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| La Couvertoirade and a windmill on the hill; seen from a distance. |
Yet
Another Car Trip
It
seems we’re still on the theme of car trips. And why not? One of the reasons we
chose to stay in this part of France was our interest in the surrounding
area, and the many places to visit. So long as Mark and
Mary had their rental car, we were more than happy to accompany them into the Montpellier
countryside!
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| The entrance tower to the village. |
Today
we’re visiting an old Templar town, La Couvertoirade (and as many times as we’ve
attempted to pronounce this name, it still seems like there’s an extra syllable
in there!). Least you have forgotten (or never knew), the Knights Templar were
an organization of “warrior monks” started in 1119. They were heavily engaged
in the early Crusades to “recover” the Holy Lands, both as renowned fighters,
and, perhaps more importantly, by providing protection for the pilgrims. It’s
a long story—but what interests us here is the ongoing interest in their presence
all over France, even now, 700 years later.
To
be clear, the Templars were disbanded by King Philip IV of France in 1309 (the king was jealous
of their considerable power and fame, and also owed them a ton of money!). Early
on the morning of October 13th the Templars in France were arrested,
jailed, and most were tortured and executed. (It was a Friday, leading to the
superstition that Friday the 13th is unlucky.)
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| The entrance arch... |
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| ...and what lies beyond. |
By
now the remnants of the order has been picked over pretty thoroughly, and there are no
surprises. Still, France has many churches, abbeys, fortresses, and entire
towns that were built and occupied by the Templars. And La Courvertoirade is
one such town.
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| The chapel on the hill. |
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| View from the chapel on the hill. |
The village website promised a town full of tourists, but we limited the number of other
visitors by coming mid-week, in the winter, and during a pandemic.
And yet, there were three Porsches parked in front of the main tower entrance
when we arrived; just three guys out for a drive in the countryside. They were, however, more
interested in their drive than the town, and soon left. But I did have
an interesting conversation with one of them. He said he was an architect, and mentioned
that when he ran into a tough design problem, he always checked what the
builders in the Middle Ages did, because they certainly managed some lasting
solutions. (And I’ll just mention here that any legendary myths of the
incredible powers and knowledge of ancient builders are due mainly to survivorship bias: today we
see only their successes because their failures—and there were no doubt many—failed!)
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| Mark views the village from the chapel on the hill. |
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Moments before I took this picture a guy crossed the courtyard carrying a pizza and
disappeared into that door at the top of the steps. The town is, indeed, still occupied! |
It
was an meaningful introduction to what was a truly wonderful little town.
There are only about a dozen streets, but each is filled with plenty to see. By
now we were used to the cute artists’ galleries, the unique restaurants, the
satisfying cafes… all closed. So we were free to stroll the empty, cobbled
streets, enjoy the ancient tile roofs, and marvel at the 700-year old walls. I
for one really appreciate the physical texture of the stone and the tile. And
for that, La Courvertoirade does not disappoint!
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| We liked this guy, peering down from over the entry way! |
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| Stairs of stone. |
Another Day, Another Town: Avignon
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| Abbey St. Andrew seen from Avignon, across the river. |
Avignon:
not just home to the famous
bridge (Sur le pont d'Avignon / On y danse, on y danse…), but once home to the alternate pope (the
Alt-Pope?). It’s a yet another long story, part of the history of the tumultuous fourteenth
century which included several rounds of the Black Death that wiped out about a
third of the population of Europe. And we think we’ve got it bad!
We were all interested in visiting Avignon. I
remember being there some 30 years ago or more with my mother; Paula and I passed
through more recently but still a good while ago. Mark and Mary had spent a month
there; it was on their short list of places to live (eventually, though, they
settled on Paris). So we all had our reasons for a (re-)visit!
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| The covered market (Les Halles), with it's "living wall." |
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Street scene in Avignon. See that guy on the third floor, leaning on his elbow? He's not really there,
just painted in. Another fine trompe l'oeil, not uncommon in this area! |
Of course, as we expected pretty much everything
was closed. On a main street we did find a large boulangerie doing a brisk
business selling sandwiches and coffee to go. We took this opportunity to get
lunch for later, and then stood on the street corner sipping the surprisingly good
coffee. (Still miss the cafés, dammit!)
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| Slipping between the palace buildings on their rock outcroppings. |
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| A secret entrance? Or just for the servents? |
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| Oh good, we can get out of here! |
I could see spending some extended time in
Avignon. It’s a manageable size, walkable, yet with lots going on. It has a
modern, lively feel with a cherished and preserved past. And the theaters!
There seem to be dozens of tiny theaters throughout the city. All closed now
though, of course.
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| Façade of the Palais de Papes |
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| The thinly-populated square facing the palace. |
In addition to the famous bridge (or what’s left
of it; it no longer stretches all the way across the river) Avignon’s claim to
fame is the former Papal Palace, It’s quite a magnificent building rising from its rock outcropping, erected during the middle and late 1300s. There’s a huge
square in front of the vast façade; it’s easy to imagine it filled with café
tables and the noise of people enjoying themselves, eating and drinking. And
these days imagine it we must; the only people we saw were scattered around the
edges and sitting on the steps, eating sandwiches. Which reminded me… yes, lunch!
Mark and Mary had a spot in mind, and we followed them up to an overlook with a
fine view out over the river and the fabled (half-) bridge.
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| The famous bridge; or what's left of it. |
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| Ah, lunch at last! |
With the bridge and the palace both closed (of
course) we meandered through town on our way back. There was nothing
extraordinary, but it was pleasant. We strolled along one street
bordered by a small canal; apparently in times past this was where the dyers
lived and worked. The canal carried off the waste from the dying process, and,
later, drove water wheels to power the machinery. I’m sure it’s a much cleaner
and more pleasant today that when the dyers were at work!
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| The Hotel de Ville: city hall for Avignon. |
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| A canal through the dyer's discrict. |
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| What's not to like about this neighborhood! |
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A waterwheel, no doubt a 19th century addition. Plaque on the wall announces this to be
Rue des Teinturiers, Street of the Dyers.
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We found this odd sculpture on Rue des
Teinturiers. No explanation given as to by whom, or why, or when it was made!
Of interest to me (if unnoticed by everyone else)
was this unassuming building with its plaque announcing: “In November of 1782
Joseph-Michel Montgolfier discovered in this house the principle of hot-air
flight.” Yes, the one-time home of the two Montgolfier
brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, who pioneered lighter-than-air
flight using hot air balloons. To this day the French word for hot air balloon
is la montgolfière.
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| Home of the Montgolfier family, 1782. |
We never know what we will find on these
excursions!
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An early fight by the Montgolfier brothers.
Image: © Photos.com/Jupiterimages, via Encyclopedia Britannica |
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| Us, in Avignon. |
Wishing you all the best, wherever you may be!
Next up: No more car! Where will we go?
