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Travelling Around France - Provence Orange and Valence
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Travelling to and around France -
In the previous article in this mini series, I had left the main A9 motorway, to take the A54 into Provence and gave you just a quick tour of some of the wonderful Provencal places to visit. With Provence, land of the artists, and never ending clear blue skies, I could write a book as in my opinion it is truly the nicest part of France. They say about Provence, “It is in One’s Heart”, and with me this is certainly so. When I leave Provence, I literally do leave a large part of my heart there. My eldest daughter, Rebecca moved to Salon de Provence for just 11 months in the summer of 1991. She has been there just over 13 years now, and was married to Lionel, in the beautiful Hotel de Ville’ in the centre of Salon, during August 1999. My youngest daughter, Victoria, also lives in Provence, and, luckily, just 10 kilometres from her sister. Victoria first moved there in the autumn of 1996 to stay with her sister for just a few months, but like Rebecca met her future husband there, and married in a pretty little village on the west coast of France, in the region of Bordeaux, during the summer of 1998. Her husband being in the military we have ‘chased’ them all over France during the past few years. So leaving my two daughters, son in laws, and four young grandchildren in the heart of Provence, I will take you back onto the motorway and head north, on the A7 motorway.
Orange is our first port of call, where to visit one of the best preserved Roman theatres is a must. It still seats 9,000 people for concerts, with near-perfect acoustics, and has an impressive stage wall building, over 100 feet high, which contains a niche with a statue of Caesar Augustus. Sadly, apart from the impressive Roman Theatre, there isn’t a lot to detain you and it is best to continue the journey north without much delay. Our next stop off point will be Montelimar, the city of ‘Nougat’. Historically, nougat goes back several centuries and it is thought to have been imported by the Greeks, via Marseilles into the south of France. It is a very popular commodity all over Provence and, in fact, much of France. During the 17th century, almond tree’s arrived in the area, and the almonds, mixed with lavender from Provence, walnuts and nougo soon became nougat. Montélimar specialized in the making of nougat whiter, and more tender than any other nougat in the world.
Our next stop on the A7 is Valence, home to some of the most celebrated vineyards of France. Valence is called a ‘midi’ town, in other words southern, compared with Vienne further north on the A7, and the light, smells and ambience of Provence and the south of France are all around.
Napoleon attended military school here, at the age of 16. The cathedral St-Apollinaire, built 1095, around the time of the First Crusade, had to be completely rebuilt, after a local baron caused considerable damage during the wars of religion. Valence is the capital of the region of Rhone-des-Alpes, and is in the department of ‘Drome’. All departments in France carry a two figure number, which not only appears on vehicle registration plates but also shows up as the beginning of all postal codes. The department ‘Drome’ for instance, is number 26. With this system it is easy to recognize ‘locals’ whilst driving through France, because it is compulsory, that within six months of moving to a different area, all number plates have to be changed to correspond to that area. This cannot be avoided, because when next taxing your vehicle, it is automatically changed to correspond with your post code. New registration plates have to be purchased each time you move from one department to another, which makes locating the owners of abandoned vehicles very easy. You may move just a few kilometres over the border of a department, but the rule still applies.
From Valence we stay on the A7 and head for Roman-sur-Isére, which still has a thriving traditional leather and shoe industry and a large car component car factory. The town boasts museums dedicated to shoes including displays from early Egyptian through to modern times. The 12th century Romanesque church monastery of Saint Bernard houses a series of 14th century tapestries.
This whole region is very picturesque and extremely popular with outdoor activities, including golf, cycling and hiking. My next place en route is Vienne, and it is at this point I will take the A47 toward Clerment-Ferrand.
I will not be taking the fastest route to the north of France, to reach the exit points to the UK, which would be to continue to Lyon. In my opinion this is a less interesting route, but please don’t mention this to a Frenchman from that area.
I will be taking you through the middle of one of the most renowned French Resistance regions used during the World War II.
Firstly we arrive at St Etienne, which in the winter, with its snow capped peaks is wonderful to view. St Etienne boasts a very dry climate and during the days of winter has clear and sunny deep blue skies. It reminds our family very much of ‘Heidi’ country, as it is not unusual to see shepherds waiting whilst their sheep graze on the grass of the mountains. Even now you will find that shepherds still live in their small mountain huts, just as they did some few years ago.
Here we will stop, until next week, when we continue on the A72 motorway and across to Clermont-Ferrand.
