Gorgeous Gordes

After the monster day that was climbing the Ventoux, we transitioned to our second stop on the cycle tour, Gordes.

The ride was what would normally be a comfortable 40km, but somehow it seemed a little tougher than that. The ride itself was fantastic (save for some very French roadworks with no detours and no notice given) as we wound our way through a bunch of little villages and riverside towns.







The real highlight though was reserved for the end of a 5km climb that finished the days ride and got us into the middle of the town of Gordes. We were literally plodding along through stoned walls and a pretty steady incline, not knowing what to expect, when to our right this scene appeared from nowhere:



Unbeknown to us, we had climbed to the lookout over the town of Gordes, which we eventually established was only meters from our hotel here.









The aspect of the town is amazing. The terracing is so steep that you are often next to the roofline of the next terrace down as you weave the little stone-covered alleys.



Apparently the first of the counter-sunk cave-style dwellings here pre-date the Romans, but the town has been abandoned and the re-inhabited a few times in its history. When times of prolonged peace made people more comfortable they would head down to the fertile plains below.


And then when conflict broke out they would again (literally) head for the hills. We actually went into some of the cave-style dwellings for a quick tour and saw where they had underground olive-oil presses near the top of the peak about 400 years ago.
There is some serious history here - even the little lockable stone hut that our hotel has given us to put our bikes in is from the 16th century!!!

As well as some riding out of this base, we have done some warlord-style damage to a couple of the local patisseries in town. Citrus tart for me, almond croissant for the wife.



We leave Gordes tomorrow after three great nights and take what should be a pretty easy cruise to Saint-Remy-de-Provence for out final night on the bike tour. From there we get our car and drive North to the foot of the Alpes and the edge of lake Annecy to meet friends coming down from Poland.

One more breakfast on the terrace before then.....






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