Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Day 1 - Marseille Airport to Venasque

I had a diesel Renault Twingo, from the car rental. I did not spend the money on navigation, because it would cost me around 100 eur for 5 days, instead I trust my instincts and a small map I took from the car rental office.

I should go to Venasque, north north north...Until see a lavender field... :)

The road was beautiful, in each village or small town has an entrance of main road with huge trees on both side, and you feel yourself in a tunnel covered with leaves. Lime stones and Mediterranean kind of plantation on small hills were illuminated with the early light of sun, which cover with mild orange color.
As I do not know the road, I was taking the circle junctions twice, to see all the possible road alternatives. I decided to stop in Avignon, before going to Venasque.

The city was covered with walls, and just beside it there was a Vaucluse river for stopping the old warriors to attack the city of Pope. During the middle age, when Rome was so vulnerable to attacks, Pope moved to Avignon for a period of time.

To be continued....


Monday, September 19, 2011

A couple of days before departure to Marseille

Sunday morning, warm and easy... I took my laptop to check the destination, and flight information. I knew that it was midnight, and I had prepared myself to sleep on restless seats of airport. It supposed to land 2:30 AM. and the car rental offices were opening at 6:30 AM...Hmmm... nice is not it... 


Anyway, when I check the date, I realized that I could spend only four days, because I forgot that flight was in the midnight. I called the agency and the only way was to change the departure day, because the turning ticket was a promotion and to change the other way around might cost me quite a lot of money. I had to make my mind immediately, because there was no flight in the following day, and the only proper flight was just 12 hours later .... :) Yeap I did it, packed and arrange all the stuff including changing the hotel and car rental reservation in 12 hours. 


My hotel, or lets say a guest room was 42 Eur Bed & Breakfast for single person. It was a good deal since  it looks nice from the web ...Maison Provancale just in a lovely village called Venasque. I checked that it was in the northern part of Provence and close to Sault, which is good since I would like to see the lavender fields at first.  


I was thinking about using local transportation, but when I checked the forums, it was so apparent that I should rent a car. Later on I realized that, it was the best option if you would like to see the rural parts of France.  For 5 days it cost me 200 Eur, but I learned just after I gave the car back that it was same price even I took it 2 days more.... :) Such kind of things may happen as I can not understand French...


To be continued...



Saturday, September 17, 2011

Adventure Begins - Provence

The idea of taking the photos of lavenders have been in my mind for a while. But it did not start with that thought. It had been started in one morning with a mail from Pegasus Airlines, about cheap flights to Europe.

I checked the destinations, and decided to go to Marseille. At that time I was thinking of Marseille is in Italy. :) It was somewhere in Mediterranean and it was enough for me. I bought the tickets without any hesitation in 10 minutes.

I got the visa, and time. So why not Marseille... :)

I did not make any plans, because what I would like to have is a spontaneous vacation. I had just booked the first day of my travel. Which was the 10th of August.

As the time was getting closer, I have started to look in the internet. And I realized that by chance I may see the lavenders. They are harvesting from July to mid August so I may have a chance for that. As it is close to the end of the harvesting, web forums were advising to go to northern part of Provence, since it was still colder.

Welcome



I have been thinking to exchange my thoughts, travel notes via blog page for a period of time. Now it is time to share... :)

It is time to welcome what Life brings you.... Open your arms, as much as possible, take a deep breath, close your eyes...And imagine every good thing is for you, and this is absolutely you... :)

Sunflower Seeds


Culture Differences...

Sunflower seeds are very common to be eaten by human in Turkey. It is one of the stress therapies as consumed mainly by the scene of a coast or by watching a soap opera.

It was so unbelievable to me when I realized that it is used only for bird feed, or sometimes only for salad dressing in Europe.

In order to prove that I have tested, with three friends of mine; Romanian, German and Irish. Only Romanian has the same use of Sun Flower Seeds... And in Wikipedia I found this;


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_seed

In-shell sunflower seeds are particularly popular in Mediterranean and Asian countries, including EgyptSyriaIsraelTurkey, and Malaysia, where they may be called garinimayçekirdeği, or kuaci. In Turkey, Syria and Israel they can be bought freshly roasted in shops andmarkets and are a common stadium food, while in Malaysia they can be bought freshly packed in various roasted flavors. They are also popular in countries worldwide including RussiaUkraineBulgariaRomaniaSpainChinaMoroccoIranCanada and the United States.




Success for Romanian ... :)


For German and Irish it is a bit hard to manage... :)