France to Milan, and Tosca at La Scala

Drove from Embrum to Milan today. The drive up to the border was initially through valleys next to the Durance river which is obviously a kayaking paradise going by the number of slalom courses we saw in the river.

The road then went higher and higher, through Briancon which was on last year's Tour de France route and then into ski towns.

The border was at the highest point of our  journey, about 1,850 metres above sea level. i.e nearly four times as high as the Rimutaka summit!

The journey down into Italy was initially through a continuous series of tunnels and overpasses - the longest tunnel was about 4.5 kms. Then we went across the top of Italy to Milan on the autostrada - an uninspiring trip through industrial cities - very smoggy - but the autostrada was almost a straight line for 100kms - the Romans would be proud!

Our Milan apartment is on the ground floor with the carpark right next to it but we had to squeeze our vehicle through the narrowest gate to get there!

We got dressed up like the locals this evening and went to see Tosca at La Scala. A great performance in what is a magnificent opera house. And afterwards we wandered back to our metro station through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and past the duomo which is lit up beautifully at night.

    

Haute Alpes

We said goodbye to Mont Ventoux this morning but soon saw much higher mountains as we left the Drome and entered Haute Alpes (the high Alps).

We drove through spectacular rocky gorges, past hilltop villages and through valleys with huge orchards entirely covered by nets, past castles and lakes, and stopped for lunch looking down on one of the largest hydro-electric dams in Europe.

Tonight we are in Embrum, still part of Provence although the surrounding mountains and the chalet style houses seem a world away from villages like Bonnieux.

Embrum is built at the top of a rocky escarpment and has great views over the land below and to the lake and surrounding mountains. We're staying right in the old town's square near the impressive cathedral.

Sunday drive

Today we took a circular loop through more villages on the slopes of Mont Ventoux. 

We started with our local villages - Reilhanette and Montbrun-Les-Bains and then drove past many hilltop villages and saw lavender fields, plantations of olive trees, and even a chapel perched high on a huge rock.

Outside our air-conditioned car it was 35 degrees for much of the day.

We had lunch in Mollans-sur-Ouveze and ended our day at Brantes, a village we last went to 19 years ago. We even found the same potter we'd bought a gift for Cherry from in 1996 and bought from him again.

Only one restaurant in Montbrun-Les-Bains was open on Sunday night and of course it was fully booked so we went for a drive to some nearby towns high on a plateau (nearly 1000 metres altitude) and saw more lavender fields than ever. Found a nice bistro in Saint Trinit and both jumped at the chance to have a hamburger, a sure sign we've almost had enough French food.

Montbrun-Les-Bains, our nearby village

Reilhanette, where we are staying

A rebuilt chateau at Aulan

Chapel perched high on a rock at Pierrelongue

Chapel perched high on a rock at Pierrelongue

Buis-les-Baronnies

Mollans-sur-Ouveze

Lunch at Mollans-sur-Ouveze included gazpacho and steak tartare

Veaux

Brantes

Brantes

Lavender and borrie near Saint Trinit

Lavender fields near Saint Trinit

Matthew's dessert was a tiramisu crossed with apple crumble!!

Onwards and upwards

The last eight of us left La Raspaude this morning and went our separate ways. 

We had coffee at Les Terrasses in Bonnieux, looking out over the valley, while Matthew kept an ear on the Super 15 semifinal. 

Then we said au revoir to Bonnieux and Lacoste as we drove out of the Luberon, past Gordes and Senanque Abbey (which we finally saw with the lavender flowering), up into Haute Provence, out of Vaulcuse and into Drome, driving through the spectacular Gorge de Nesque. 

We went through tunnels cut out of the rock, saw numerous lavender fields and passed through some gorgeous mountain villages.

We are staying for two nights in Reilhanette. Our balcony and room have great views of the neighbouring town, Montbrun-les-Bains.