Travel Series: Summer 2017

If you follow me on social media you probably already know that I just got back from being away for the past five or so weeks, starting my trip with a family vacation in the South of France, and ending up in the States with some pals. I had an incredible time, it was a blessing to be away from reality for that long, but now I'm back and to help relive the memories I've gained, I thought I would write about it, for me and for you. I plan on doing this in a series of posts, that probably won't be in any particular order but I hope you enjoy reading them anyway. 

Let's start at the beginning, me, my family and my puppies, set off on an 800 mile road trip to a little town in the south of France called Violès on August 17th. I spent the next two weeks enjoying the glorious french sunshine, exploring quaint little Roman villages and visiting enough Provencal market to keep me going for a lifetime. I honestly could've spent a solid three months there and I still would've had a list of things I still wanted to do. 

If you ever find yourself in Provence my top five places to visit/things to do are: 

Climb Mont Ventoux. By climb I mean drive up there, it is one hell of a climb but the views are so worth it. Mont Ventoux is part of the Tour d'France route so of course the roads are filled with brave and ambitious cyclists, it was scary enough driving up the summit 1900 meters in the air, let alone trying to do it on a bicycle, so props to them. 

Go wine tasting, duh! When in France you drink as much wine as you can, lets be honest now, and what better way to do that, then to go wine tasting. A lot of vineyards offer free wine tasting in hopes that you will buy their creations, if not it tends to only be a couple of euros and the majority of places will take you on a little tour and educate you on how they actually make the wine which is fascinating. 

Visit a market, or ten. Provence is famous for it's markets, selling everything from local produce such as cheese and nougat, to clothes and tablecloths. There are several markets on every day so you have plenty of choice on which ones to visit, you might be thinking that one market is surely enough but you'll find they all have their own unique qualities separating them from one another. 

Paddle in the River Ouvèze. In a little town called Vaison-la-Romaine, there is an ancient bridge from the 1st century connecting the Roman ruins and the modern town, underneath which is a clear and shallow river which is perfect to paddle in on a warm summers day, we even managed to get my dog Ollie, who detests water to go in. 

Hang out with Wild Boar. Yes, you read it correctly and no I am not crazy. If you take a scenic drive out towards the Gorges, there's a little viewing platform which is also near the home of some wild boar, I was unaware that the boar actually came across the road to the viewing platform until I heard a quiet grunt in my ear and almost jumped off the cliff. But here I am to tell you the tale of the boar I named Boris.


Thank you for reading this post, and I hope you'll tune in next time when I'll be somewhere in America. Until next time, I hope you're all enjoying the cooler weather and are positively taking adventure of Autumnal fashion. Happy Halloween.