St. Remy and Les Baux in Provence

After doing some necessary washing we headed the small town of St.-Remy-de-Provence, without knowing much about it. It was on the way to the most visited village in France, Les-Baux-de-Provence. We liked St Remy- not too touristy and the sun was shining. Sitting in the sun at a cafe we even got hot! and we realized that this is what a holiday is about. We wandered the streets looking for a shop called Harley's. We never found it but the stroll was enjoyable. Then we had a short drive to Les Baux. We could see the rocky outcrops well before we got there, driving across the plains covered with olive groves and vineyards. We managed to get close buying paying for parking and soon why this place was so popular. It is a classic old mountain village, built entirely of limestone, with vehicles excluded from most of it. And towering above it is the remains of a Roman fortified Chateau. After another superb and not too dear lunch overlooking the valley we went up to the Chateau entry point. Valerie decided not try to scale the heights so Don went on alone (well, with quite a few other tourists) I was fascinated with the whole thing - the scale of it, the reproduction siege machines, some which could hurl 140kg stones which could breach thick stone walls, everything. I could have spent hours there. The views from the top were fascinating panoramas. The aluminum ore bauxite, which was first mined nearby, got it's name from here. We voted it another top day - how many more can we cope with? PS - I guess that everyone knows that Levi Strauss bought the local strong blue cloth from Nimes hence Denim from - cloth De Nimes. PPS - I believe it is now possible to make comments on this blog. Tomorrow we drive to our next cottage, via one of favorite areas, the Luberon mountains.