A sunny Sunday drive in the back-country of Grasse today, and we ran across once-nearly-extinct Przewalski’s horses and a Short-Toed Eagle. The Przewalski’s horses were at the Reserve Biologique des Monts d’Azur, a Buffalo Park we’ve described on our Thorenc…
By Russ

Following a recent multi-day visit to the Cévennes, we’ve added a page for the little town of Saint Jean-du-Gard. Famed as the destination point of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Travels With a Donkey in the Cévennes, the little town of Saint…
By Russ

Beyond just strayed a bit to the Southwest of France to visit the Cévennes and the Gorges du Tarn. Here are a couple of photos of floating down the Tarn Gorges in kayaks. Slower and deeper parts of the river…
By Russ

A picturesque steam train runs between the towns of Saint Jean-du-Gard and Anduze in the Cévennes. The 40-minute trip follows along the beautiful valley of the Gardon de St Jean river. Train schedules allow an easy round-trip voyage, or with…
By Russ

Six weeks after the devastating floods in the Var on Tuesday, 15 June 2010, we toured the hardest-hit towns and villages to see how well they’ve recovered. Roquebrune-sur-Argens sits fairly high beside the Argens river, and we saw no sign…
By Russ

And they’re not from Avignon. Major news sites today are announcing things like “An order of reclusive Benedictine nuns from Avignon has signed a major record deal with the company behind Lady Gaga”. The nuns are actually from the Benedictine…
By Russ

Following our recent adventures with wild chamois while hiking in the Mercantour National Park, we’ve updated our Fauna – Chamois page, adding to the text and putting on some much better photos.
By Russ

Lac Scluous chamois. Not crowded at the lake, but we weren’t completely alone.
By Russ

Yesterday (9 July 2010) we took a 4-5 hour hike into the mountains near Ceillac. Good exercise, lovely trails, gorgeous mountain wildflowers, and a spectacular “mirror” lake.
By Russ

We’re spending a long mid-week weekend in the mountains, 4 hours north of Grasse and the Cote-d’Azur, near the village of Ceillac in the Hautes-Alpes. It was a gorgeous drive getting here, going up over two mountain passes along the…
By Russ