Today we had pre-booked a private all-day tour with Laurence from Provence Exclusive.  As previously mentioned, Laurence generously picked us up yesterday from the Avignon TGV station and brought us to our hotel, which was lovely.  We had planned the day together by email, I had told Laurence the sorts of things we wanted to see and she suggested an itinerary which we were very happy with.

We started off in St. Remy de Provence and spent some time wandering around the local market which was lovely.  We also walked around the town and Laurence pointed out the house where Nostradamus was born.

Next, we headed up to Les Baux.  Due to time constraints we mainly viewed the site from the car, getting out for photo opportunities before heading on to Arles, which was a town I had particularly requested. We spent quite a lot of time in Arles viewing the Roman arena and other Roman sites.  Laurence had amazing knowledge of the town and the history which brought the whole place to life.  She showed us where the river boats were docked and finally took us for lunch at a local café, the White Mule, where we ate a local pork and cabbage dish washed down with Provencal wine.   Delicious.

After lunch we drove to Pont du Gard where again we had a couple of hours to spend.  It was bitterly cold due to the Mistral blowing, but beautiful and sunny and we got to walk across the Pont and take some amazing photos.

After our travels Laurence dropped us back at the hotel, promising to pick us up on Friday and transfer us back to the TGV station for our train to Barcelona.

Before dinner we did some wine tasting at a little wine bar named Le Vin Devant Soi.  I had hoped to get to Chateau Neuf de Pape for tasting but we didn’t have enough time.  At least in this little wine bar we could try some of the famous, and very expensive, Chateau Neuf de Pape wines.

The day ended with a marvellous dinner at another restaurant recommended by Laurence, Le Brigadier where we ate Confit of Lamb and shared two desserts – Apple Clafoutis and Chocolate Mousse.