Day 9, Monday, July 13

My day started on my bike.  I rode into the village of Saint-Saturnin-lés-Apt which is about a 4 km roundtrip.  Yes, it's a short ride, but it's very hilly.

My water bottle is courtesy of Hubert Flechais at  Luberon Biking.

I believe this is the colline Perréal.

Peach Pancakes

After breakfast we ran a few errands in Apt and then drove to Lourmarin, a charming village on the southern side of the Luberon mountain range. It is well known for its high end cafés, boutiques, and restaurants.  

Some of the high fashion footwear on display along Lourmarin's main street.

It was lunch time when we arrived in Lourmarin, so we picked out a café with an appealing menu and dined there.  Our waitress told us this was their first day open, which is usually not a good time to go to any restaurant, but their staff hit the ground running and our meal was delicious.

Tomatoes with burrata cheese.

Freshly cut vegetables on top of hummus.

Tuna Tartare

Leaving  Lourmarin we drove back over the southern slope of the Luberon mountains and stopped at Le Chateau Canorgue which is a vineyard in the village of Bonnieux.  The Chateau was used as the main locale in the 2006 movie version of Peter Mayle's A Good Year which starred  Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. Our favorite rosé comes from this vineyard so we stopped in to purchase 3 bottles.

Leaving the vineyard our next stop was Rousillon.  A local artiste, Francoise Valente, is a favorite of Joni's and she wanted to purchase one of her prints.  Sadly she has retired since our last visit.  Our visit was not without merit, however, we each had a frozen sherbet to ward off the heat.

Returning to the scene of the accident, I fell off my bike during one of my early morning rides here in 2018, and ended up tearing my rotator cuff. 

Keeping to our routine, we were back at our B&B by 4 PM, leaving enough time for a swim, a nap, some blogging  and a shower, and still make our 8 PM dinner reservation which was at the Sanglier Paressux, in the hilltop village of Casseneuve. 

Amuse bouche

           Foie Gras...if you look closely you can see the limoncello jello on top of the foie gras!

Cold Petit Pois soup with gin, fried onion pieces, and pancetta

roast filet of pork with coconut milk

Sorbet to cleanse our palates

 

This was the view was from our dinner table.

La Fraise with lots of crunchy bits

Fruits de Soleil

Coucher de Soleil

Post dessert treats to go along with the coffee

Another fantastic dinner comes to a close!