France part II

We left Paris and headed down to Provence where rented a sporty little Alpha Romeo stick-shift and toured some of the hill towns.  This was a stop Pete really wanted to make to see a Roman aqueduct.  It's the largest remaining Roman structure next to the Colosseum. It was massive.  We learned all about how it was made-can you tell my husband is an engineer? :-)

 It was also in a beautiful setting and we got to hike around the woods and riverside

 Then we stayed in this tiny, but beautiful hill town, Roussillon.  It was built up around an ocre mine and the surrounding hills are beautiful reds and oranges.

 Then we drove white knuckled on the tiny winding roads in our little stick shift, on to the Verdon Gorge.  It was worth it-a beautiful turquois river (tinted by some kind of algae) that cuts through enormous rock faces and flows out into a wide, picturesque lake.

 We hiked off the bridge up above the lake, it was an unbelievable setting!

We spent a couple days in the nearby town of Moustiers Sainte Marie-quite possible the most gorgeous hill town ever!  It's a walled city with a waterfall that cascades down the mountain and runs right through the center of town.

 It was a captivating place and seemed like something out of a storybook to me

 

We hiked the very long stone stairway up to the ancient church on the mountain above the town and loved the view of the little city and surrounding countryside.

The next day we hiked down to the river inside the gorge

 Pete had to jump in-it was not warm water.

 We tooled around this pretty spot for a while and then it was back on the road heading south towards Nice.

 Here is our trusty little Alpha Romeo

 We drove all the way to the coast and spent a few more days enjoying the French riviera, but I was bad and didn't take any pics.  Here's to a great trip with the best and most handsome tour guide-thanks babe!