Chateau Virant, Lac Ste Croix and les Gorges du Verdon

What a weekend!!! The weather here is getting warmer and warmer! This past Friday, a few IAU students went to Chateau Virant, a olive farm and a vineyard located right outside of Aix. It was about 70 degrees and sunny; the perfect day for a tour in the countryside of the South of France! We began witha tour of the building that was built in the 1660s and then moved on to the building where they explained how the made the olive oil and wine. After the tours of the buildings, we were able to taste both the olive oil and wine! Yum! We had three different types of olive oil (one was mild, spicy and then a mix of the two) on little pieces of bread, and then we were able to taste five different types of wine. A white, a rose, two reds (one aged in stainless steel and one aged in oak) and then the Provencal Christmas wine (sweet.... has a caramel taste). They were all delicious, of course. We then went on an hour walk through the vineyard and the olive tree groves to where the bus would pick us up. Needless to say, it was beautiful! We passed some ruins in the field (only in France), some wild rosemary and various herbs and of course, hundreds of olive trees and grape vines!
Sunday there was an excursion to Lac Ste Croix and les Gorges du Verdon, which are about an hour and a half to two hours from Aix. We stopped at a lovely little town along the Verdon river to buy food at the local market for our lunch! After the market, we drove to Lac Ste Croix, which was stunning. It is an artificial lake that was created after a dam was built along the Verdon river, which has turquoise water. And when I saw turquoise, I mean it! Unfortunately it was not that nice out and gray all day (it was supposed to rain... but it didn't!!) but it was still beautiful. We had a little picnic on the beach of the lake and then ventured on to see the gorges and the Verdon River! It was breath-taking and words really will not be able to do it justice (I feel like that is often true, especially when I try to describe things in the South of France)!



After we stared at the gorges for a while in pure amazement, we boarded the bus yet again and took the drive of death up a tiny little road that barely could fit the bus! Luckily French bus drivers have no fear and can conquer any road, everything was fine! We finally made it to the top of the cliffs and it was totally worth it. The views were amazing. We could see the lake that seemed to stretch on forever. But what was ever more amazing, was that it was around 65 degrees and to our left there was a huge mountain that had snow on it! It was beautiful to see a turquoise river meeting a snowy mountain!



We then went to our final destination for the day, a little village named Moustiers Sainte Marie, which is one of the cutest little villages ever! It was so quaint and French (thus adorable) and we explored a little bit, found a cafe overlooking a little river and had some coffee! So for a short conclusion: la vie francaise est bonne et chaque jour est une aventure!