Last of France: Ardèche Cruisin'

I promise I'm done blogging about my holiday in France after this post. Almost a month and a half after returning home and here I am, sifting through my pictures to put together a report of our beautiful final day, which we spent riding through the Ardèche valley and visiting Balazuc.

The fun started when we spotted our first lavender field! We'd been scouting the horizon for those typical fields of purple, but apparently we had chosen the wrong time of year because there was no lavender to be found for the largest part of our trip. And then, there was that scent, and just around the bend: lavender!

lavender fields france ardèche
birkenstock salina sandals
lavender fields france

Ha, that last pic is probably my favourite shot of our entire trip because my boyfriend totally looks like a French farmer here. That, and I like the composition.

Ever onward, to the most famous part of the Ardèche: Vallon Pont d'Arc.


vallon pont d'arc


This bit was touristy as hell, so we didn't stick around for long. We took a break from driving around by eating some popsicles at a tiny café among the trees, simply sitting there and taking in the quiet and the atmosphere for about half an hour before heading on towards Balazuc, which is also one of France's plus beaux villages.


balazuc ardèche

(I like this pic because of the mix of fonts. I'm obviously a total nerd.)

balazuc ardèche
balazuc ardèche


balazuc ardèche
balazuc ardèche swimming

Funny story: we bought water shoes especially so we would be able to swim in the Ardèche without endangering our feet. Obviously, we forgot to bring them this day. We are great planners. But the river was beautiful!

We took the scenic route back along the Ardèche river, which brought us beautiful views from the top and a chance meeting with some wild mountain goats.


ardèche belvédère
ardèche belvédère
mountain goats ardèche
ardéche belvédère


For our last night, we rode down to La Garde-Adhémar again. This time to eat dinner at Le Tissonier, an adorable place that specializes in grilled fish. We had three tapas-style entrées (the courgette terrine with tomato gazpacho was my favourite), and the dorade. Most of the vegetables were grown in the restaurant's own backyard, and everything tasted wonderful.


le tisonnier la garde adhémar
le tisonnier la garde adhémar
french tapas le tisonnier
grilled dorade le tisonnier


AND THEN WE DROVE BACK TO THE BNB TO BE SAD ABOUT ALL OF IT ENDING :((((((

Thanks, France! We had a blast, see ya next year, hopefully!

9 comments

  1. Haha love the third picture! Ik mis zomer zo hard :(((((

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  2. ik ook :(((( VOLGEND JAAR GAAN WE DUBBEL ZO HARD GENIETEN

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  3. super mooie foto's! oooh zon, frankrijk, jaaaah!

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  4. I can't get over how gorgeous your vacation photos are! I love all of these! It looks like you two had an amazing time. I'd be sad it was over too!


    Jamie | www.petitepanoply.com

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  5. Wat een mooie foto`s, dat jurkje van de eerste foto is zo leuk! Je hebt een hele leuke blog. Ik ben je meteen gaan volgen via bloglovin. Hopelijk neem je ook eens een kijkje op mijn blog.
    Liefs Tineke

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  6. Oh, nu wil ik ook weer naar Frankrijk op vakantie... Mooi!
    Je doet er mij trouwens aan denken dat ik dringend ook eens een fotoverslagje van mijn reis door Centraal-Europa online moet zetten ;-)

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  7. DOEN! allebei :D frankrijk is prachtig, vooral het zuiden.

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