Food, Fresh Winds and Family - A little guide to the Drôme Provençal

Perfect Fassade in a perfect shade of pink

I just came back from an annually visited location. Its about 9 hours to drive from my home and worth it every time. My main vacation this year, with my family and our dog.

We were staying in my relatives house, as always. A very nice home for 2 weeks, spacey, with a terrace and most importantly for me, a very well equipped kitchen. For 3 years in a row, I officially declared myself the "chef" of the vacation. Cooking for 2 weeks straight is hard, so sometimes the others made the diners, but most of the time, I was standing in front of the gas stove and cooked something delicious.

Provencal cuisine. I learned a few things about it. A lot of legumes, olive oil, fish and selected pieces of meat. But the main stars are the flavorful companions, in this case garlic, onions, thyme, rosemary. Those are likely in most of the dishes. The kitchen is simple, rustic and therefore a big pleasure to work with. No fancy this and that, just very good produce.

I fell in love with the sweet treats that you can buy in the local boulangerie or patisserie. Tarte aux noix, tarte au citron with meringue, or eclairs. All over the top sugary and wonderfully delicious.

But I can tell you a lot better, through my camera lens. So let the little diashow roll. -->

I love this place, I already made many posts about it on my former Blog, so you could tell that I am really into this area of France. To be honest, I dont know any other regions of france (except little bit of Paris and Strasbourg), but I can say for sure, this one holds a very dear place in my heart.

It might be the weather, because we come here in summer, the people or just straight up the food. I dont really know it either, all I know is, it´s totally worth visiting.

I have come here for over 10 years now, played in the old stone building since I was a kid. In my teens, I was a bit bored, because there was not much happening here. But in the latest years, I came to appreciate this place a lot more.

You could think, what do you mean, exatcly? And I could reply „Well, I´m gonna guide you a bit“.

Here is a very short list of what you could try doing, while you are staying here. These are all things I have tried and found to be very nice.

Visit Nyons market on a Thursday
Buy baguette, some cheese or olive tapenade and enjoy them in a park
Try your local boulangerie´s sweet treats
Go hiking through the lavender fields and mediteran forests (best with a village as your destination)
Try swimming or bathing in a local river on a very hot day
Go canoeing through the Ardeche
Cook something typical for the region, like lapin (rabbit) with dijon mustard and red-wine sauce
Visit the antik market of Isle sur la Sorgue on a sunday
Search for local crafts and little shops in your area
Enjoy a glas of wine while the sun sets down, or pair it with a good old board game

Thats by far not all, for some more detailed information, just continue reading.

Another fassade. Those colors are always very nice.

Where should we start? Maybe the delicious treats and fresh produce.

If you come here, be prepared that almost every area oft he provence has its own specialities. I stay nearby Montelimar, so nougat is something you should look for. Not the brown hazelnut one, but the fluffy white one with almonds and lavender honey. There are many flavors to choose from, and they are almost always delicious. Other things you can buy at the market are: wonderful sausages with nuts, truffel, or pepper, smooth goats cheese, lovely lavender honey, big, flavorfull tomatoes, and all the veggies your heart desires.

Other towns are known for their sugary melons, like Cavaillon , their candied fruit , like Isle sur la Sorgue or Aix en Provence, or Olives, like Nyons.

I am such a sucker fort he local produce. Walking through a marktet, try all the cheeses and fill your basket with freshly harvested egg plants, (that are so adorbale small), It doesnt get any better than that. The wonderful thing, you can just buy a baguette, a sausage and some olives and your lunch is ready to go. Easy and delightful.

Another guilty pleasure of mine, french pastry. The boulangerie is not just a place to get wonderful crispy baguette, but a heaven for sweet treat lovers like me. Tarte au Citron, Tarte au Noix, Baba au Rum, Eclairs. I could go on and on. If you´re here, make sure to get some to share with your companions on this trip. They all taste sugary but heavenly, plus you will get a very sweet box to carry them with you (like shown in the pictures)

Ok, thats enough for the food, for now. What else shouldn´t be missed?

Exploring, mainly old towns. Just go strolling though the narrow streets and find little cafés to nap on some café au lait. Some of those have nice shops filled with local crafts, like dainty pottery or handmade jewellery.

If you are fit, try to hike for a day. We´ve done this for the first time this year and it was just beautiful. Exhausting for sure, but worth it, as we got to see the landscape from all above. Or even better, book a canu trip through the ardeche. This landscape is just stunning, as you paddel through. A well visitited spot is the Arc. Just google it, its very impressive.

And for sure, check out the local marktes around you. There will likely be one in your town or nearby. Just search online for the right days. My favorite markets are our local one, the one in Dieulefit, in Nyons, and Isle sur la Sorgue. There will be food, crafts like pottery or clothes, cafés around and loads of tourists. But thats never been an issue for me. I enjoy them anyways.