Rhone Day 6: Olive Oil Tasting and Les Beaux-de-Provence

We started the morning as usual with a tasty breakfast on the Van Gogh. French cooking is famous, but as far as I'm concerned its bread where they most excel--crispy croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, and there was some kind of dark bread full of seeds that someone said was Norwegian. "Sticks and twigs," my husband would have called it. Wonderful with cheese!

First thing on the day's agenda was an olive oil tasting at Fontvielle. I've never thought of oil as something I wanted to taste by itself, but these were delicious and quite different flavors based just on the pressings, not infusions of other ingredients. Some we tasted with bits of toasted baguette, some just the oil itself.

Then we went out to see the trees.

It wasn't the season for olives, but this little guy was hanging on.

This was our coldest, most miserable day. Fortunately, most of us had checked the weather forecasts before we left home and were prepared for something less springlike than we had been having. I wore long underwear, a jacket, a heavy Scandinavian sweater, and gloves and did not regret a bit of it. Especially at Les Beaux-de-Provence where the wind blew fiercely on the heights.

This is a medieval town perched high on a mesa with the valley below and rocky outcroppings around. 

One of the problems of a group tour is that you don't have gtime to do all the things you would like. We didn't make it as far as the castle, but the church to the right below is built beneath the castle terrace.

That means no windows on the side built into the hill (to the right in this picture).

The White Penitents Chapel across the square from the church has frescoes by the modern artist Yves Breyer.

They show the shepherds at Bethlehem as though they were French peasants.

There has been a print shop in this town since the 19th century.   

We had a demonstration on an 18th-c hand press.

I would have loved time to stop at a cafe like this one (note the view of the valley through the arch), but frankly, it was way too cold.

A town worth coming back to.

On to St. Remys-de-Provence.

Rhone Day 5: Arles

 Arles is a Roman town.

We had a walking tour through the narrow streets of the old town  

past picturesque homes and shops

to the first-century amphitheater. 

In Roman days it was open all around with free admission to all. Bread and circuses to keep the masses content. In the unrest following the fall of Rome in the fifth century, the citizens turned it into a fortress by closing off most of the ground level entrances and building 200 homes inside.

The old houses were cleared in the 19th century and today the amphitheater is used for bull fights. The Spanish style where the bull is killed is losing popularity, replaced by Provence's bloodless tradition of catching ornaments hung between the bull's horns. The idea reminded me of ancient Cretan bull dancing.

Around the corner is the Roman theatre, still in use today.

Vincent Van Gogh, for whom our ship was named, came to Arles in 1888. The locals thought him weird and hated his unusual painting style. One of his starry night paintings was done from precisely the curve in the river where our boat was mored. 

There and elsewhere in Arles are signs that show the painting from that spot. When he cut off his ear, he was hospitalized here.

We had some free time to explore the Saturday market--more than a mile of color and chaos. I should have taken a picture, but I got separated from Ingrid. I was coming down with a cold and ended up sitting in the sun with my thermos of tea in the plaza where we were to meet, listening to this saxophonist compete with a folk guitarist at the other end of the square.

After lunch (a soup and salad bar back on the ship with one hot entree that I never bothered with) and a nap, I took a walk along the river bank, venturing into town at interesting places.

More people coming to the salon early to reserve places for the 6 PM recital. Today we went at 5 with books and drinks, and we were none too soon.

George Bizet – Farandole from L’Arlesienne (a traditional Provençal dance celebrating a woman specifically from Arles)

 

Modeste Mussorgsky – The Marketplace in Limoges, Catacombs, and Con Mortuis in Lingua Mortua from Pictures at an Exhibition (in honor of market day in Arles, and with a description from Aurélian of the Roman Alyscamps necropolis outside of his hometown of Arles)

 

*Lili Boulanger – Nocturne and Cortège for Violin and Piano (younger sister of the famed compositional pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, who connects to Gershwin and Piazzolla later)

 

Maurice Ravel – Jeux d’Eau (to provide the water missing from the fountain in Arles town square)

 

*Maurice Ravel – Pièce en forme de Habanera (one of many examples of Spanish-flavored music by French composers)

 

George Bizet – Toreador Song from Carmen (this music is played at the Arles Amphitheater during events with bulls)

 

*George Bizet – Habanera from Carmen (enhanced by a red fan we purchased in the market that morning and Aloysia’s acting skills)

 

*Claude Debussy ­­– Beau Soir (and indeed it was a beautiful evening)

After dinner a local Gypsy family came on board to present traditional music. By that time I was feeling pretty miserable with my cold, so I didn't stay long, but Ingrid stayed. The 11-year-old guitarist is also a pianist, and he and Jackie ended up improvising together.

 

Tomorrow will be more exploring Van Gogh sites.

Rhone Day 4: Chateauneuf du Pape Jean XXII and Pont du Gard

On our way back to the ship, we made a brief stop at this summer palace of Pope John XXII.  The history of the 14th-c Avignon popes is tragic and very complicated. They were far more interested in political power and opulent luxury than in the gospel. Our guides made no mention of the corruption of the era. Their job was only to show us the physical remains.

