medicinal and magical value in the middle ages.

The Tower of St Pierre, with its commanding view of the valley is the oldest part of the castle.  The tower itself dates back to the 14th century.

X and I hanging out again.  Although the castle was originally built as a fortress for the lords of Miolans, it was converted into a state run prison from 1564-1792.  The Marquis de Sade was perhaps its most famous inmate.  He’s the guy for who the term “sadism” is named.  Yeah, that guy.

Well, that finishes our little tour of Savoie.

Next up will be the trips we took in Provence when Gabi and Philipp were visiting (Les Baux, Mt. Ventoux and Vaucluse).

Until then…

–Jim