Valencia - Beautiful Garden City

One of the first things you notice about Valencia, a port city on the orange blossom coast of Spain, is the gardens spread throughout the city.  Arriving the beginning of June, the Jacaranda trees were all in full bloom, covering the city in beautiful blue/purple flowers.  Interspersed among the Jacaranda were striking pink and white and yellow flowering trees, Valencia orange trees, and blocks and blocks of brightly coloured flowering boulevards.

JACARANDAS PAINT THE CITY WITH A BLUE/PURPLE BRUSH

At one time the city was split by the Turia river, which would often flood its banks.  After a particularly tragic flood in 1957 which destroyed or damaged many of the majestic old buildings and caused the death of almost 100 people, the city fathers decided to divert the river around Valencia.  After some debate on what to do with the 9 kms of dry river bed left running through the center of town - a freeway was suggested - the city fathers decided to turn the entire thing into a park for the people.  Full of ponds, fountains, walking paths, flower gardens, playgrounds, artworks, cafes and sports facilities (football field (soccer), track, climbing walls), this lovely park runs right from the downtown area to the City for Arts and Sciences which contains a huge aquarium complex, an imax, a science centre, a performing arts centre and a lovely sculptural garden.

ENTRANCE TO THE GARDENS AT THE CITY OF ARTS & SCIENCES

We spend an enchanting 4 or 5 hours at the Oceanografic (aquarium), which is the largest in Europe and still had to leave before visiting the shark centre as the museum was closing.  Here are just a few of the entertaining sights ...

STARFISH TRYING TO ESCAPE

THIS ONE GOT LEFT BEHIND

WHAT BIG FEET THIS GUY HAS - PERHAPS ET IN DISGUISE?

THE CAVE MONSTER WE ESCAPED FROM AT GROTTE DEMOISELLES (SEE PREVIOUS BLOG)

THIS BIG GUY REFUSED TO GO IN THE WATER - SHE FINALLY GAVE UP AND JUST GAVE HIM HIS FISH

The downtown area of Valencia is lovely, filled with stately old buildings, cathedrals, streets paved with marble or tile, fountains, and many, many sidewalk cafes.  The Plaza de la Virgen contains, among other things, the cathedral of the holy chalice.  This is purportedly the chalice used at The Last Supper.  One of 3 major contenders (the other 2 are in Jerusalem and Genoa), this chalice is make of dark red agate and is reported to have the most likely claim to authenticity.  We didn't get to see it as they booted us out of the cathedral to lock up for the afternoon lunch and siesta time.

THE CHURCH OF THE CHALICE

Seeming out of place and yet strangely appropriate, right in the middle of the plaza surrounded by cathedrals is a giant fountain of Neptune surrounded by eight naked women.  Completed by a local sculptor, Silvestre Edeta, it represents the Turia River and its eight irrigation ditches.  The pigeons delight in playing 'king of the castle' and fighting over who gets to sit on Neptune's head.

NEPTUNE'S FOUNTAIN IN LE PLAZA DE LA VIRGEN

 In Spain, everything closes from around Noon to 2:00 for lunch, then remains closed until 4 or 4:30 p.m. for siesta time.  We decided to enjoy sangria and pizza at one of the sidewalk cafes and enjoy the surroundings before heading home for siesta.  This band of street musicians showed up as we were eating and were very entertaining to watch.  Unfortunately, just as we were finding Euros to tip them, the Policia pulled up and made them leave the square to the hisses and boos of the lunch patrons.  You can spot them behind their car on the left of the picture waiting for the guys to finish their first number.

ENTERTAINING STREET MUSICIANS - BEFORE GRUMPY POLICIA ARRIVED

In addition to gardens, beautiful buildings, tapas, sangria, and really inexpensive beer and wine, Valencia has one of the top 10 beaches in Spain.  Wide and very clean with warm clear water, this is where Ken liked to spend his afternoons doing what Pat and I call the 'booby walk'.  One afternoon he reported counting 110 topless women on his beach walk, or 220 boobies.  He is usually so exhausted by the time he gets back he has to lie down for a nap - perhaps this is the reason for siesta time in Spain. 