Although the castle had been damaged by the Revolution and time, the final destruction was by retreating German soldiers in August 1944 when they blew up their stores of ammunition.

No wonder the Germans used this as an observation point.

When we returned to the ship for lunch, we found these sheep grazing on the banks of the canal. Two goats tried persistently to board with us.

In the afternoon we went from medieval ruins to Roman remains. A 31-mile-long aqueduct built in the first century before Christ, carried water to the city of Nimes. (Denim refers to canvas from (de) Nimes.) Pont du Gard survived when other structures were dismantled for ready stone because it served as a bridge over the Gard River.

The part we are walking on with railings and all is relatively modern (19th-c?). The part they walked on was the narrow bit around the columns.

I wish we had had more time for the excellent museum. 

Or better yet, to hike the trail that traces the original aqueduct from the mountains.

It's now a park, well used by local kayakers and swimmers.

The first night Ingrid and I found random places in the lounge for the introductory talk and recital trailer and found our view blocked by pillars. The next night we came half an hour early to be sure to have a better view of the piano.

Jackie, Aloysia, and Melissa Ousley (who introduced all the pieces) are charming people. They had prepared music specifically for the trip, but also were inspired by events of the day. After two visits to wineries, this evening was dedicated to composers who enjoyed their wine among other things. (* means violin. Others were only piano.)

*Camille Saint-Saëns – The Swan (in honor of seeing swans on the Rhône the previous evening)

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Fin c’han dal vino from Don Giovanni (also known as the champagne song, Don Giovanni’s energetic call to Leporello for more wine, recalling our winemaker tour)

 

*Ludwig van Beethoven – Spring Sonata 1^st movement (to celebrate April!)

 

Franz Schubert – Impromptu in G-flat major (written by a wine lover)

 

Claude Debussy – La Puerto del Vino (the Alhambra Palace’s Gate of Wine, inspired by a postcard sent to him by Manuel de Falla)

 

*Claude Debussy – The Girl with the Flaxen Hair (celebrating “locks”…whether blonde, or in navigation)

 

Richard Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries (written by another wine lover, and celebrating our ‘winging’ it in this program)

 

Happy Birthday in the style of Mozart, Beethoven, Schoenberg, and Tchaikovsky (for the four travelers who had birthdays during the voyage. See the video here.)

 

Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel) – Bridge Over Troubled Water (in honor of the Pont du Gard) 

This last one had to be explained to Sarah, the daughter of a mother/daughter team of travelers. Most of the rest of us were old enough to get teary with memories when we heard it. BTW, Sarah's mother Sharon was born in Thatcham, the town where we lived in England. Did I mention how much we enjoyed all the people we met?

Rhone Day 4: Chateauneuf du Pape

This morning we visited another winery at Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This one was much larger and more commercial.

Again we heard about terroir and how the ground affects the taste. This garden grew vines in four types of local soils as demonstration plots: rounded pebbles, red sandstone, limestone, and sand. Wines may be made of grapes grown in one soil or in a blend. At our tasting they told us what kind of soil the grapes had been grown in

Here the barrels came in a variety of sizes.

On to the ruins of Pope Jean XXII's castle.

Rhone Day 3: The Van Gogh

The Van Gogh was a delightful small river boat from the Croisi Europe line that initiated river cruises. We were 90 passengers, less than half what is on a Viking Longboat.

There are lots of low bridges in Lyon and we were quickly instructed to duck at the call, "Low bridge!"

There were also lots of locks--a dozen each direction since we returned to Lyon at the end of our cruise. They took us past hydroelectric dams. 

We were a music crowd, and the joy of traveling with Minnesota Orchestra is the recitals on board every evening before dinner. Our musicians were Jon Kimur Parker and his wife violinist Aloysia Friedman.

Jackie, as he likes to be called, is an amazing pianist who used to be the summer artistic director for the symphony. I first remember him from the fabulous four piano concerts they have given. That's not 4-hand piano (two people playing one piano), but four artists on four grand pianos all playing together. Aloysia is the founder of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival in the San Juan Islands of NW Washington State. Sounds like a place we HAVE to visit.

Jackie's ninety-year-old mother was along on this trip. She taught piano along with music history and music theory. Sounds like quite a home to grow up in. Another son is a concert pianist, and her daughter puts together portfolios for new musicians. In her retirement she is translating all the Jane Austin novels into Japanese.

This first evening was only a teaser for what was to come.

*Johannes Brahms – Scherzo from F-A-E Sonata (to complement hearing the Brahms’ 3^rd Symphony in Paris)

*Edward Elgar – Salut D’Amour (to complement hearing Elgar’s Sea Pictures in Paris)

The dinner table was aglitter each evening with glasses for red wine, glasses for white, and glasses for water. (Only one water glass per person although both still (silver cap) and sparkling (gold cap) were on the table.

As I recall the starter the first night was a lovely paté.

This was the pork entreé although I often took the fish. Fabulous every time. My husband is not a fan of fish so this was my chance.

And then there was desert.

 Tomorrow we will visit another winery.