View across to Pont-Saint-Esprit en route to Aiguze
The Ardeche Gorge often features as special footage when the Tour de France head through Provence, so when we decided to cycle down this section of the Rhone we thought it would be nice to spend a day here and possibly go for a hike up the Gorge from Aigueze where we had found a very charismatic hotel to stay at. Alternatively if the weather did not cooperate we thought we might go and visit one of the famous grottos. However, we were both tired from our cycling and with Mike’s bruised knee we decided just to chill out and come and explore another time. One of the key objectives of this mini tour was to decide whether we would want to come back to this area and explore further. Resounding yes – especially some of the restaurants and possibly a canoe trip down the Gorge.
Aigueze is a small medieval fortified village at the entrance to the Ardeche Gorge, which thanks to the conservation and modernization efforts of Archbishop Fuzet at the beginning of the 20th Century remains a vibrant village full of character. We arrived at the Place du Jeu de Paume, planted with plane trees, the church one one side and a group of villagers playing boule in the square.
Only way forward per the sat nav was down a narrow single lane cobbled street. Fortunately half way down we found a sign above a shop front for our hotel. It was shut, just about to get the phone out to call the contact number (we were blocking the street!) and the owner came running up the street – he had obvioulsy seen our car with UK number plates gingerly driving down the road, I think he was one of the men playing boule, to welcome us.
The hotel (Le Castelas) is perched on the cliffs of the gorge and form part of the battlements of the old castle. We entered by a huge wooden door which lead to a beautiful courtyard and the apartments within. Although the hotel itself was in need of some tlc and was past its heyday it was a stunning location to stay at and we made ourselves very comfortable. We both felt a tiny bit superior as tourists wandering around along the streets outside peered in with envious eyes as we made our way to the entrance door (big enough for carriages), unlocked it and let ourselves in.
After unloading and a tricky maneuver to turn the car round we were faced with the next challenge of finding the hotel car park. More twisting narrow roads, and a gate which was very difficult to open. We decided after going out for dinner to park in the public car park on the outskirts of the village for the rest of our stay, much easier. Back to the hotel to relax by the pool (too cold for swimming) with a much needed cup of tea before heading out to dinner for a lovely meal at Auberge Le Bienheureux in Saint Alexandre.
Saint Alexandre is an interesting village, it was built in the 12th century on top of a rounded hill with slight slopes and the village is arranged in a circular shape, with the outer walls of the village curving round in a circle, and the narrow inner road following the same pattern to the small main square. We had a bit of time to explore before the restaurant opened which was nice.
Saturday as I mentioned earlier was spent relaxing. We went for an early morning stroll round the battlements and enjoyed the misty views over the river before heading back for breakfast. Nice to have the place to ourselves before day visitors came later in the day. It was great to see within the village that lots of Halloween decorations had been put out, balloons, ghostly figures etc. Nice treat for children especially as this is the start of a main school holiday week. In the afternoon we wandered down to the river which was very enjoyable. A lovely end to our stay in France.
See below for a slideshow of our photos from this trip
