Day 2:Marseilles to Graveson, Touch Down in Provence!

Day 3, Marseilles to Graveson

After all that happened yesterday I was happy to sleep in and take the morning off. I took a leisurely stroll around the block in search of what must be my favourite French pastry, the humble croissant. Not a 100m from my apartment I found an 'Artisanal Boulangerie' and cashed in on 2 croissants and a bottle of clementine juice from the local supermarché and that was brekka, all for €2.50, great success! I sat on my balcony and had a moment, not since Paris in 2005 had I tucked into such a good croissant!

For me the trick to a good croissant is to have an extremely flaky and crispy outer shell and a moist, buttery centre that is dense and rich. In SA we usually have these airy crispy things with no actual substance to it, or these massive heavy loaves of breads marketed as croissants. Such a simple piece of pastry, yet so difficult to get right...

Then it was off to train station, and a quick bus trip to meet up with my travel companions, Andrew and Candice Janke. We have known each other since we were 6 years old and as fate would have it, Cands and Janx (what our friends call them) were reunited some 4 years ago and they were wed about 18 months ago. They live in London England, Andrew is a successful Chartered Accountant for Credit Suisse, who holds a British Passport. I haven't seen them for 8 months, which has been really tough as they are two very special people  and having them around generally means late nights and not such upstanding behavior!

We met at the Airport at 11am sharpish, and I was treated with huge hugs and smiles, putting a lump in my throat... Happy days! 

Our destination, Graveson, is a tiny town of I would estimate a 1000 people. Lying 14km south of Avignon is situated smack bang in the middle of Provence, in the Cote-d-Azur region more specifically. It was chosen as such, as it would allow us to explore the region with short day trips in every direction.

Janx has taken the driving responsibilities, I don't trust my heavy right foot and being on the wrong side of the road. I addition, Janx is in love with our Ford Focus rental, and gets audibly excited as he approaches her every time. I just miss Rocco at home...

French drivers are terrible, they drive cheap cars, pushed to breaking point and at the million roundabouts/circles it seems that their game plan is to drive through it as quickly as possibly, minimizing the chance of an accident. Yeah right. Have missed my Scirocco R on a few occasions, to teach these gents a lesson!!!

After we hopped off the main highway, it was onto a small arterial road and on to the direction of St Remy and then Graveson. It was like driving through a worm hole, and into paradise. Boulangeries everywhere, small green grocers, narrow roads lined with massive Mediterranean oak trees, sparsely 5m from each other. Not good if you have photosensitive epilepsy! 

Less than 2hrs after leaving Marseilles we arrived in St Remy, a picturesque old town about 20minutes from our final destination. We found the local supermarché, U Express, the largest such supermarket in the area. Before we could even make it in I dragged Cands and Janx to the Rotisserie shop in the centre, and bought a rotisserie chicken for lunch, with a large bottle of jus. More on that fine specimen later.

Then it was off to the supermarché, gastronomic heaven! To call it a supermarket would not be doing it justice! The selection of fresh produce is astounding! Everything we bought was selected from freshly laid out trays, not prepackaged! Roma tomatoes, that have an indescribable shape, huge Zucchini, mushrooms, fennel bulbs, asparagus the works! In a small town supermarket! I was now getting excited! We picked up some supplies, duck(more on that when we eat it), some steaks, baguettes and lots of cheap vino! 

It became apparent that this was the way to do things, €120 for a stocked fridge, a bargain when you consider a fastfood take out meal is €10, and the quality and exotic nature of our purchases are factored in. 

10minutes later we arrived at our house in Graveson, it is a huge Chateau which has around 8, 2 bedroom apartments in it, sprawling lawns, fresh rosemary everywhere and a huge swimming pool... Paradise, right next to a huge church, with towering steeple and the customary gargoyles everywhere! 

I am going to separate my blogs into activities and food blogging, so as not to bore those that aren't interested in my entire trip and splitting it into manageable chapters. 

Thanks again for following, please leave a few comments,

Matty