We make it to the top and there we see the magnificent ruins of the castle. Not much is left of the papal fortress , that was blown up by the Germans in 1944. From here we also have some great views of the Rhone Valley with vineyards as far as the eye can see.
After exploring the ruins and of course taking pictures from every angle possible, we decide it's time to head back to the car before it gets too dark. On our way we pass by the barrel again with the bottles of wine on top. We decide to take a peek inside this "cave" and discover that it is a wine tasting room. Right On!! During our tasting the "sommeliere" was very informative not only about the wines we tasted but also the wineries throughout the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region. We were able to sample some of the full-bodied reds that are one of the most renowned through France as well as the lesser known whites which were also exquisite. 
We both picked our favorites and purchased a couple of bottles. You will know when you are buying an authentic bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape by the crossed keys of the chateau embossed on each bottle.
Well, sad but true, this magnificent day has come to an end. But we are excited about our departure tomorrow for the Brittany and Normandy regions of France!
If you would like to see more pictures just go to Wheres Debbie and click on the album "Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
After I had my fill of samples I picked out a couple of tapenades to purchase along with some lavender honey and olive oil for myself and my daughter Crystal.
It's now time for a hot toddy.....yep, Irish coffee for me and beer for Stijn. We pick a little cafe with seating on a terrace facing the canal and a water-wheel. We then decide to walk along "place de la Liberte" to take a look at the shops that line this cobblestone street. This narrow street opens onto a small square and there we see the 17th century church, Notre-Dame-des-Anges.
Satisfied with our day we decide to head home. Stijn prepares a platter of meats, cheese, olives and bread and we settle in with a glass of wine by the fire and reminisce about our day.
We make it to the top to see the Randonne Tower. The tower was built around 1280 and was used at the time as a military prison for the castle. In the 19th century it was converted into a chapel and renamed "Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours". This was well worth the climb!
Now off to Vaison-la-Romaine. There are 37 acres of excavated remains here of two Roman districts where exceptional ruins of the Roman period have been uncovered. However, because of the time of year we are here, they are not open to the public. Rats! So we head to the town's medieval quarter, "Haute Ville". I see another climb in store for today! Our purpose is because we can see the ruins of a castle which stands high above "Haute Ville". As we walk through cobblestone lanes and alleys, we stop to admire old photographs of people depicting an era gone by which have been reproduced and hung on the walls of buildings throughout the village.
One last cobbled stairway to climb...............
and we are at the top! Here we see the ruins of a castle built in the 12th century and that had been partly reconstructed in the 15th century.
Happy once again with our unexpected twists and turns of the day we sit and enjoy the view looking down on Vaison-la-Romaine thinking, we are two very lucky people.
You can see more pictures of our day at Wheres Debbie and click on the albums "Nyons" and "Vaison-la-Romaine".
The house is also perfect! The 3 floors consist of a living/dining area, a full bath and a bedroom on the main floor, the kitchen, a small bathroom and an eating area with french doors leading onto a terrace on the second floor and a huge bedroom on the third floor.After a little breakfast we enjoy the sunshine from the terrace and get our first glimpse of what we will be experiencing over the next few days. Breathtaking! 
Well believe it or not we are ready to take a little drive! We take a look at the books on Provence that we have and decide to visit Valreas. It wins our vote because it is only about 10 miles away! So away we go, but of course we spot a little village on our way to Valreas and we must explore. Right? This little village is called St. Pantaleon-les-Vignes and is surrounded by vineyards. We park at the Town Hall and start to walk towards a little square. We come upon this bridge that is crossing over a river and the view is amazing, so we stop to take pictures.
We spot a bell tower and start to walk towards it through the cobblestone streets, passing Provencal homes that are surrounded by low stone walls. After seeing the church we decide to head back to the car but on the way Stijn spots a sign and informs me that it reads "Wineries". Cool! I'm in France and I'm going to get the chance to do some wine tasting! Then I am reminded that today is Sunday. You see in Europe pretty much everything is closed on Sundays and I do remember this from my previous travels to Europe. But hey, doesn't hurt to go check it out, right? So back to the car we go and we drive in the direction of a winery. The first one we see is Domaine Gigondan so we pull in and park. I want to at least take some pictures of the winery and the vineyard and the added bonus of a lavender field, even though I'm not going to get to do any wine tasting. There is a dog barking in the yard of this magnificent villa and when I turn my attention in that direction I see a man standing on the balcony. So I wave hello and he waves back and goes inside and within a few seconds he comes and greets us. Of course now Stijn must do all the talking because I don't know a lick of French. Well I can say Bonjour! So they are chatting and I said to Stijn, "ask him if we can do a wine tasting". Stijn asks, and we are walking through the doors of a winery in France!!! I am a happy girl!
