We stayed last night in the small town of Mornas, another cliff-hanging medieval town. There just seems to be no end to them!
We concentrated on the lower part, which was quiet and quaint, and a good place to linger at the local café. (But please note the tiny portals to our hotel courtyard through which I had to drive the car – side mirrors turned in!)
This morning we headed to Montélimar, famous for its nougat confections. Since it is Sunday, many of the larger shops were closed, but we happened upon the lovely patisserie DuLac. The charming owner is an artisan whose nougats won our hearts – after a serious taste test – and we also had to indulge in his newest delicacy, nuts caramelized in lavender sugar. And then there were the meringues and the marshmallows. Sigh.
It was a quiet day here, but we managed to walk down the main streets without waking anyone up.
On the way to our next village, we did have to stop and gape at the nuclear power plant frighteningly close to our road – and to a small town. France is big on nuclear, but these aren’t the kinds of clouds I want to see every day.
Our lunch stop was in the village of Mirmande, once a major center of silkworm production, and now an artists’ colony. Lovely lunch, lovely day. As we were leaving, we found a herd of goats, who ignored us, and amazing fields of sunflowers, bowing both toward and away from us. Guess they were more interested in the sun.
And then it was on to the even more sleepy town of Crest, which we visited just because we had the time. There seems to be some creative juice here too, and an interest in preserving some of the old shops. A very pretty little place.
We have now settled for the evening in the town of Valence, which we will explore tomorrow. Yet another beautiful part of France…