Blinded by the hues of lavender shutters.
Gently numbed by a glass or two of chilled local rosé.
It would be easy to overlook the hamlet of Mérindol during a visit to Provence.
The Luberon region is brimming with villages laying claim to le plus beau village de France (most beautiful village in France) and many of those proudly display Villages Fleuris (flowering villages) emblems on street signs.
It is not often that Ginger gets to write about G&N adventures, but this experience warrants a post. As many of you know, Ginger is an airplane geek, and any experience related to flying gets serious precedence over most things. Man since the beginning of time, has wanted to escape the bonds of earth and fly like a bird. Fixed wing gliding provides man the opportunity to catch air currents and soar hour upon hour.
Antonia (Toni) Dosik’s memories of her first foreign trip include sandy beaches and seashells. In reality, Mexico was hardly a protracted voyage for a six-year-old kid from Los Angeles, but it was the kickoff for Toni’s travel-centric life.
At 13, Toni began plotting her return to Europe while on a vacation that included visits to England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland. During college, she took advantage of a study abroad program to improve her French language skills, and to visit Switzerland and southern France. Toni spent a university year in England before racking up extensive travel miles to Provence, Paris, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia and Portugal.
Best in Britain was born in 1987, a small business that sprouted from friends and family asking Toni for help with their travel planning. Toni’s travel bug married her planning talent. She tells me that Best in Britain planned more than 40 trips to England and Wales for people who wanted unique and personalized vacations. Starting with a client’s response to her detailed questionnaire on their interests and individual needs, Toni has planned holidays with a focus on gardens, maritime history and even mazes.
Toni says that for clients “I planned travel for them just like I plan travel for myself.”
Now, with Perfectly Planned Travel, Toni is concentrating her efforts on the undiscovered or under-discovered in regions that she knows best: England, Portugal, Paris and Provence.
“I am drawn to Portugal and Provence by the gorgeous scenery, the warm, friendly people, and the charming small towns and villages. England is also about gorgeous scenery and charming villages and small market towns. Despite its reputation, England has some of the warmest and friendliest people on earth! Paris, of course, is quintessentially French, somewhat challenging, as cities can be, but beautiful and fascinating.”
Toni limits her number of clients, so every Perfectly Planned Travel trip is individualized and customized – there is no typical itinerary. Toni has planned many trips for first-time travelers who are reassured by her attention to detail. In equal measure, Toni proposes excursions for people who want to experience something different in a place they have already visited.
Planning a family vacation for 17 adults and two small children in Provence. They wanted a house that was big enough for everyone to have their own bedroom and bathroom and yet affordable. Lots of different needs and travel styles. They all had a great time!
In Portugal and Provence, drink wine. Portugal produces some of the best wine in the world, but it is often not available outside of Portugal. Not just the vinho verde (young white wine), but the delicious reds like those from Herdade Do Esporao in the Alentejo.
Same for Provence. Explore the wine. Côtes du Rhone, Châteauneuf du Pape, and the dry rosés. One of the best ways to do this – and eat the delicious food as well – is to have your main meal of the day at lunch, so you can drink the wine, walk around the local village or town, and still drive home safely.
England has a very undeserved reputation as a place without decent food. Ever since it joined the EU, the food in England has become more and more varied and sophisticated. Including “pub food” that is way more than fish and chips or toad in a hole. I had some of the best meals of my life at the Museum Inn in Farnham, Dorset, population 111!
This is truly idiosyncratic. I love to shop and find it both relaxing and stimulating. Other people like to fish, or walk on the beach, or sit in a café or see a concert. That’s where my Questionnaire comes in – it helps me to get a sense of what people like to do, what they want from their trip, their “style” of travel and how I can help them plan a perfect trip.
Get in touch with Antonia (Toni) Dosik: http://perfectlyplannedtravel.biz/contact/
Website: http://perfectlyplannedtravel.biz/
Questionnaire: http://perfectlyplannedtravel.biz/questionnaire/
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Disclosure: Perfectly Planned Travel is a Ginger and Nutmeg sponsor
Image Credits: All photos were provided by and published with the permission of Perfectly Planned Travel
In a green maze – that is how your journey starts.
Wandering aimlessly through the hedge circuit your footsteps form the letters, as your shoulders rub against the thick shrubbery. The characters spell Bereishit the first word of the Torah, a Hebrew word that translates to in the beginning of. In this case, it is the beginning of a distinctive garden adjacent to Mas de la Brune, a home that dates from 1572.
Le Jardin de l’Achimiste (Garden of the Alchemist) is a public garden located near the village of Eygalières and a short drive from St Remy. This magical place was created in 1997. “It is a philosophical essay in the form of a garden, representing physical and intellectual development, and the development of the senses.” – a well-crafted description is from Wikipedia.
Much has been written about Vincent Van Gogh’s life, the famous Dutch painter who led an expressive, tortured life. This statue le voleur de tournesol (the Sunflower Thief) by Gabriel Sterk may just capture the essence of Van Gogh’s work – as you never quite look at sunflowers, irises, olive trees or wheat fields the same way after seeing his paintings.
le voleur de tournesol (the Sunflower Thief) by Gabriel Sterk
When Ginger and Nutmeg first ventured to Provence they felt prepared for the adventure. After all, it was not their first trip to France, they had previously biked in the region, and they had read Peter Mayle’s books – so they were confident in their basic understanding of the region.
And basic it was!
Nutmeg would like to share five Provencal myths for consideration as you pack your bags for the south of France, with visions of purple lavender fields and olive groves dancing in your head.
Bastille Day (La Fête Nationale) commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille in Paris. Two years running, our village attempted to host fireworks on the 14th only to be stymied by the wind. Leave it to the Parisians to have their traditional parade on the Champs-Élysées. Eygalières was going to party the night before.
18h: Sounds of the band testing their equipment – CHECK!
The game of pétanque, sometimes called boules is a form of religion in Provence. Most villages have an official or unofficial boules pitch. The more elaborate centres will even have a “club house” offering refreshments.
The word pétanque is Provencal in origin from the word petanca, which means “feet anchored”. The game in its’ present day format started in La Ciotat (on the Mediterranean coast) in 1907. Other similar games are bocce, bowls and horseshoes.
The idea for this hike came from a friend at the International Hiking group of Provence. The twosome needed to find a short hike that was not too far from the house, so they would have enough time to get the car to the mechanic.
Nutmeg consulted her “Must Do” list for Provencal activities; it was February so a day at the beach was not rising to the top of the chart. Not too far down the list, was this walk, les Gorges de Régalon a short, challenging hike that was close to home. (Walking in Provence West Guidebook).
Millions of years of seismic activity, tectonic plate movement and freeze-thaw cycles created the diverse geology of present-day Provence. The region is also known as the Bouches de Rhone where the Mediterranean shoreline runs the gambit of beaches, brackish wetlands and vertigo inducing cliffs. Other natural phenomena in the area include the steep contours of the Gorges de Verdon and the volcano shaped Mont Ventoux.
The caves of Villecroze are carved into the side of a sheer limestone cliff. A grotto formed by hundreds of thousands of years of water flowing over porous rock. The continuous water created tufa rock-hard calcium carbonate deposits along the cliff face. Cycles of natural erosion and deposits formed caves of smooth stone and flowing stalactites.
