France Recap #4: Les Baux de Provence

Hi all! One of the places I wanted to see on our drive down to Nice was Les Baux de Provence. Several of my coworkers recommended this cute unique town and I have to say, it did not disappoint. It’s about 2 hours from Lyon or Nice but we decided to stop in our drive down to break up our 4.5 hour drive.Before leaving Lyon, we had our last breakfast at the Marriott. Most of my work breakfasts looked like this and I usually ate about half. I couldn’t brave the eggs this time although I learned after we left you can special order them well done – next time!After driving down the highway and several country roads that make you wonder if you are on the right path, you see the town of Les Baux. From a distance it looks like this random rock or the remains of an old castle.But, once you find a parking spot in the small lot (you pay for it by the hour), and walk inside, you see it’s actually a bunch of cute, quaint shops and restaurants.There are so many paths, stairs and walkways every direction you turn.We stopped for lunch at this Italian restaurant called Varieties that was run by a very cute husband and wife team.We decided to share both our dishes so we could try everything.

This salad was awesome and so fun to eat. He was happy to eat all the meat and we split the rest.

Each piece of toast was topped with olive tapenade, sun dried tomatoes or bruschetta. The salad mix had thick slices of parmesan, olives and olive oil with balsamic.I love this homemade pasta that came topped with this delicious pesto, olives, arugula and parmesan. Then, you mixed in each of the olive and sun dried tomato tapenades.

Hands down – this was my favorite meal of our trip!After lunch, we climbed up to the top to tour the Chateau Des Baux. You pay a small entrance fee but they give you a free audio headset in your language to listen to at each of the points.The history of this village is quite fascinating and it’s truly a maze walking throughout the 30 points on interest.At the very top, you get a view of the valley below.After the tour, we drove to our hotel in Nice and I let The Husband pick our place for dinner after being a trooper driving us the whole way.

We went to Hard Rock Cafe Nice and the menu is actually the same as in the US.

I had about 1/4 of his nachos.Because my Cobb salad was a bit wierd lol. It had pomegranate, pumpkin seed, cheese, avocado, chicken, black beans, super spicy canned corn, a bit of lettuce and tarragon aka ranch dressing.I’ll be back tomorrow with our walk through Nice.

Here are my France Recaps for this trip:

• France Recap #1: Road Tripping
• France Recap #2: Chateau de Crussol
• France Recap #3: La Tour de Crest

Night all!