Avallon - Le Vallee du Cousin

Lillian :  Avallon - the old walled town, sits atop a granite hill and most of the photos we've shown you so far were of that part of Avallon.

Audrey :  In the valley below runs the River Cousin - very pwetty, with ducks and fish in it and sweet little bwidges over it.

Audrey : The French don't pwonounce 'Cousin' like the relative - start like a dove's 'Coo' then 'son' to rhyme with The Crystals 'Da doo Ron Ron' and you've got it - almost.

Lillian :  Our people had explored the Vallee du Cousin a little on their previous visit - in December 2007.  The river was not quite so gentle and calm then. 

Audrey :  What a skinny bridge!

Lillian :  Our people say it was either a foot-bridge or aqueduct, and that it was behind a large disused mill.  There are lots of old mills and such along the Cousin.

Audrey : We found this disused building which was once a tannery.


And there was an overgrown picnic spot with this deer - set somewhat strangely half-way up the rock cliff.

It was quite a hot day when we went for that long walk down to the valley ... and then back up the hill! 

Lillian :  On the slopes there are some lovely homes

 

and the famous garden plots where the locals grow fabulous fruit and vegies.  This lovely photo is also from our people's previous visit.

 Audrey : What a sweet old wheelbarrow - but we saw some donkeys!    I love donkeys, don't you?  

Lillian : Yes, there are the donkeys again, with the old hill-top part of Avallon in the background - the spire is St Lazare.

And now looking the other way - from the top, down across the valley.

Audrey :  To an Australian that landscape looks so green and lush.   Many of the locals are keen gardeners - I think I understand why.  Remember those fruit trees we saw - pruned to an ideal shape for very small people - or Blythe dolls - they were only a few feet tall!! 




 Lillian :  And the gorgeous peony flowers ...  

A rich red bloom amongst Lily of the Valley - parfait!

Audrey : I think I understand why our people would like to live in Avallon - a pretty and historic town, climate and soil perfect for growing almost anything and fantastic food.   What could be better after a warm spring day spent exploring; than a meal of goat's cheese, wonderful fresh bread, a local Chablis, mineral water and for desert ... an apple pie or

 

A Fantastic Meringue !!!

Avallon - Strolls Around a Pretty Town

Lillian :  Avallon is a really pretty town ... a lovely place to explore.

Audrey :  This photo is from just in front of  L’église Saint-Lazare - lots of really old buildings.

Lillian :  In the background - the Clock Tower & Bell Tower behind it, they were built between 1456 & 1459.  The building in the centre is the House of the Lords Domecy - it was built in the 15thC and has recently been repaired.                     In 2007 it did look rather crumbly.

Audrey :  The Clock Tower has an arch - you walk right through it from the main shopping street.  The Tourist Office is the half-timbered 15thC building on the left  ...  and then you come to the wonderful statue of a Frog. 

I gave the Frog a kiss but it didn't turn into a statue of a Prince.




Lillian :  These beautiful tiles are on the floor of the foyer in the Tourist Office.














 And this mosaic is from Roman times - it is in the Musee Avallonaise which is well worth a visit.
















Audrey : The people of Avallon display a quirky sense of humour ...  a fallen stone gets a painted face ... the facade of a house gets a sweet squirrel over the door ...

    

Audrey :  And there are lots of cats in Avallon - 

Cat in an Attic Window

Pretending to be a tiger in the jungle

Another Cat in another window

Let Me Out!

Lillian :  All that exploring does get rather tiring - we had a sit-down on the doorstep of an old house ...

You were feeling quite tired Audrey.

Double Rhubarb - rhubarb tart and rhubarb glacée

 Audrey : Yes but I felt much better after we had a lovely lunch in the garden at Tearoom Dame Jeanne

Lillian :  The next day we explored some of the parks and jardins.  The massive War Memorial (by Pierre Vigouroux) is at the end of this park - facing L'église Saint-Martin-du-Bourg. 

Just outside the walls - under the Tour Gauchard is the Square Houdaille

And in the centre of town is Place Vauban with the statue of the Marquis - it is by Bertholdi who also created the Statue of Liberty.

 Audrey : It was spring and the gardens were full of flowers - 

Audrey in the Buttercups Ranunculus repens

Lillian and Purple Tulips

In a patch of Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Audrey :  You were wearing your new black dress Lillian.

Lillian in her new Little Black Dress

And a Little Blackbird - he sang so beautifully.

Spring-time in Avallon

Avallon - Walls & Towers / Remparts & Bastions

Lillian :  Avallon is a hilltop town with ancient walls & watchtowers & gates - "perhaps 50% of the town's original circle of fortifications are still intact."

A Promenade in Avallon

Audrey : Gates and Tour Gauchard - 1438 ... on the other side of that tour (or tower) is a wonderful Promenade.  So we did - promenade that is.

Lillian :   And over on the other side of those gates - Remparts and the Bastion de la Petite Porte ...

Audrey : When we returned  - this lovely old car was parked there.

Now isn't that just about perfect!






Lillian : It is a Citroen - probably a 1950 Citroen Traction 11BL.  You simply have to love a car with curves!

And of course, that's the Tour Gauchard again.





Audrey : And again - with you wearing your brand new LBD Lillian.

Lillian :  Oh - that's my Paris dress.  Très chic?   But let's have another look at Tower Gauchard - built in 1438.
 

Audrey : 1438 is such a long long time ago but I rather fancy that Rapunzel lived in a tower just like this one.

 

Lillian :  Let's see some more towers ...

I'm not sure but I think the tower on the left is called Tour du Chapitre - the one on the right is the Tour de l'Escharguet  (Cowherd's Tower) and yes, it was used to lodge the town's cowherd.  In 1522 the town surgeon, brought in to look after plague victims, was lodged there.
Audrey :  Oh - they locked the doctor in the tower so he couldn't run away?
Lillian :  Perhaps.  Of course our people had visited Avallon before - in December 2007 and they kept saying how different the light was, how all the colours were different ...  We were there in the spring-time and their previous visit was in winter.

Spring-time and the Tour de l'Escharguet

Tour de l'Escharguet in the winter light - Dec 2007

Audrey : Hmm that looks rather cold.  I'm glad we went in the Spring, when the weather was warmer.
Lillian : Spring-time means flowers;  there are lots of plants growing in and on the Remparts (ramparts or walls) many of them were in flower...

Lillian :  The yellow flowers are Wallflowers

Audrey :  Yes Lillian - they are growing on the walls ...   

Lillian :  Which could be why they are known as Wallflowers - possibly Cheiranthus cheiri.  The French call these flowers giroflée or revenell.
Here are some ferns, mosss, lichen, succulents ... all growing in the walls

Audrey : Even the rocks were pretty - lots of salmon and coral pinks.

 

Lillian :   That's the local granite - Avallon is on top of a granite hill.





Audrey :  All those Remparts must take a lot of maintenance  ...




but we had a giggle at the Warning Sign underneath

Lillian :  D'eboulement does sound (to an English speaker) like a nasty form of torture - it translates to 'land-slip'.



Now let's look at the Bastions because they are all slightly different,

This one is known as Eperon Gally - built in 1591.

Bastion de la porte auxerroise (1590-91)

Bastion de Baudelaine 1404 - 1590  Église St Lazare in the background

Audrey : And finally another pair of photos to show the contrast between the seasons.  These were both taken in the lane-way behind the Bastion de la Petite Porte.  Laneway, rempart, bastion and a little building with a gambrel roof.

Spring 2011

Winter 2007