The tasting room was a little part of the whole operation tucked in one corner along with gifts to purchase while cases of wine covered the floor in the center of the building and the production was at the back. Our host, the vintner was magnificent and answered all our questions. After spending about an hour tasting all the great wines we decide we better head out to our original destination.
We arrive in Valreas and follow the signs to the historic city center, park and start our next walk through some more cobblestone streets. As we walk along the Grand Rue we pass several beautiful homes built in the 17th and 18th centuries. We are impressed with the Norte-Dame-de Nazareth built in the 12th century and the Chateau des Simiane built in 1640 which now houses the Town Hall.
The sun is setting and it is getting a bit chilly so we decide to head back to Venterol. But not before stopping at a little bakery, which by the way will become the first stop of many bakeries during our time here in Provence.
So what do we get? A great looking meringue dotted with some strawberries. This thing was huge. I think this was a good choice.
We head home, start a fire, pour some wine and plan for our next adventure tomorrow.
Click on the albums St Pantaleon and Valreas at Wheres Debbie to see more pictures of our day.
It's January 10th and it is an absolutely beautiful day for a drive and TomTom takes us through France via the A31 and A6. I have only been to France once before and it was to Paris by train from Ider Oberstein Germany. So to be able to drive through places like Nancy, Dijon and Lyon was a real thrill for me. No time for stopping though, we need to be in Venterol........before dark.
TomTom now tells us to take the A43 towards Grenoble. I am a little puzzled by this. Of course we do not have a good old fashion "map" with us, so we are in trusted to TomTom. However, I do have my books on Provence that Stijn bought me for my birthday back in October, and they have maps! And I have directions to Venterol printed out from an email sent to me by my exchanger. So I question this sudden detour from the written directions and Stijn surprises me with "I put in for the scenic route option". COOL! I love taking scenic routes. He is so sweet and thoughtful.
It was a great choice as this route took us through the Haute-Alps de Provence and we did see some amazing scenery.
Driving through little villages on narrow winding roads while stopping every now and then to take pictures of these incredible snow covered mountains was certainly an unexpected treat. But Stijn reminds me that if we are going to get to our destination before dark, I need to stop taking pictures. He's right, because the sun is slowly setting and just the tops of the mountains are showing the last signs of daylight. I'm still a bit puzzled though. I have not seen a sign for Venterol in a very long time. I continue to try and compare where we are in relation to the very limited map and direction resources that I have. And I continue to voice these doubts to Stijn who at one point is very happy to assure me that I need not worry and that I certainly do not need the book anymore because TomTom will get us there. Okay then, away with the book with the map and the only directions that we have and I sit back and enjoy the ride.
Well, it's dark now and we are somewhere in France, not Venterol, but somewhere. We start a descent from our mountain drive and see the lights of a village down below. Yeah!!! We are nearly there. As TomTom directs us through this cute little town, which by the way is NOT Venterol, we see a market and decide we better stop and buy some groceries. Now I have to stop here and tell you something that I was very impressed with while doing a little shopping. Stijn got us a grocery cart because we were going to need quite a few things for our stay in Venterol. We unloaded our goodies into the car and Stijn asked if I would return the cart and he would pick me up from there. And then he said something about "don't forget to get the money back". Okay? So I am now in front of the cart return which has a canopy over it and I am looking for some sort of box or something where I'm supposed to take money from? Then I notice that there is a coin inserted in this little box that is on the handle of the cart. So I proceed to try to pull it out. It's not coming out! What the heck do I do? Then I see a chain dangling from another little box on the cart behind mine. Okay, I probably have to put this chain into the back of my box and..........COOL! The coin releases and I'm just in time to jump in the car.
Well we have certainly missed our target time of 6:00pm, it's dark and TomTom directs us to, Journey On! We drive up and over more mountains and with every village that we see illuminated in the dark in the distance we are hopeful that it would be the one, Venterol! Still no signs though reading "Venterol" with maybe a clue of how many more kilometers we need to go. Then it happens. We are in the town of Tallard and after a short drive through the narrow streets TomTom directs us to take a right and behold.......a sign with the name Venterol on it!!!! We high five each other and we are ecstatic that we are nearly there and Stijn is very proud of his TomTom.
