We left Nice early. The night before we had been really lucky, and found a parking spot right in front of the hotel. So we were packed up and ready to go at 9 AM. Although the trip to our next destination -- Bonnieux -- would not have been more than a couple of hours, we wanted to see the Gorge du Verdun, France's Grand Canyon. That route would be more like 7 hours. So we were braced for a long day. On the way we stopped very briefly in Grasse, the center of France's perfume industry. We expected an industrial city with factories and modern buildings; we found a small village perched on the side of the mountains. We stopped for coffee, tea and croissants. A young Asian woman at the next table heard us talking and said how happy she was to hear her native American English. It turned out she was taking a one year course in perfume making. We chatted for a few minutes, then stopped across the walk to walk through one of the several Fragonard boutiques we could see from the main avenue. We smelled perfumed the entire time we were in town. After directions for a gas station, we were off...but thinking Grasse is a place we would like to spend a little more time exploring.
After Grasse we climbed higher and higher, on two lane roads, until the view down the valley and toward the sea was a little anxiety-producing. We finally reached the summit, and traversed the ridge for quite some time before finding the Gorge. It was not nearly as spectacular as our Grand Canyon, but it was a very interesting view of a completely unexpected part of France.
Where did we end up that evening? Ahhhhh......Bastide de Capelongue in Bonnieux.
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