 

OUR WIDE CLEAN BEACH WITH FIRST HALF OF LAST SUPPER SAND SCULPTURE

Pat and I enjoyed monitoring the daily progress of the talented sand sculptors.  Here's the first half of The Last Supper in progress - hopefully they'll finish all twelve figures before we leave.  The sculpture representing Valencia is also quite impressive.  Notice the masts for the hundreds of sailboats in the marina behind the sculpture.  There is also a huge ferris wheel to the side, and many (overpriced) beach cafes to sit and enjoy the sights, along with tapas or paella and a cold beer or glass of wine.

VALENCIA SCULPTURE WITH SAILBOAT MASTS IN THE BACKGROUND.

The French Countryside

One of the delightful perks of exploring southern France is that you never have to go far to discover a picturesque little village.  Take any road and you'll spot a huge stone house, a castle turret, the spire of a cathedral or a roman ruin that needs exploring. We'd often start off for a destination half an hour away and arrive a couple of hours later as we'd always find something fascinating on the way.

SETE

Just a half hour drive southwest from Montpellier where the Rhone river meets the Mediterrean Sea is the lovely town of Sete.  The river bank is lined by lovely old apartment houses, cafes and restaurants, and of course a boat for every slip.  Just a block in are rows of shops (Pat and I both bought shoes for 15 Euro) and a large open park where you can sit and watch the flea market vendors, enjoy a beverage and listen to the laughter of the children on the ornately carved merry-go-round.

THE LOVELY TOWN OF SETE

A MERRY-G0-ROUND FOR EVERY TOWN

LE GRAU-DE-ROI

A half hour southeast of Montpellier lies the interesting beach town of Le Grau-de-Roi.  With wide sandy beaches, walking streets filled with small shops and stalls, seaside restaurants serving crepes and buckets of mussels accompanied by local wines, and catamarans offering harbour cruises, this town has something for everyone.  The town is small enough that you could do it all in a day, and we did.

HOMECOMING

THE VILLAGE LIGHTHOUSE

Old meets new in Grau du Roi.  After lunching on crepes and wine while looking at the boats sailing in and out of the harbour, we then hopped on a catamaran to view the modern condos being build all along the sea.

THE MODERN SEASIDE

SAND SCULPTOR AT WORK

The beach was fairly crowded for a mid-week in May.  As this is a tourist town with lots of rentals, I can just imagine how crowded it will be in the high season.

LAROQUE

Having missed our turn on the way to our lovely cottage in Montoulieu, we stumbled across the medieval village of Laroque and stopped to watch the people playing and fishing in the river. An absolutely stunning little village, it became one of our favorite stops on our way into Ganges to do our grocery shopping.

LAROQUE BY THE RIVER

 LAROQUE CONDOS - MEDIEVAL STYLE

We would stop to wander the narrow streets, ducking through low portals or climbing up the hillside to see what was around the next corner.

Of course, we could also stop at one of the cafes along the dam to try the local wines.  France has many, many good local vintages and it would take years to sample them all.  So many choices, so little time.

THE DUCHY OF UZES

Our landlady, Danielle, suggested we might want to travel to Uzes on a Saturday to experience the market.  Uzes was originally established in Roman times (1st Century) as an administrative center to oversee the building and operation of an aqueduct to bring water to Nimes.  Over the next few centuries it came under the control of Jewish Scholars and then the Archbishop of Narbonne, before becoming part of the royal peerage in 1088 (with a lot of history and bloody battle between, I'm sure).  In the 1600's the title of First Duke of France was bestowed on Uzes, and the Duke's castle is still reigning over the centre of the town.

THE DUKE'S CASTLE IN UZES

Uzes is known for it's market, which takes over the streets on Saturdays and goes on for many blocks in all directions.  Stalls filled with fresh produce, cured meats and local cheeses (and of course wines) line the streets.  Uzes has historically been known for its fabric makers, and silks and local woven goods are in abundance on market day.  Unfortunately our suitcases are filled to bursting, so we were unable to pick up any of the tempting fabrics, table cloths, bed covers, scarves, etc.

