September 27-29

After arriving in Bonnieux September 27, we decided to spend the next day doing -- nothing. We were tired, and it seemed like we had not stopped moving for a week or more, so we wanted to stay in one place, read and refresh.

That lasted until mid-day. Fortified by a large breakfast courtesy of the hotel breakfast buffet, we needed no lunch. Bu we decided to find out what our neighborhood looked like, so we rambled off with the GPS in hand, visiting a park a few miles away which contained a roman ruin. We decided not to pay the entrance fee to visit the ruin, but went as far as the entrance, where a huge rock overhang no doubt was home to primitive peoples, as similar ones were in the cave country of the Dordogne.

From there we went the long way around to the village of Bonnieux itself, across a ridge from our hotel. The village was all but deserted -- no signs of life at all except for a few local people in the cafe, and a handful of tourists walking near the church.



The view from just below the church gave us a peek at our objective the next day -- Mont Ventoux, the mountain we have seen so many times on television during the Tour de France. What appears to be snow is rock -- the forests were cleared to build Napoleon's ships, effectively destroying the forest ecosystem.





So the next morning we were off to Mont Ventoux, a long drive across the valley, then

This is the road that the Tour de France riders ascend;


The last few meters before the finish line. Note the "non au park" message on the roadway. Apparently someone does not favor a park, but we don't know the details. We did see written along the road we drove up the names of many of the familiar faces on the Tour, including Lance Armstrong.

The view of the top. (Can you imagine how much money this cafe must make when the race is in town?) We stopped for lunch, where Tom had a traditional sausage plate, and I ate about half of the traditional potate feuillete, a potato casserole with cubes potatoes, lardons (cubes of fatty ham), onions and goat cheese. Delicious, but oh, so filling! (And you already know about what was ahead for dinner!)



Looking back from the summit.

From the summit of Mont Ventoux we continued to the other side, and across the valley to Vaison-la-Romaine, a village known for its Roman ruins. Tom got us to the town, and into a parking space (a much bigger accomplishment than it sounds), and we walked through the town to the two areas of ruins. Since they were conveniently located behind a wrought iron fence, paying the entry fee was entirely unnecessary.




After trekking around the ruins, we found ourselves in a parkinglot and this beautifully preserved deux chevaux.

The rear window was even more beautiful than we initially thought....