Marie Maillot

As usual....you may click on an image to enlarge for better viewing......

I had corresponded with Marie (upper photo) for about a year before we went to France.  I dreamed and daydreamed about the the Gite before we left for Europe....How would it be to live in a troglodyte cottage?  A cottage built right into a cliff face high up in the Luberons overlooking the vineyards and villages of Provence.  This would be the most unique place we stayed while in France.

Marie was an ex advertising guru in Paris for several years.  She had visited Provence several times both on business and pleasure.  She had become bitten and infected with the romance, climate and hospitality of Provence and it's people.  She finally reached a point where she knew she had to give up the high stress metropolitan life of Paris and move to Provence.  The infection was spread so completely through her psyche that she even gave up her marriage to satisfy the call of Provence.  She found two cottages, three miles from Menerbes located at the end of a one lane rough rock road atop a mountain.  One cottage was built under an overhang of the a cliff-face and the second was built into the cliff itself.  She would take the stand alone cottage under the cliff as her own living space and rent out the cottage that was bult into the cliff.  The name of the cottage was "Le Refuge" which just as you might guess meant shelter or refuge.  The history of Le Refuge was what sparked my imagination to begin with.  This cottage was built in the 1700's in such a remote location in the hills of the Luberons in a sparsely populated part of Provence that it served as a refuge or hideout for the French Resistance Soldiers during WWII at the time the Nazis were dispatched throughout France.  The location was never uncovered by the Germans as they moved through Provence on the way to Aix and Arles during the war.  At 70 years young....Marie still rents out her Gite every year to seekers such as ourselves who want a unique taste of Provence.  The dates fill up by April or so each year and sell out everyday up until late October.

I will post more pictures of the Gite and Maire's cottage in upcoming posts.

Dan

After 11 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination in the Luberon mountains of Provence....Menerbes, France.  This area of Provence is full of vineyards with some of the best wine in France...at least in my opinion.  The chilled rose wines of Provence match the sundrenched days of summer.  This is also the land of the "perched" villages.  About every 5 miles or so...spread throughout the Luberon Mountains are picturesque villages of the middle ages  built along the ridges of the Luberons.  Literally "perched" on the peaks of the ridges.  With names such as Menerbes, Bonnieux, Gordes, Roussillon and Lacoste...these villages are begging for exploration as you drive through the countryside.

Our base for exploring was Menerbes shown above.  The first of the two Gites ( a holiday home in France rented by the owner) that we stayed at in Provence was about 3 miles from Menerbes.  It was called "Le Refuge."  It was the most unique place we stayed at during our trip.

Dan

I meant to do my work today......

I meant to do my work today....
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
and a butterfly flitted across the field,
and all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing across the land
tossing the grasses to and fro,
and a rainbow held out it's shining hand
so what could I do but laugh and go?
       Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947)

As we headed south by way of Toulouse then west by way of  Arles and Aix-en-Provence, it became evident that we had left the verdant green valleys of the Dordogne and had entered the Mediterranean climate of romantic Provence.  The heat of summer had finally caught up to us and the rains and unseasonably cool days of the last 4 weeks were left behind in the Dordogne, Loire Valley and Colmar.       
The yellows, blues and shades of ocher and browns washed the landscapes we passed through and from time to time along the way....the bright blue/greens of the Mediterranean would explode ahead of us as we rounded a curve or crossed over the foothills of the Luberons.  This is the land of Van Gogh.  Once here, you see the unending fields of sunflowers, bright red poppies, vibrant purple lavender with visions of Van Gogh standing at his easel franticly painting to capture the beauty before the season passed.  

I first heard the above poem by Gallienne when I was in college.  It had always taken me back to my youth and captured my feelings while I grew up in a rural setting.  The totally carefree days with no responsibilities other than following my whims and dreams to see where they led me.  We had stopped at the field of sunflowers when I took this picture.  Without thinking at all, the poem again flashed across my mind as I stood feeling the warm breezes of Provence calling me.  Somehow I knew the poem was written for me to experience that moment in the sunflower field.  Poetry is like that...only words spoken with a particular rhythm but so personal.  

Dan

Back and on the mend!

Hi everyone.... I am so glad to say that I survived the valve replacement and the worst is now behind me. It is a recovery period now until about the the 2nd week in August...so they tell me. Thank you so much for all the well wishes and prayers and positive support over the the last few weeks, I really appreciatie it. I will be back in a couple of days with new posts. I will pick up where we left off....leaving the Dordogne and heading for southern France.....Provence. See you then. Dan

I will be away for about 4 to 6 weeks!

I wanted to let you guys know about some news from my end. I have been teaching since January and that is why I have not been on the blog much...just ran out of time. But this time I will again be away but for a different reason. I am having open heart surgery on Thursday may 7th.... valve replacement. I had no symptoms but passed out while doing some work and stopped breathing. Basically, Zach, my son, saved my life. Sort of freaked me out! So this Thursday I will be going under the knife and recovery time is quite prolonged so as soon as I am able I will be back on the blog. Don't think I have skipped out on you! I will be thinking of all of you and have a great Spring/Summer. Dan

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Immersion Switzerland and France 2012, A journey down roads less traveled. by Dan Felstead | Make Your Own Book

Last Trip Through the Dordogne

After 12 days of exploring the Dordogne, we spent our last day traveling to Sarlat.  The oldest most preserved medieval village in France.  Located in the southern most part of the Dordogne valley, we arrived and stepped back into time.

Surrounded by castles on the misty ridges around the valley, Sarlat is a maze of small street ...as all village during the 1200s were.  No pre arranged street grids at that time in history.  The villages grew one house or building at a time.  Usually branching out from the center where the church or cathedral was located.  As the day progressed it began to rain.  Normally this would have been a disappointment but in the Dordogne a slow steady rain just added to the realism and led us down thoughts of how it really must have been to lived during that time.  On the way back for the last time to our Bed and Breakfast we passed along small French villages often no more than one street...set off the one lane roads we were traveling.  We would leave the road and spend time in the small village taking in the serenity of it all.

Tomorrow we would pack up and head to Provence in southwestern France for an extended period.  It would be a total change of scenery from the lush greens of the Dordogne valley to the arid almost tropical climate that borders Northern Spain.