Saturday we picked up the rental car in Avignon. We had to get the car there because the Avis location in Arles is closed on Saturday.
Our first stop was the Perrier source located south of Nimes. Since it was Saturday, the tour consisted of a 45 minute movie (in French) - during the week you visit the bottling operation etc but that part is closed on the weekend - we skipped the tour but hiked around the grounds and visited the chateau. That part of the trip was a bit of a disappointment but the next stop more than made up for it.
The Pont du Gard is incredible. Pictures and post cards don't do it justice. It and the Coliseum in Rome are the two most impressive historical sites I have ever seen. We did the museum tour then hiked out to the site. You can walk across the bottom section and then there's a little path that takes you up the hill too some great views. Awesome!!!!!!
We reserved a hotel room in the little town of L'isle sur la Sorgue. The Sunday market is pretty big - Valerie thought it was bigger than the Saturday market in Arles but I didn't. We spent most of the morning touring the vendor booths and then set out to visit the Luberon.
We visited a small village whose name I didn't write down then went towards Gordes. As we approached Gordes Valerie recognized the town of St. Pantelone as a village that we had visited on a van tour we took back in 1998. There is a small church there that has an interesting legend about babies being risen from the dead ( Is risen a word?)
We then drove through Gordes but decided it was to touristy and headed off to the Abbey Senaque. This proved to be a big problem as there is a little road that leads to the Abbey and there was a major traffic jam. We managed to get out of there and went over to Rousillon. We did a hike through the Ochre cliffs, had a beer, and headed for our Hotel room.
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