France 2014: Lake Sainte-Croix, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Aiguines

Our first trip to the Gorge du Verdon was so action-packed that by the time we reached Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, it was already late in the day.  We wanted to get home before dark and before the onset of impending thunderstorms since it was difficult enough driving the gorge roads without having to account for those two factors.  Moustiers-Sainte-Marie was built on platform terraces about 100 meters up the side of a cliff, with the 8th Century chapel located another 800 meters further up the mountain.  A mountain stream flows through the middle of the village, cascading into small waterfalls.  We just had enough time to walk past some of the shops and have a quick lunch. 

We dined on the terrace of a pretty little café that was offering a lunch special of a "club sandwich" and chips.  We were expecting the typical North American club sandwich of bacon, lettuce, tomato and either chicken or turkey and were hoping chips meant French Fries.  What we got was a layered sandwich of sliced tomato and egg salad with a bag of potato chips.  This is the second time that we were surprised by some other country's definition of a club sandwich.  In Beijing, China, my club sandwich consisted of fried egg and pickle on toast! 

Our brief tour after lunch revealed the village's specialization in Faience pottery, which features tin-glazed earthenware. These works were more delicate with dainty, "grandmotherly" patterns and muted colours, compared to the more vibrant, glossy contemporary works that we have seen in places like Vallurus or Seillans.  We also watched a glass blower make pretty pendants for necklaces.

On the next sunny day, we decided to return to the Gorge du Verdon to complete the itinerary that we didn't have time for on our first trip.  En route to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, we again passed by the man-made Lake Sainte-Croix, whose emerald green colour is due to the high mineral content found in the water. It was so beautiful that we had to stop yet again to take more photos.  When we saw it at mid-day on our first visit, Lake Sainte-Croix was full of paddle boats and kayaks that were available for rent from the nearby beach.  This time, it was early morning and the empty lake felt so peaceful and calm.  With the sun high up in the sky, the glistening water took on a lighter shade of turquoise-green.

We then drove directly to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, arriving by mid-morning, and started on the 15 minute hike up the mountain to visit the Chapelle de Notre-Dame de Beauvoir that is perched near the top.  Ruins from the chapel's ancient defensive walls still remain and the hundreds of steep stone steps leading up to the church are lined with 12 stations of the cross that were used for pilgrimages.  After touring the little chapel, we continued on a 1 kilometer hike further up the mountain along a narrow cliff ledge, that provided some beautiful views but was a bit scary, especially when we had to pass people coming from the other direction.  We determinedly hugged the wall and let them pass us cliff-side.

As we hiked up the mountain toward the chapel, it was interesting reading the signs along the way.  One at the bottom warned of the last chance for a toilet (W.C.) before the climb, while further up, we found ourselves in the "Zone of Silence".  Our second visit to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie corresponded with the weekly farmer's market which stretched throughout the base of the village.  In front of one of the stalls was the tiniest dog that I've ever seen.  Wandering around the market, we picked up some different flavoured mini sausages including Herbs de Provence, Chipolte and Parmesan.  We also bought a few pastries including a coconut macaroon (as opposed to the meringue-based macaron) and a chocolate tart, which we munched on in the car before heading off to our next destination of Aiguines.

Aiguines is less touristy than Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and unlike the many pottery villages that we have visited, its main specialty is in wood turning and the production of wood products.  We found multiple shops that sold wood-based souvenirs including wine stoppers, bowls, spoons, board games like chess and checkers, and painted wooden figurines.

We were particularly taken with the pieces in the shop "Une Galerie Sous L'écorce".  The craftsmanship of wood-turner Yann Martel made even his functional items like bowls and vases seem more like works of art.  He had some lovely oval bowls with incredibly thin sides which were adorned with decorative horizontal ridges.  The pieces that caught our eye were his collection of wooden fruit–very realistic-looking apples and pears made of exotic woods and polished until they were shiny.  He even had a few apples cleverly made to appear like they had been bitten into, with dark bark representing browning flesh that had been exposed to air.  As souvenirs, we bought three apples of varying colours and patterns, made out of wood from different types of trees.  The darker, tan-coloured apple was made from an apricot tree, the red one from an amaranth tree which is found Guyana, and the light yellow one with the "bite" in it is made from boxwood, a tree commonly found locally in Aiguines.

Aiguines is also home to the Musée des Tourneurs Sur Bois, a museum that explores the history of wood-turning in the village, as well as exhibiting works by local artists.  Display cases feature wood carving tools as well as dioramas of various activities in the life of a wood-turner, including gathering wood from the forests and carving in his workshop.

The museum had an elaborate exhibit on the history of and the process used in the 1800s for creating the balls for the popular French game of boules, including examples of each step in the process.  A round wooden ball was carved out of a block of boxwood and then covered with nails in order to make it more durable.  By the 1920s, the use of smaller metal balls became more popular, but the wood-based balls are still produced today and used for specific types of boules games.

There were some amazing works by wood-turner Paul Texier, who creates complex art pieces of intricately linked spheres and rings, all made from a single piece of wood.  We marveled at his skill and wondered how he was able to get his spheres to seamlessly connect and embed within each other.  Pieces by other artists included a whimsically painted bottle of "Fromage-Whiz", a multi-layered flower and a cowboy hat.

The beautiful 17th-Century Renaissance-styled Chateau d'Aiguines stands in the western end of the village.  On each corner of the castle is a round turret or tower with colourful green, yellow, white and orange enamel-tiled roofs.  The chateau was surrounded by a stone wall that prevented us from getting a closer look, and did not seem open to the public.  An article on the internet indicates that it is owned by a private corporation which rents it out for special events.

Minutes away from Aiguines on Highway D71, the "Restaurant de L'aigle" (meaning eagle) had an outdoor terrace with a breathtaking view of Lake St.Croix and the mountains.  For lunch, we shared a duck salad with greens, walnuts, mushrooms, tomato, hard boiled egg and gizzards with a side of frites and mayonnaise.  I was hoping the gizzards would be like chicken liver, which I am fond of.  Unfortunately, they were nothing like that and I ended up eating around them.  The meal was not the greatest, but we were more interested in one last opportunity to admire the view before heading back home to Bargemon.