Up another mountain we go, and go, and go. The lights below becoming smaller, and smaller, and then just disappear. I am looking as far ahead as I can after each corner that we turn in hopes of some sort of indication that the village of Venterol is just ahead. Lights? Maybe another vehicle would be nice? The road up this mountain becomes very narrow, steep and icy. And then it happens! We pull into this little village and TomTom annouces "You have reached your destination, Good-Bye". Hmmmm. So here we sit in the dark on top of a mountain and Stijn asks "which way do we go"? "Well I don't know honey because this doesn't look anything like the pictures that were sent to me" I reply. So we decide to take this street that is just ahead of us and make an attempt to continue to "climb". But we are now dealing with some more ice and we are both not comfortable with this decision. So we back up onto a side street and Stijn decides to walk back down the hill to the Town Hall we had passed on our way up and hopes to ask someone "Where are we"?
He returns to the car with no answers. So I told him that I noticed some lights on in this little house here to our right, "maybe you could go and ask them", I suggested. So he does just that and when he returns he shares with me that this is indeed Venterol, however there are two Venterol's and this isn't the one we want. Hmmmm. So he turns TomTom back on puts in Venterol again and indeed there are two Venterol's listed. He just happened to choose the Venterol in the Hautes-Alpes de Provence as opposed to the Venterol Drome. Who knew? I did ask though, but you said you put in for the scenic option. This is when I learned there is no such option. Funny guy!
Before we leave this mountain top village Stijn re-programs TomTom and our directions are set once more. But, he asks if I would get the book out with the "map" and see if I can tell exactly where we are and which way we should go to get to Venterol. Hmmmm. Capitol idea!
We make it back down into the valley and TomTom and I are in agreement with the direction we should take. I must tell you though I am ready for a potty break! This would only be my second one during this entire 14 hour trip. So when we come upon a rest stop Stijn stops and I run to the restrooms only to find this.........
Okay, well do I really have to go that bad? Luckily there was another stall with an actual toilet in it, just missing the seat though.
We are absolutely starving now so we pull some bread, cheese and meat from our groceries and enjoy eating it while heading to Venterol, which is about another hour or so away. We actually thought about even opening one of the bottles of wine we had purchased to have with our meal. It was a fun thought but we decided against it. And thank goodness we did. As we came upon another small village we notice up ahead that there is a road block. Of course we just thought this was because there might have been an accident or something. We are stopped by the police officer and Stijn is asked to do a breathalizer test. Turns out that tonight happens to be the night they want to do spot checks for drunk drivers. All we could say was "Thank goodness we didn't open that bottle of wine"!
Now we're seeing signs! I am a happy girl. We arrive in the town square and park the car and take a walk to try and find our house. We actually only had to turn one corner and we were there. I unlocked the door and we fumbled our way in the dark to the power box based on the directions I was given. A flashlight would have been real handy for this, but we persevered. Then down to the lower room of the house to turn on the water and we are set! After we unloaded the car, Stijn started the fire that had already been set for us and all we needed to do was strike a match to it.
It's now about 10:00pm and we are settled in and exhausted. But we can't help but look back on our day and laugh together about what we had to go through to get here. And from what I can see so far, it was worth it!
If you would like to see more pictures of our drive through France go to Wheres Debbie and click on the album "On Our Way"
What an amazing experience! Home Exchanging has given me the opportunity to visit so many places that I really didn't think I would ever visit. Especially places I had never even heard of before, like Lymington England.
If you want to travel and really save a ton of money, home exchanging is the way to do it. The benefits are numerous. In addition to the normal touristy things you would do while on vacation, home exchanging gives you the opportunity to really immerse yourself in the places that you visit. Basically you experience the area as a local, not a tourist.
The concept is simple, you stay in my home while I stay in yours. It works for families with children, retired people, singles, international vacations, regional vacations and even long weekends. You can even do non-simultaneous exchanges if you and your exchanging party agree. The best part is when you arrange an exchange, your accommodations are FREE!
There are several sites like Digsville.com, HomeLink USA.com and HomeExchange.com where you can list your home. There are even sites geared specifically towards singles or retirees. Typically these sites require an annual membership fee. You post pictures of your home, describe your home and the city where you live and a little bit about you. Then list the destinations you would like to visit!
So this is how I get to Provence! Actually, I was really looking for another possible exchange to England. After my exchange to Lymington in March 2008 I absolutely fell in love with England and I was looking into other areas I might like to visit when I came across a listing that sounded like it would work for me. As it turned out this one had an additional listing, Provence. I emailed the member regarding a possible exchange to his home in England and in the process he suggested that I might also like to incorporate a stay at his vacation home in Provence. With a few emails back and forth working on some possible dates, I finally come up with January. Well, I must give credit where credit is due. Actually it was Stijn who came up with the idea of suggesting that I ask my perspective exchanger if we could do the exchange in January. Stijn thought this would be a great idea for a little trip while I was in Europe for 30 days.
Hmmm, catchy title.
So all is agreed, the key is mailed to me and our trip to Provence begins!
Well it's January 9th and we are headed off to Provence for our home exchange! 