Pat did have her first encounter with one of the gypsy merchants in Uzes.  She stopped to buy a 5E watch, and when she handed the merchant a 10E note he showed her another watch that she had supposedly dropped and broken, so he wanted to keep the 10E.  It quite upset her as he was yelling at her in French and I was yelling back in English and calling for the Gendarmie while trying to grab her 10E out of his hand.  After some more yelling and gestulating we finally got her money back (but not the watch). As we were walking away we saw the woman who had supposedly witnessed Pat drop the watch knock another one off the table for the next unsuspecting tourist.  My poor sister is going to have to get a little more hardened in her travels.  Oh well, another adventure and another story to tell.  And just a little dark blot on the delightful Duchy of Uzes.

AN UNKNOWN VILLAGE

On our drive back from Uzes, we spotted some fairy tale like turrets evoking visions of Cinderella's castle off to the side and took a detour to explore a small village.  I'm not sure what it was called, but we spent a magical hour exploring it's streets - not another person in sight.

WHERE FORE ART THOU ROMEO

Every building was covered with colorful rosebushes.  The one above looked like it had been placed for climbing up to the balcony - an illicit nighttime visit perhaps.  The one below added beauty to a cracked and weathered doorway.

A ROSEBUSH FOR EVERY DOORWAY

The patinas on the buildings, shutters and doorways were spectacular and made me wish I was a talented artist.  I could see myself wearing a beret and sitting with an easel while trying to reproduce the colours in oil.

BEAUTIFUL PATINAS ON EVERY DOORWAY

BEST GARAGE EVER

At the start of our tour we were picked up by one of the locals who decided to guide us through the streets, waiting patiently as we stopped to take pictures and comment on the multi-coloured roses at every doorway.  A double for the old TV dog 'the littlest hobo', he led us out of town, then walked us around the outskirts to find our car.  Once he made sure we were safely back where we belonged, he gave us a final wag and returned to wherever he had come from.

PAT AND HER GUIDE - 'THE LITTLEST HOBO'

Finally finding a spot to snap a picture of the turrets that had drawn us to the village in the first place.  We think this might actually be a private estate.  I had to laugh when I checked my shot and discovered I had been 'photobombed'. A perfect end to our exploration of a magical unknown village.

PHOTOBOMBED!

Sur la Pont Avignon

The town of Avignon is mainly known for its bridge and the nursery rhyme/song we have all known since childhood.  But that is not the most interesting thing about the town.  Of far more historical significance is the Palais des Papes or Pope's Palace, one of the largest medieval gothic buildings in Europe and the centre of Christianity in the 14th century. 

Palais des Papes

Six popes ruled from the Pope's Palace, and each added something to the construction, making it often a disjointed and unwieldy design.  From 1309 to 1364, this building was being constructed, torn down and reconstructed, although the bulk of the edifice was actually done in a short 20 year time span.  Finally, in 1364, it was decided to move the papacy back to Rome although this move was fraught with politics and controversy and really wasn't finalized until 6 years later.

A model of the final design (?) - over 15000 meters squared

What a lot of people don't realize was that at one time there were actually 2 Popes - the Pope and the Antipope.  Although the papacy had been moved to Rome, the Pope in Avignon refused to resign and both ruled for some time.  Finally, the cardinals were fed up and fired both, appointing a 3rd Pope.  An amazing part of history of the Catholic church.

The square outside the Pope's Palace is bustling with tourists, and a lovely place to stop and listen to the many street musicians who take up residence there. 

The door into the Pope's Palace remains from ancient times.  The main doors were for the knights (or perhaps Swiss guard) and their horses, and the carriages of the Bishops, while the smaller door was used for the common folk entering and leaving the doors of the palace.

Over 10 km of ancient stone walls surround the city

Another interesting sight in Avignon is the more than 10 kms of thick stone walls built during the 13th century and surrounding the city.  Many of these walls were constructed on the rock itself, and narrow arches allow modern day traffic through.

Sometimes its difficult to see where man took over from nature in fortifying the Palace

One of the narrow entrances to the city

If there was any doubt as to the religious nature of the Palace, it is put aside by the many statues adorning the edifice.  An enormous gold Christ wearing his crown of thorns sits on one of the steeples, while a depiction of the crucified Christ surrounded by angles adorns a portico.

During the French Revolution the Palace came under seige.  Not only did the revolutionaries chop off the heads of the ruling class, but the 21 saints adorning these doorways into the chapel also had their heads removed.

This guy was spared.  This angel looked so real, right down to the feathers sticking out of his gilded wings, I almost stopped to say 'Bonjour'.

