Posts tagged: Provence

This post will most likely make Nutmeg’s Corsican friends angry.
Why bother with the hassle of an overnight ferry, crowded beaches and small twisty roads? If you want to feel like you, have experienced a bit of Corsica without leaving the French mainland, plan a trip to the Ardèche region.
The similarities between, the beautiful island of Corsica and the Ardèche are significant, see below:

Corsica

Ardeche

Surface Area
8,680 sq km
5,550 sq km

Widest Point
82 km
75 km

Highest Peak
2,706 metres Mont Cinto
1,754 metres Mont Mézenc

Population
302,000
309,000

Annual Visitors
Roughly 2 million
Roughly 3 million

Agriculture
Chestnuts
Chestnuts

Olives
Olives

Grapes
Grapes

Goats, Sheep
Goat, Sheep, Cows

Figs
Figs

Beaches
1000 km of coastline
Countless River banks

Geographic Formation
Volcanic
Volcanic

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Ardeche, Provence, Rhone Alps, Travel in France

Nutmeg is writing this post on a rainy Sunday afternoon while Ginger is napping off the effects of a long Sunday lunch.
It is a long tradition in France that stores are closed Sunday afternoon, allowing everyone the opportunity to have a leisurely lunch en famille.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Food in France, Markets, Provence, Provence Travel, Sunday Lunch, Travel in France

Nutmeg barely tolerates melons, in her opinion, the green honeydew version found in airport “fruit salads” should be outlawed. Watermelon and its variations without seeds or in ghastly yellow only belong on a picnic table with many children around.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Cavaillon, Charentais melon, Festivals, Melons, Prevot, Provence

American-born Wendy Jaeger admits that France is in her soul. The founder of Bliss Travels met with Nutmeg for coffee, in the Luberon, to chat about the company’s culinary and wine vacations.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Bespoke, Bliss Travels, Food and Wine, France, Interview, Provence, Small Group, Tours

Recently launched, Pitcher and Powell is a travel concept that combines the creative talents and cooking passions of two accomplished ladies. Even their last names work well together!
Barbara Pitcher is a Canadian by birth, with an international spirit, she is a painter who lives in Provence with her family. Like many artists who have lived in the region (think: Cezanne, Picasso and Van Gogh) the Provencal light decidedly inspires her artwork. This is what Barbara shared regarding her approach to the canvas,
“There is the cliché of “the light is beautiful in Provence” well it truly is!  The colours of the landscapes beg to be painted.  I have been painting since the early 90’s.  In Provence, when I arrived eight years ago I changed my style altogether, I have embraced abstract that I love because I never know where it will take me.”
Please read the rest of Barbara’s story here. (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Barbara Pitcher, Cooking classes, Culinary Holidays, Parry Sound, Pitcher & Powell, Provence, Ridge at Manitou, Tasha Powell

Nutmeg is reasonably certain she is not the first person to walk through the Glanum archaeological site, near St Remy de Provence, and consider that mankind is relatively insignificant in the passage of time.
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
Rocks to rocks
A previous G&N blog post “Glanum Glorious Views” covers much of the history of this site. The following post is a short overview only as an excuse to show off a few new photos. The main street in Glanum is below.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Alpilles Mountains Provence, Glaunum, Provence, Provence Travel, Travel in France

Linda Garson spent her youth in Manchester, in the United Kingdom, a place best known for soccer matches and beer-filled celebrations, not necessarily for wine expertise. A visual communications graduate, Linda relocated to Canada (Calgary) in 2003 on a contract with Trade UK – the British Government’s export division. The contract was for 13-months, and Linda is still in Calgary.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Calgary, France, Linda Garson, Provence, Rhône Valley, Vine and Dine, Wine Courses, Wines

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…

Recipes & Travel:
Bespoke Holiday, England, Herdade Do Esporao, Holiday planning, Paris, Perfectly Planned Travel, Portugal, Provence, Travel Agent, Travel Planning, Wines from Provence

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.
(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Caves, Grottos, Provence, Var, Villecroze

L’Abbaye du Thoronet was first classified as a historic French monument in 1840. Restoration work started the year after and still continues today. Nutmeg wanted to visit the Thoronet Abbey as they had already seen the “sister” abbeys Silvacane and Sénanque. The straightforward design of these buildings produced volumes of space where the only adornment would have been the harmonic chanting voices of the monks. These religious structures are stark and somber yet at the same time refreshing, no marble, no gold, no organ pipes, just natural light and acoustics.

(more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Abbaye du Thoronet, Abbeys, Provence, Travel