Venturing out-Day 1 in Valensole

 Venturing out

First order of business was to find dinner the first night I showed up.  Les Chambres, as I said, is a bedroom community with no stores, restaurants, or food trucks.  However, back at the round-about where I went array earlier there is a specialty market where I picked up some fruit, a chicken dinner, corn, and breads.  Easy but couldn’t find coffee, milk, or water. I will live.  I had brought decaf (and two creamers) from the last hotel. Came in handy. 




Mangy and I had a good dinner.  Ready for exploring on Tuesday.  Got a good night’s rest and woke up with the sun because there was nothing stopping it from waking me up.  I have no curtains. (It gets dark by 10pm and gets light by 6:00am or earlier).  

From what I have read, the best fields are around Valensole.  That is where I am heading. The season for lavende doesn’t get going until July.  I didn’t believe it but now I do.  I am thinking that the Provence Region produces the most lavender oil using the grosso variety, which was always later bloomer.  I thought they would have other varieties and some early bloomers.  

 



There were other fields of purple that many people stopped and had cameras ready.  However, these fields were full of Clary Sage (I had Google look it up). Not sure why it is grown, what it is used for, and how or if they process it.  Found fields of red poppies too. The wheat fields have replaced many of the lavender fields. 

 

 



 

                                    Poppies
                                    Fields of wheat
                                                More poppies
                                            Sage--up close

On Wednesday, while traveling in a different direction, Viola, a field of deep purple. This variety was closer to my favorite lavender, sachet, but it was probably a royal velvet.  Both have shorter stems, deep purple, and a sweet fragrance.  Other people found the same field!

 




Tuesday, I stopped at Valensole to walk around the town.  I finally found the commercial part and found out the next day the road goes right through town if I was to have continued in the car rather than on foot. 

Valensole is a small mountain town with old churches (surprised?) but no castles.  I shopped since there were artisans mixed in with the touristy stuff.  Lunch was quick.  A tuna-egg salad sandwich on a whole lotta bread with French fries.  Messy but hit the spot.  More walking to find the Lavender Museum.  Found what they called a lavender museum but was pretty run down.  I bought hand cream (I am sure Sue will be happy to hear that—oh the smell) because I felt some guilt that I wanted to use their toilet, which is called the ‘outhouse’ where I come from. Using the google maps GPS, I plugged in the place where I parked the car (école-kindergarten) and started walking.  I deviated the path since GPS had me going up a huge climb of a road. Well, it was a good thing I did because I found the car before the GPS could send me another half mile beyond where the car was parked. Just lucky, I guess. Otherwise, I would probably still be roaming the tiny city today. 

                                Above and below: Churches of Valensole all three of them. 
                                            church (above) was open to see inside (below) 
                                            

                            Third church I came across. Could be more...


Town scenes: 




        Next is the museum (don't laugh):


Until next time...

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 16, 2024 at 5:38 PM

    What a great adventure! I love the commentary about driving, the food, the house, Le Chat.

    ReplyDelete

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