Walls in France: Daytripping

In an effort to see more of Provence, we decided to go to a new town yesterday. We chose the town, Caderousse, because we saw it mentioned in Peter Mayle’s book Provence A-Z. He has a list in there of all of the markets that take place during the week in the area. The drive to Caderousse was uneventful and somewhat monotonous since our friend, Tomtom, took us through Avignon which is where Castorama and Fly are and we have been there numerous times (see previous blogs). Once we got closer to Orange, the scenery started to change and we began seeing new things including lots and lots of vineyards. It was interesting watching the vineyards from the car because the leaves on the vines were yellow and orange and there were white flowers growing between the rows that looked like snow as we drove by. The hills spread before us and were covered with these colorful vines. It was neat to be in wine country in the fall. Eventually we came upon the town of Chateauneuf du Pape, a town/region known for its wines and Bucky was tempted to stop, but we had decided to go to the market of Caderousse, so we followed Tomtom’s directions, and kept going. About 10 kilometers later we arrived in the small walled town that we had been looking for. The market was right inside the ramparts and was meager at best – just a couple of trucks of produce and a rotisserie chicken man. Disappointed by the market, we decided to walk through the town to see what we could see – It was a cute town, but there was not a soul in the streets. So, we walked through, took some pictures and then we all agreed to head back to Chateauneuf du Pape. We went directly to the chateau at the top of the village to see the ruins of what had been the Popes’ summer castle when they had ruled from Avignon. Bucky stopped in a cave (the a is pronounced like the o in rock or hot) at the top of the hill to taste some of the wines of the region. He emerged with three bottles of red that I am sure we (and visitors!) will enjoy. Because the tourist season is over, there were only a couple of restaurants open in the town and none that appeared really kid friendly, so we opted for heading home for a late lunch. It was a nice day trip for the Walls, and I would guess that Bucky and I will go back to Chateauneuf du Pape again. Perhaps sans kids and with a designated driver!