Estaing

A longish hike this morning along beautiful (but steep) forested paths and farmland to the medieval village of Estaing, listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France - a designation that imposes a lot of annoying restrictions on building and remodeling. It is also the home of the family of former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.

View of some of the major buildings along the Lot River.

Rooftops of Estaing, recalling some of the paintings of Cezanne.

Sainte-Foy de Conques Ceremony, Part 2

The ceremony of moving the reliquary of Sainte-Foy de Conques from the Treasury to the church, delayed by rain yesterday evening, was completed today - though the transfer took place indoors because it was still raining intermittently.

I took many photos of the ceremony inside the church, but this one perhaps best captures the whole scene: the reliquary (amazing), the bishop, the cross, other church dignitaries. There was also some moving choral singing. A very impressive ceremony, even for this disbeliever.

Outside after the ceremony, the slate roofs of the back of the church glistened from the rain.

Sainte-Foy de Conques Ceremony

The town of Conques, where we're staying for three nights, has a famous church - the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques - which is on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella, because it holds the reliquary of Sainte Foy. On the evening of October 6 the reliquary was supposed to be paraded through the town by candlelight, but rain delayed the parade. However, there was a moving candlelight ceremony inside the church, of which I caught a couple of photos.

Beauties of Aveyron

From the Camargue we made a long drive to the southwest of France, to Aveyron in the region of Occitainie. In contrast to tourist-oriented Provence, Aveyron is largely rural and undeveloped, though it has been an important part of France for nearly two millenia.

A hike through the countryside near Conques took us through vineyands growing the distinctive Marsillac grape.

The countryside was a spectacular panorama of  shapes and shades of green, punctuated with the beginnings of fall colors.

Camargue

Leaving Arles and vicinity, we drove southwest to the Camargue - a wetland region formed by the delta of the Rhone River.

Detail of an exhibit in the excellent Museum of the Camargue, showing the boots needed for work in the wetlands, and the salt that has been a major product of the area.

Wildlife observation center at the Museum, backed by the tall pampas grass that grows vigorously in the area,

Art in Avignon

We took an afternoon trip from Arles to Avignon, where we visited two of the main museums: the Calvet Museum of Avignon, and the Palace of the Popes of Avignon.

The Calvet Museum is the main general art museum of Avignon. It has a broad and interesting collection of European (mainly French and Italian) paintings and sculpture. I was pleased to be able to capture this panoramic view of one of the modern galleries, with the guard engrossed in her phone.

The Palace of the Popes of Avignon is a major historical monument: the largest Gothic construction of the Middle Ages, according to Wikipedia, and the place (rather than Rome) where six popes ruled Christendom from 1335 to 1394. It's rather empty now, but modern technology is used to help visualize what the place looked like when it was being used. Photographs of rooms with paintings are prohibited, but photos of sculptures are allowed - hence this one.

Provence Towns

Today (October 3, 2018) we spent the morning in Arles, and then drove to three small, picturesque nearby towns: Les Baux-des-Provence, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, and Tarrascon. Tarrascon is actually not so picturesque, with a huge but rather drab castle as its main attraction. However, the other two have some striking features.

An amazing attraction of Les Baux-des-Provence is the Carrieres des Lumieres (Quarry of Light), an abandoned bauxite mine that features light shows projected on its huge walls. The show when we went was "Picasso and the Spanish Masters". This photo shows a detail from Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon". The scale can be seen from the tiny dark human figures in the purplish area in the lower left of the photo.

Detail of a door in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.