France 2014: Road Trips to Trans-en-Provence and Cotignac

We had some really cool "cave experiences" on our next couple of road trips.  The first was a visit to Trans-en-Provence for lunch at the restaurant La Grotte, which is built into a huge cavernous space carved into the rocky hillside, complete with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, little private nooks in  sub-caves, and even a small water fall.  The funky mood lighting gave the cave eery tones of blues, greens and purples.

From the outside,  La Grotte looked like any other Provencal restaurant with a pretty outdoor terrace overlooking the village.  We even wondered whether we had the right place.  But as soon as we stepped inside, we knew we had found it.  It felt like we had stepped into Aladdin's cave and would soon come across the lamp with the genie in it.

For such a unique dining experience, it seems almost a bonus for the food to be good as well, but was it ever (although not inexpensive, as you might imagine).  We had decided beforehand to share an appetizer and each have a main course. As it turns out, the appetizer we chose, plus my main course fit into a 37 Euro set menu for the same price, so we got a third course for free and shared that as well.

We started with a very flavourful amuse bouche of zucchini mousse with a cream froth in a shot-glass that came with a very unusual spoon with a curve that allowed it to be hooked onto the lip of the shot-glass.  This was followed by a delicious appetizer of stuffed zucchini blossoms with smoked salt cod in a roasted crayfish cream sauce.  For the main course, I had the pan-fried veal in a coffee-cardamon reduction with carrots, fennel and some gnocchi à la Niçoise–not sure what was actually in that, but it was really tasty.  Rich had one of his favourite dishes, which was steak "Rossini" with fois gras, shaved truffles, fingerling potato and pearl onions.  Since we had a chocolate Opera cake waiting for us at home for that evening's dessert, we decided to go for the cheese plate as our third course.  There's just no comparison to the quality (and low prices) of cheese in France compared to what we can get back home. We were presented with three hunks of cheese all bursting with flavour including a Brie, a Camembert and a goat cheese.  This came with some figs and jam spread and a cup of leafy salad.  But the beige cabbage(?) leaves in the salad turned out to be a fourth cheese shaped to look like leafy salad fare, mixed in with a bed of greens.  It was both artistic and good.

 

Even before reaching the restaurant, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the waterfalls and cascades of the Nartuby River.  We walked along the riverside and then look back upon it atop the picturesque Bertrand bridge.

As we walked further along the river, we saw a group of men playing the game of boules or péntanque along the shore.  We've seen this game played in all sorts of settings at many of the little villages that we have visited.  It seems a bit like horseshoes where you toss the balls towards a target (the jack).  There are elements of curling, since you can knock away the opponents balls and the boule closest to the jack wins a round plus you count any boule closer to the jack than the opponents boules.  From the games I've watched, I don't understand how they tell which balls belong to which teams, since from where I was standing, they all seemed to be the same colour.

The rest of the town looked much like all the other towns, with the pretty Mairie (town hall), water fountains, church, shops and restaurants.  There were balloons in the front door of one home with a cute sign obviously written by a child that said "anniversaire de Pierre".  In the town square, we saw a congregation of cyclists, which is a common sight in the Var region, despite it being extremely hilly with narrow, windy roads barely wide enough for the cars.  I would not be brave enough or fit enough to ride in this area.

Our second cave experience was in Cotignac, just over an hour south-west of Bargemon.  The village is flanked by "Le Rocher", a rocky escarpment 400 metres wide and 80 metres high that contains many caves, crevices, stalactites and stalagmites, formed 80,000 years ago by the surging Cassole River.  In the 8th Century, the first feudal castle was constructed, of which some ramparts and two watch towers still remain.

Through the centuries, people lived in cave dwellings as troglodytes, or used them as hiding places for themselves and their livestock during times of invasion.  You can still find wire cages (dovecotes) that used to house homing pigeons used for communicating with the outside world from the caves.

It was quite the adventure to climb the steep steps, ramps, winding staircases and crawl through tiny tunnels that led up to the cave dwellings.  There were times when I did not want to look down and other times when I wasn't sure I would fit into the hole, let alone getting Rich through it.  One steep, winding staircase was so tiny that Rich had to go sideways down the steps, but he made it!

Though it was a long, hard climb to the top, the views were worth it.  It was interesting seeing the remnants of doors, windows, stairs, fireplaces and terraces in the caves and imagine the people who used to live there.

At the base of the cliffs, troglodyte homes and a hotel are available to rent.  It might be interesting to stay in a renovated cave, although it would probably cost quite a bit and might be damp?

The day we arrived in Cotignac, they were holding a huge flea market that spanned many streets and squares throughout the village.  These villages seem quite keen on their flea and antique markets. They even have official "Brocante" days where multiple villages will hold their markets at the same time.  While in town, we saw a line up of locals at a local boulangerie, which is always a good sign.  We joined the lineup and picked up a "sacristain" which was a light and flakey puff pastry twist with a custard filling and a dusting of icing sugar.  It was delicious and a nice change from the chocolate or almond croissants that have been our regular fare.

On the way home, we had another strange driving experience.  When rounding the corner of a sharp bend, we saw another car approaching madly flashing his lights.  A few seconds later, we saw what he was warning us about.  What seemed like a stampede of sheep, goats and big horned rams had taken up the entire road and were coming our way.  There was nothing we could do but stop and let them pass (I wonder how the oncoming car got by them??).  Trailing at the very end was the cutest little lamb, followed by some herd dogs and then a herder on a horse.  Does it seem like animals are naturally attracted to me and find me wherever I go?  It certainly feels that way!

We've had quite the excitement driving on these narrow, windy roads, since you never know what to expect when you turn the next corner.  On a previous trip returning from Vallauris, we decided to take the "scenic", non-toll route for a better view.  We were climbing a steep incline when suddenly several large transport trucks came barreling towards us, taking up the entire span of the road.  With deft skill and agility, Rich calmly reversed the car downhill, around several sharp turns before finding a place to pull into so that the trucks could pass.  As they did, one truck driver gave Rich a congratulatory salute.

Several minutes before that, as Rich and another car passed, there was so little room between them that Rich felt the passenger-side mirror gently scrape against the cliff wall while the driver-side mirror gently touched the other car.   After these two white-knuckle experiences, we decided we had seen enough scenery in this area and would take a nice safe toll road next time we needed to come in this direction.