The side of this building has no windows.  Here's Ken trying to figure out what's real and what's not.  Hint -  the entire thing is one giant art piece.

And finally, here is a view of the city from the bridge.  Actually named the Pont St. Benezet, the Avignon bridge is now only four Roman arches spanning part of the River Rhone.  Constantly rebuilt during the 11th and 12th centuries, it kept falling apart as the River has an extremely fast current.  Now when you walk out onto it, it's crumbling rock and cement surrounded by construction cages.   The most interesting part was the ancient drawbridge which could be raised to block traffic into the town.  I could almost hear the hoof beats and the clatter of wagons seeking access to the town and the hospital just beyond it's gates.

Sur la pont, Avignon

Grotte des Demoiselles

By far, one of the most spectacular stops on our travels was Grotte des Demoiselles, a large cave located just down the road in the village or commune of Saint-Bauzille de Putois.  We have visited a number of caves on our travels so were expecting the usual array of stalactites and stalagmites that had formed to look like something else - a candlestick, a wedding cake, a scene from the last supper, etc.  Driving up, up, way up, to the entrance, little did we expect what we'd find inside the mountain.

A fairly inauspicious start - just a short climb to the entrance

Up, up we go - a funicular to the caverns

After paying our 8.5 Euros, our guide led us on to a funicular to ascend yet further up the inside of the mountain.  We were a little non-plussed to see another car descending the tunnel towards us, but they had a switching track in the middle, so we lived through our first challenge.

Ok. A little awe-inspiring

Arriving at the top (or so we thought) we found wide stone staircases and readied ourselves for an easy climb, snapping pictures along the way.

A nice gentle climb - who says caving is hard

Easy climb over - a staircase straight down to ...

We rounded a corner, and our easy climb was over.  Although our guide only spoke French, his sound effects of a long, low whistle followed by the gestures and sounds of a bomb exploding was pretty clear.  It was a long way down (60 meters) and we were to watch our step or face sure and sudden death.

OK.  A lot awe-inspiring

Wandering through narrow passages, with the wet sounds of stalactites dripping onto  stalagmites on the cave floor meters below, I was reminded of one of the original Star Wars movies when the Millenium Falcon (OK, geek moment) took refuge from the storm troopers by hiding in a cave in an asteroid field.  All of a sudden, Harrison Ford says "this ain't no cave" or something equally profound, and they got the h.. out of there.  Switch to scene of Falcon flying out of the snapping jaws of a giant beast.

Inside the belly of the beast - where is Harrison Ford when you need him?

No this isn't snow - although it is damp and glittery like a beacon in the dark

A school of giant jellyfish floating all around us

Stomach-churning descent half over, we came into a large cavern known as the 'cathedral', complete with spooky church organ music piped all around us.  Our guide would occasionally stop and accompany the background music  by rhythmically pounding on formations that played like organ pipes, and others that sounded like drums.

About halfway down - yes we did descend those stairs - ve-e-ry carefully

As we descended very carefully on stone stairs made slick with moisture, we occasionally caught sight of the narrow paths and thin iron bars bolted into the cavern walls and used by the original explorers.  I think if we could have seen the bottom we would have spied some bones in among the stalagmites.  They did, in fact, display the skeleton of a bear who was one of the original explorers of the cave.

Natural monument to Madonna and child

Wow!

Winding through the narrow openings between the caverns, we were constantly awe-struck by what met our eyes.  At times I would stop for a picture and lose the group around the next corner for a minute or two.  All alone in the massive cavern, I got a sense of what the first adventurers to stumble on this wonder of nature felt - awe mixed with a healthy dose of fear.

Wow again!

A waterfall of jellyfish

An explosion of luminescent white

Ken looking a little worried about the next part of the descent

Which end is up?  Not sure.

After about 1-1/2 to 2 hours inside, it was both a shock to the systems and a relief to come back out into the sunshine of the beautiful French countryside.  We felt a little whimpy, however, when we noticed the rock climbers experiencing the mountain from the outside.

While we used the stairs - others choose a more direct route

Back into the sun - happy to see the village below

A peaceful end to a totally spectacular day

 The Grotte des Demoiselles is not an experience we will soon forget.  Highly recommended on the tour list - just make sure enjoy the local wines after the tour and not before.