Exploring Aix

June 10, 2023 to June 12, 2023

Pains but no aches.

Saturday: It’s Market day in Aix so we cycle down to the shady Place Richelme on bikes. Under huge plane trees, it’s the usual set up but it’s noticeable how much more variety there is on the vegetable stalls and how La Place is a lively spot where people really seem to dress for the occasion.

There’s an accordion player on the corner of the place belting out well known numbers, to which well wishers and friends sing and sometimes dance, or even do both together. There’s a convivial atmosphere and aside from the market stalls, cafes are doing good business too. We buy enough vegetable varieties to contribute to a reasonably robust ratatouille, and then the usual suspects - bread and cheese.

Cezanne died here according to the plaque. Whether he lived there also is not stated.

Another of the delightful shady place, perfect for a late afternoon stop.

Then it’s ‘home’ for lunch. Later we walk out for some sightseeing and end up at St Sauveur as mass is being celebrated. It sounds so much more exotic in a foreign language but there are the basic similarities around the world. It’s a relaxing end to another pleasant Aix day.

Sunday: Art gallery day. There are two galleries we want to visit. Mercifully, in this heat, the Jean Planque and the Granet are close to each other. Both galleries are smallish and have points of interest, but the Jean Planque, a private collection donated to the city is on the beautiful site of a restored 16th century chapel. We visit this first and enjoy the paintings of Picasso, Van Gogh, Braque and especially Sorel Etrog.

Etrog was influenced by Goya and also Picasso and it’s possible to see the influence of Picasso’s Guernica on his works, as well as Goya’s line drawings.

The 16th century chapel reworked as an art gallery.

Peter Jackson’s inspiration for Gollum, perhaps. Preeeshus!

Etrog uses mechanical devices to create emotional and physical connections.

This work seems to include elements of both Goya and Picasso’s styles,

The Granet Museé, includes some Cezanne, though most are in the Quai d’Orsay in Paris. The other exhibits of interest here are the sculptures from the so called ancient world. The Celtic heads of executed vanquished are pre-Roman, from a time when a warrior leader would arrange the severed heads of those he had overcome in battle before him. Parts of a statue depicting this macabre practice have been discovered.

Apparently Cezanne created a number of women bathers paintings, though not with live models. Managing that number might have been a challenge.

The Celtic chieftain’s way of getting ahead of the bunch.

Outside in the streets we seek cool and shade, thoughtfully provided by treed places and fountains. This morning’s market, selling new age crystals and health aids, is still running, though custom looks thin. It’s a relief to soak one’s wrists in cold, crisp fountain water.

Many city streets record points of interest like this.

It’s been a relaxing day with the addition of a little brainwork reading and thinking about ideas- both equally satisfying. There’s one bottle of Fischers Blond beer left in the fridge at Franzi and we nab it to take back, before embarking on our uphill haul.

Monday: Our walk into the hills. We decide to head up towards Mt Sainte Victoire and the territory Cezanne favoured for his painting. Our first challenge is to find the correct bus stop. All the advice says it’s easy, and so it is. But we manage to go to the wrong one. When we step out to wave the bus down, the driver waves an admonishing finger at us as if we have broken a major law of the city, and sails past.

Eventually we find the stop, get on the right bus and are told by the driver it’s ‘gratuit’. Shortly after he drops us off and we walk to the dam. There are pine and other trees providing some shade, but it’s a hot day, though ominous clouds are gathering. The first dramatic sight is the Bimont Barrage- the dam across Lac Bimont. Looking down from the barrage is vertigo inducing, so after a quick look down we move upwards and onwards. The next dramatic sight is Mt Sainte Victoire. It’s a sharp peak of pale limestone and dolomite rock pointing skywards. A challenge, if ever there was one. The rocky trail is marked in small blue slashes of paint on rocks and trees. As we climb the horizon broadens out and so does the view- of Aix in the distance and the peaks surrounding. Mt Sainte Victoire is the paramount peak, beyond us today, though we wonder if we might make it to the Croix de Provence, a lesser peak.

In fact we make it to just below that peak. As the clouds start to close in and distant thunder rumbles, three young American women descend the trail towards us and tell us we have a little way to go. They are not going to risk the weather and are heading down. We decide to try for the next ridge for a banana stop. This we do and then begin a careful descent on the stony path.

By the time we reach the barrage rain is falling heavily and thunder is rolling on above us with a sound reminiscent of an irregular drum roll. We pause under shelter for a few minutes, then move on, down to the road where we left the bus. We are just crossing the road to the return stop when around the corner the 140 bus materialises. Oh joy! We wave wildly, I do a bit of a Joe Biden run ( the arms move, but not much else) and we’re aboard.

Back in Aix, it’s beer and milk from Franzi and an artisan baguette from the boulangerie, before we catch the number 5 up the hill to ‘home’. Time to organise for our trip to Nice in the morning. The day didn’t achieve a Victoire but it was great to get out beyond the city and experience maybe what the great master experienced.

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 1,703 km (1,058 miles)

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