Adventures in Provence & Catalunya

We visited Aix-en-Provence, a town 45 minutes from our B&B and what turned out to be one of our favorite towns in Provence. It's a small university town with a quaint downtown area, winding and narrow, cobblestone streets, cute shops, and a wonderful open market held every Saturday. We spent quite a bit of time browsing the market where we tasted local cheeses (including a 10-day old sheep's cheese), cherries, and macaroons. We also purchased from the market some locally made honeys, herbs, soaps and lavender, all of which Provence is known for. We later shared some quiche and an absolutely delicious crepe with nutella and coconut. YUM!!!

After a wonderful few hours in Aix-en-Provence, we visited Marseille. Unfortunately, we didn't like Marseille very much. It's a very large city, with tons of people, lots of shopping (while not necessarily a bad thing, it just had too many stores), and tons of restaurants. There was just an overabundance of everything, which made for an exhausting experience. The city seemed to drain our energy, unlike Aix which lifted our spirits nicely. Although we did leave Marseille with a good laugh - we had quite an entertaining exchange with several of the employees at one of the shops. It's what you get when you don't speak the local language - lots of good laughs!

After Marseille, we drove to Senaque Abbaye, an old monastery located in a very peaceful area, and which is known for its lavender fields. Unfortunately for us, the lavender wasn't in bloom yet. We then visited Les Baux, a perched village literally built into the mountain. There we had one of our favorite meals throughout the trip - a savory crepe with goat cheese, olive tapenade, tomatoes, lamb and ratatouille.... all fresh ingredients + French gastronomy = double YUM!!!