Article provided by kind permission of The Leader Newspaper (Written by Jill Attfield)
Boulogne House for Sale - Brittany Home for Sale More articles in this series: 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 18 - 19 - 20
In the previous article in this mini series, I had left the main A9 motorway, to take the A54 into Provence and gave you just a quick tour of some of the wonderful Provencal places to visit. With Provence, land of the artists, and never ending clear blue skies, I could write a book as in my opinion it is truly the nicest part of France. They say about Provence, “It is in One’s Heart”, and with me this is certainly so. When I leave Provence, I literally do leave a large part of my heart there. My eldest daughter, Rebecca moved to Salon de Provence for just 11 months in the summer of 1991. She has been there just over 13 years now, and was married to Lionel, in the beautiful Hotel de Ville’ in the centre of Salon, during August 1999. My youngest daughter, Victoria, also lives in Provence, and, luckily, just 10 kilometres from her sister. Victoria first moved there in the autumn of 1996 to stay with her sister for just a few months, but like Rebecca met her future husband there, and married in a pretty little village on the west coast of France, in the region of Bordeaux, during the summer of 1998. Her husband being in the military we have ‘chased’ them all over France during the past few years. So leaving my two daughters, son in laws, and four young grandchildren in the heart of Provence, I will take you back onto the motorway and head north, on the A7 motorway.
Orange is our first port of call, where to visit one of the best preserved Roman theatres is a must. It still seats 9,000 people for concerts, with near-perfect acoustics, and has an impressive stage wall building, over 100 feet high, which contains a niche with a statue of Caesar Augustus. Sadly, apart from the impressive Roman Theatre, there isn’t a lot to detain you and it is best to continue the journey north without much delay. Our next stop off point will be Montelimar, the city of ‘Nougat’. Historically, nougat goes back several centuries and it is thought to have been imported by the Greeks, via Marseilles into the south of France. It is a very popular commodity all over Provence and, in fact, much of France. During the 17th century, almond tree’s arrived in the area, and the almonds, mixed with lavender from Provence, walnuts and nougo soon became nougat. Montélimar specialized in the making of nougat whiter, and more tender than any other nougat in the world.
Our next stop on the A7 is Valence, home to some of the most celebrated vineyards of France. Valence is called a ‘midi’ town, in other words southern, compared with Vienne further north on the A7, and the light, smells and ambience of Provence and the south of France are all around.
Napoleon attended military school here, at the age of 16. The cathedral St-Apollinaire, built 1095, around the time of the First Crusade, had to be completely rebuilt, after a local baron caused considerable damage during the wars of religion. Valence is the capital of the region of Rhone-des-Alpes, and is in the department of ‘Drome’. All departments in France carry a two figure number, which not only appears on vehicle registration plates but also shows up as the beginning of all postal codes. The department ‘Drome’ for instance, is number 26. With this system it is easy to recognize ‘locals’ whilst driving through France, because it is compulsory, that within six months of moving to a different area, all number plates have to be changed to correspond to that area. This cannot be avoided, because when next taxing your vehicle, it is automatically changed to correspond with your post code. New registration plates have to be purchased each time you move from one department to another, which makes locating the owners of abandoned vehicles very easy. You may move just a few kilometres over the border of a department, but the rule still applies.
From Valence we stay on the A7 and head for Roman-sur-Isére, which still has a thriving traditional leather and shoe industry and a large car component car factory. The town boasts museums dedicated to shoes including displays from early Egyptian through to modern times. The 12th century Romanesque church monastery of Saint Bernard houses a series of 14th century tapestries.
This whole region is very picturesque and extremely popular with outdoor activities, including golf, cycling and hiking. My next place en route is Vienne, and it is at this point I will take the A47 toward Clerment-Ferrand.
I will not be taking the fastest route to the north of France, to reach the exit points to the UK, which would be to continue to Lyon. In my opinion this is a less interesting route, but please don’t mention this to a Frenchman from that area.
I will be taking you through the middle of one of the most renowned French Resistance regions used during the World War II.
Firstly we arrive at St Etienne, which in the winter, with its snow capped peaks is wonderful to view. St Etienne boasts a very dry climate and during the days of winter has clear and sunny deep blue skies. It reminds our family very much of ‘Heidi’ country, as it is not unusual to see shepherds waiting whilst their sheep graze on the grass of the mountains. Even now you will find that shepherds still live in their small mountain huts, just as they did some few years ago.
Here we will stop, until next week, when we continue on the A72 motorway and across to Clermont-Ferrand.
Article provided by kind permission of The Leader Newspaper (Written by Jill Attfield)
Boulogne House for Sale - Brittany Home for Sale More articles in this series: 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 18 - 19 - 20
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