Whirlwind In A Mama's Head

 On the day we left Valensole, we had a long drive ahead of us. Our overnight stay that day was in Arconcey, where I booked a BnB in a cute little farm. It was towards the end of our trip and I was starting to feel tired of all of the driving, so I wanted more stops in between. The Drive from Valensole to Arconcey was more than 5 hours long so we made stops in three different places, The first one was the Marseille soap factory and museum in Salon de Provence, simply because I wanted to see it. Then our next stop that day was in Avignon.  Avignon actually has several points of interests, but we didn’t really have time to visit many things there considering the amount of driving that we still needed to do that day. We parked the car in a paid parking lot near the old town and explored just the old town, or the shopping streets to me more precise. We had lunch there and simply walked around. 

  Did you know that France is famous for its soap? More specifically, Marseille soap or Saveon de Marseille. These traditional hard soap have been produced in Marseille and Salon de Provence area for 600 years. In the 17th century, Louis XIV introduced a regulation stating that only soaps made with Olive oil can be called Savon de Marseille, but the regulation has since been amended so that soaps made with other vegetable oils can bear the name. 

  One of the main highlights of our trip is the visit to the famous Lavender fields of Provence, France. You know, the rows or purple flowers in photos all over Instagram? The time of our visit was just the right time to see the lavenders in bloom, so I was very excited about it.  In the Provence area, Valensole is one of the most popular village to visit to see the lanvender fields. The fields are actually outside the village, but you can stop in Valensole for meals, shopping, and accommodation. So after our stop in Mandelieu / La Napoule, we continued driving to Valensole. It was close to sunset when we approached Valensole, and just a few minutes before we reached the village we spotted several cars parked on the street side and people walking in the field. It was one of the Lavender fields! Excited, we made the quick decision to follow suit and parked. The lavenders weren’t as purple as I had seen in pictures, but it smelled so good! One thing we realized at that time was ...

 The drive from Ventimiglia Italy to our next main destination was a bit long, so we took two stops on the way. One was Monaco, simply because it was Monaco. The other stop was Mandelieu/La Napoule in France because it was right in between and looked interesting. 

  After we checked out of the agriturismo in Ventimiglia, we continued driving towards France. The French-Italian border was actually just 7 minutes away! We kept driving to our next stop: Monaco! As an Indonesian citizen, the first thing that comes to mind when Monaco is mentioned is the similarity between our flags. They are both red and white, and the only difference is in the ratio between the width and height of the flag. Another trivia info: Poland’s flag is the same colours but with the white on top. In case you are wondering, though very small, Monaco is a country that’s a sovereign state only larger than Vatican. Despite the size, it is also known as one of the wealthiest and most expensive places in the world. It’s a place where the crazy-riches hang out, and you need to have an invitation to live there. One of the most famous person tied to Monaco is Grace of Monaco. Also known as Grace Kelly, the American actress became the Princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rai...

  The town of Finale Ligure is a beach town located between Genoa and Ventimiglia. We made a brief stop here just to look around. We parked in a paid parking lot right by the beach and walked around the old town. The beach was somewhat busy, though I’m sure it will get busier in July. Here we entered St. John The Baptist Basilica, it was beeeautiful inside! Finale Ligure is also famous for their olive oil, specifically the Olio Salvo Finale.

  After spending 2 nights in Parma, we continued our journey towards France, along the Italian Riviera. That day, we left Parma in the morning and started driving towards Ventimiglia, the closest town to France in Italy. Between Parma and Ventimiglia, we made several stops. The first one is Genova, or Genoa. Don’t confuse this with Geneva, as they are two different places :D Genova is a large port town in the Italian Riviera. It’s the capital city of the Liguria area of Italy, and it’s a very busy one, The old town is known for their very narrow lanes, so the buildings looks like they’re almost touching each other. This place is also where the Pesto alla Genovese originates from.  When we arrived in Genova, it was around lunch time. We parked in a paid parking lot (Park and Ride) where my parking skills were put to test. The X5 we rented has an auto parking feature. But either we were not using it right, or it was not able to squeeze itself in to the extra tight parking spot. ...