Day 8, 11 June, Friday
We had decided to take a day off from vacation, that is relax around the campsite, swim and visit the town and I was looking forward to a nice sleep-in. Way too early (at 6:45 to be exact) I felt an crawling feeling on my arm. I brushed it away and slept a bit more then it came back and I opened my eye to see if I was imagining things. Egads – there was a small army of ants crawling over my arm! I shrieked and jumped out of bed and of course that woke Werner up. We spent about 15 minutes shaking things out and ridding to bed of its invaders then managed to sleep for another hour.
When we woke up, we discovered that we had been invaded in more that just the bed area. Good that I was planning to do laundry that day anyway – we stripped the sheets and checked everywhere. I discovered that they had made their entry by climbing up the pole of our awning. Fortunately the eco-friendly baking soda based spray cleaner works wonders against the little buggers. And even better, they did not get into any food. Count your blessings.
Towards the end of the afternoon we decided it would be rather dumb to spend 5 nights 1.5km from Chateauneuf-du-Pape and not visit the town, so we took a ride up the hill, checked out the village and rode on up to the castle ruins which had been part of our journeys for the past few days. The castle was built in the early Middle Ages and had many owners over the years, including one of the Avignon popes, John 22nd. Today it’s just a ruin, but nevertheless impressive and from the ramparts there’s a fantastic view up and down the Rhone valley and of miles and miles of vineyards.
After we got back we dined on the veal skewers we’d bought a couple of days before and a salad of greens I’d bought at the market in Orange. Dessert was a perfect Charentais melon also from Orange. Yum.
Freitag, den 11.6.
Morgens nach Aufstehen und Baguett holen war Zahnweh fast weg, nahm nach Frühstück noch Ibu und machten Wäsche- und Relaxtag, schrieben am Blog und gingen schwimmen. Am späten Nachmittag fiel Sara ein mit Rad die 2 km nach dem Ort Chateauneuf du Pape zu fahren. Na gut, Ausgehradeln war angesagt, aber der Ort liegt hoch am Berg (für Insider höher wie Nabburg von der Venedig aus).
Aber Mittelalter, enge Gassen, viel Pflaster, aber mit Turbo und ohne Gepäck gings ziemlich flott. Kirche zu, Weinhandlung zu. Also beschlossen zur Papstburg zu fahren, die nochmal so 50 m höher liegt. Und es bot sich ein phantastischer Ausblick bis zum Mont Ventoux und üppige Weinberge, begrenzt von gelb leuchtenden Ginster. Tolle Bilder geschossen und dann ohne treten bergabwärts (Eis für Kühltasche geholt) zum Campingplatz.
Dann briet Sara die Kalbsspieße und ich durfte Salat entstengeln, Tomaten und Zwiebel schnipseln und mit händisch entkernten Oliven verfeinern. Mit Pfeffer, Salz, Olivenöl und Essig dann angerichtet. Bonne appetit wünschte mein Exkollege Werner.