We could have covered more in Provençe in 10 days. In 2003 and 2004, I managed to include Le Baux, Aix-en-Provence and Marseilles. All very beautiful destinations. The kids wanted to go to Nice and Cannes (French Riviera) too but we decided to just cover Luberon and the Van Gogh trails. No regrets. The rest can wait for another trip. But there were highlights to this Provençal trip. Before we left the area for the City of Lights (Paris), we talked about what thrilled, surprised and pleased them most. Guess what — they loved all the food, ice cream/sorbet and even the grocery purchases in Provence. We even made sure my Instagram account (jolli.belly) chronicled all our food and snacking adventures!

Since we stayed longer in Avignon, we had more meals here. And more ice cream / sorbet where Regal Glacé with its 74 flavours won hands down. Twice a day we’d troop to this gelateria after lunch at any of the bistrot along Hotel de Ville (City Hall) area. First off, we tried La Grande Brasserie Le Cintra nearer the walls. Salad, entrecôte and pasta composed our first lunch in this walled city. The next day, we hopped on a train to Tarascon and found a tiny, family-run cafe/bistrot and enjoyed the best chicken burger, dorade and a big chunk of steak. On our way back to the train station, we stopped by an oyster stall — happiness in a shell!

Around the Hotel de Ville area, there’s a row of restaurants just past the carousel. We tried the Restaurant Le Venaissin (the paella and Magret de canard were 👍), La Civette Avignon (try the Boeuf Charolais — that French breed of cattle), and Le Citron Vert (I should have tried their Moules Frites than the very dry and grilled entrecôte and sauce-smothered dorade). “Jolli.belly” on Instagram has snapshots of the food we ordered. Had to load/post them photos right away lest we forget where we ate. Naturally, we failed to do this each time and yes, promptly forgot the Resto name.

The trips to Carrefour and the desserts at Regal Glacé or that other gelateria in front of Palais de Papes have become rituals during our stay. So with “a proper lunch” in a brasserie or Bistrot, and a salad and wrap/ sandwich off the Carrefour shelves for dinner in our hotel room. Trips to the Boulangerie or Patisserie for our croissants and pain au chocolat and ahem, let’s not forget the occasional crème brulee. On a Saturday Market Day in Avignon, we had a home cooked lunch of pasta and pizza at Mama Rossa who gladly wrapped our leftovers to take back to our hotel. The portions were so generous that I had them for dinner and breakfast the next day!

So, yeah. Food is always a big part of our travels. And we never hesitate to repeat or head back to a fav restaurant and order the same stuff. My 2 young travel buddies love their meat while grandma prefers seafood. They eventually got hooked on salads (for dinners) which are quite filling — think salad nicoise and some other Mediterranean salad with pasta shells and big chunks of grilled chicken, or with couscous or quinoa. Somehow, we managed a “balanced diet” with delightful purchases of fresh white asparagus, peaches, strawberries, etc. as in-between snacks. 😊 Eases the guilt off the sugar spikes from the ice cream and crème brûlée.