Into l’Ardèche

We spent Thursday night in Valence, and then on Friday morning we packed our bags and hit the road for Sabine’s parent’s country house in Ruoms, deep in the Ardèche. The Ardèche is a department of France west of the Rhone and northwest of Provence. It was described to me as being sauvage (very wild) and profound “really deep and isolated”.

Along the way we had a nice picnic lunch in Vogüé, did a quick driveby of Balazuc, one of the “Plus Beaux Villages de France” (most beautiful villages of France), stopped to look at the Pont d’Arc, a natural bridge carved by the Ardèche River, and visited the Domaine de Vigier winery, which happens to be owned and operated by Sabine’s uncle and many cousins.

Map showing out route from Valence to Le Teil to Vogüé to Balazuc to Vallon-Pont-d'Arc to Ruoms
Our route, for the curious
Vogüé, France
Vogüé, complete with castle
La Tour de France Feminine
We crossed paths with the women’s Tour de France
Pont d'Arc natural bridge
The Pont d’Arc over the Ardèche River
Ancient eau-de-vie
Some ancient eau-de-vie we found at the house

5 Comments

It’s a shame, that i can’t speak french – this country has so many facinating spots – but it’s hard to travel without the local language. I was been there only for skiing. Any more – have fun !!

Ha, I can’t speak French either. Well I mean, I’ve got a bunch of useful phrases under my belt, and I know a bunch of words. Especially food words. But really, it’s easy to get by without knowing much more than “pardon”, “merci”, and “ou sont les toilettes?”…

Great pictures! I like reading about your trip.

Thanks, it has been kind of a whirlwind so far. Three days left before we head home, and the blog is now two days behind real life, so…there’s more to come.

Yes..but you also glad to have your dictionary stephanie ;-)

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