Gordes, Fontaine de Vaucluse and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

We had a lovely day on Tuesday in Provence, which started with driving to Villeneuve lès Avignon to pick up my Glaswegian/Victoria friend, Una. Years ago she had worked in Gordes for two summers and had a lovely driving tour worked out for us. Since it was already 11am by the time we left her friend's house, we headed straight to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, sussed out the various restaurants and then walked around town before actually sitting down. I mean, we had to work up an appetite as the French lunches are marvelous and you really want to be able to appreciate them.

Lovely town isnt' it?

And then we went to Le Bouchon and since it looked like it 'might' rain, we chose to eat not by the river, but just under an awning. Good decision as soon the wind started, the heaters were turned on and before we finished, the rain had started and stopped.

For starters, Les and I had ordered the Coquille, as we love, love, love scallops. And this preparation was divine.

Una and Manon both ordered the aumonière de chèvre chaud. We had to ask what 'aumonière' meant as none of us had a clue. It was, in fact, the casing that the chèvre was wrapped and baked. Basically a phyllo pastry. And a big thumbs up for this one too. And  once we started eating, I forgot to take pics of our main course. Sorry.

While we were there, Una struck up conversations with the young chaps behind us and we discovered that the old man sitting at the next table with two friends, was Renaud, the most famous French singer in France, having sold millions of albums. One of his big hits that was translated into English was called Miss Maggie and is about Maggie Thatcher. Worth a look on the internet. M Renaud appeared to be about 75. His bodyguard was at a table on the other side of us having a meal with a friend. We had no idea of the connection until they were about to leave. Una, Manon and I had been admiring the body guard and Les figured he had played rugby. Right on all counts as his younger brother appeared at our table, speaking English and said he had been asked to come by and answer any questions. And yes, his brother had played professional rugby for 15 years. After arriving at home, we did a search on M Renaud and found he is 62! That's what years of hard living and hard drinking do for you that we had been off on our guess by more than a decade.

After lunch, we drove to Fontaine de Vaucluse which is a very small village, almost a suburb of the small town of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (8km away). We weren't quite sure why this was on the itinerary, but I kept driving and finally, a stream, and a parking lot. When we got out of the car, we found we were at Le Partage des Eaux, a place where in 1852, Napolen had decreed that the river should be parted to provide him (and his troops presumeably) with water. So a structure was built that allowed the incoming river to be split....5/12 going one way and 7/12 going to Napoleon.

Andd then on to Gordes. Oh my, the views. 

View of the town from the road leading up to it.

Just one of the amazing views from the town.

We dropped Una off at 7:30 and then started our way home, promptly taking a wrong turn and ending up driving through cobblestone streets with rock walls on either side and having no clue where "down" and "Avignon" was. We finally were sorted and arrived by in Montpellier by 9pm and had a very light dinner of cheese, bread and wine.