Petanque: The French National Pastime

There’s a game played in France that might almost be dubbed the nation’s national sport.

They call it Petanque. OK, some people call it “boules” but that’s really the name of the balls used in Petanque.

It began in Greece in 6 BC, moved to Rome whose soldiers and sailors introduced it to Provence and by the Middle Ages it was being played all over Europe. Until England’s King Henry III banned his archers from playing it and in the 14th  century France’s kings Charles IV and Charles V forbade commoners from playing the sport. Only in the 17th century was the ban lifted.

Our friends at European Waterways (barge trips on canals throughout Europe) sent us a note recently describing the sport:

“The game of Petanque holds a special place in French life. It is virtually impossible to travel through France without coming across a group of men in a local village square relaxing and socializing over a game of petanque. Yet it is far from just a trivial pastime. In France there is an official association to whom you have to apply for a permit before you can even consider competing seriously!

“The form of Petanque played today originated in 1907 in Provence and consists of throwing a hollow metal ball, from a designated, standing position, to land as close as possible to another smaller wooden ball, known as the jack.

“Apparently there are various strategies which define your style as a petanque player. The more competitive player trains hard, applying the unfriendly strategy of aiming to bomb the opposition’s ball out of the way. He is known as a ‘tireur’ – meaning shooter, quickly and skillfully shooting his way to a winning position. The less serious player is called a ‘pointeur’ – meaning timekeeper. He takes a more relaxed approach, enjoying the friendly ambience of the game and taking his time over each throw. His strategy is to use subtlety and guile to get his boules as close to the jack as possible and if he knocks the opposition out of the way in the process, well then that’s just good luck!”

Each of European Waterways’ hotel barges in France has a petanque set on board, so there’s always an opportunity for you to have your own game on the banks of a canal and decide on your strategy! I suspect their number one rule is: “Don’t toss your boule in the canal!”

Two Must-Haves Gadgets for Summer Travel

Power when you need it – Dual USB Charger

Tired of traveling with two device chargers – one for your iPad and one for iPhone or iPod? Kanex makes this dual USB charger (called DoubleUp) that features two full-power 2.1 amp USB charging ports for fast charging for your smart phones and tablets. And the best part is its LED indicators let you know when each is done charging. Available in white and black. $49 @ www.kanexlive.com/doubleup.

 

Lifeproof your iPhone

This is the case to take when you’re traveling everywhere. It’s waterproof, dust-proof and shock-proof. So you can take it where you’re never taken it before – the ocean, a lake, or even the shower or tub. Plus it’s sleek low profile barely increases the size of your device. Protection and cool looking. $80 at Best Buy, Target.

 

 

Roll Out the Barrel

Many factors combine to make a great wine: the grapes, the soil and environment where they grow, the skill of the winemaker and even the very barrels in which the wine comes of age before bottling.

– There are actually three kinds of wood barrels that are used: oak, pine and chestnut. Oak is used primarily. Most of it comes from France and the U.S. (particularly Michigan and Minnesota).

– Typically barrels hold about 59 gallons. French oak barrels are the “gold standard” of the trade and cost about $600 each. American oak barrels are about $300 each.

– Oak can be used either in the fermentation or aging process.

– The porous nature of an oak barrel allows some degree of evaporation and oxygenation to take place in wine but typically not so much that it spoils the wine.

The best barrels are made from French oak trees.

– When the barrels are made, the oak staves are heated over a wood fire, so they can be bent and shaped. The charring that occurs is retained on the inside of the barrel during construction and is called “toasting.” Wineries ordering the barrels will ask for a certain degree of toasting. The more it’s toasted the more the tannin level and wood flavor will be in the wine. It also imparts that “vanilla” taste in a wine that you hear mentioned so often.

– Oak barrels have become so expensive that a number of U.S. wine producers have taken some short cuts to give their wines an “oak” flavor without spending so much money. These methods include floating oaks staves or oak saw dust in the juice to give it the oak taste, or even buying and using liquid oak extract and powders. In France, where wine production is highly regulated, only oak barrels can be used.

– California wines tend to be more “oakie” because that’s where the American palette is right now. In France and other parts of the world the wine has less oak and more mineral taste.

– Pinot Noirs, which are lighter in tannins, pass through the oak quickly. Heavier Cabernet Sauvignons stay longer.

The Madness That Made Lacoste

Years ago, in the middle of a surly storm, we were scouting villages for our Provence Escapes tours. We were checking out Lacoste, site of one of the most infamous castles in Provence – the family home of the Marquis de Sade. Rough gusts of rain pelted us as we climbed up crumbling stone steps leading to the castle doorway high above the village. Heavy storm clouds turned late afternoon sunlight into murky twilight, creating  gloomy images in our minds of villagers marching up the cobblestone alleys below us, shouting and waving torches and pitchforks in angry denunciation of the sadistic life on the other side of the castle’s door, like a scene from an early Frankenstein movie.

The castle was in ruins back then, two great walls jutting skyward, the rest in various stages of reckless neglect, with only a suggestion of where Sade committed his erotic dramas of human licentiousness and unrestrained pleasure.

All that’s changed today, thanks to designer Pierre Cardin’s purchase of the de Sade ruins. In philanthropic largesse, he’s restored parts of the castle, turning it into a performance venue for his Festival de Lacoste, a month of ballet, theater, concerts, recitals and opera staged in his partially restored de Sade castle. It’s an event that annually attracts thousands to this small village of less than 500 inhabitants.

But when we returned recently, we found the Marquis’ restored castle ruins lacking the nostalgic impact of those pre-Cardin days. It’s now fenced and sealed away from the rambling explorations that made it such a curious adventure. Sad for us, but what a boon to Lacoste to become a center of haute culture, raising it, on a sophistication scale, several notches above its sister hillside village of Bonnieux nine kilometers across the valley.

On our last visit, we made the pleasant jaunt from Bonnieux to Lacoste. Enroute, a little terrier in front of her owner’s cottage gave us a furious territorial warning – then joined us for the stroll to the famous village. We named her Bijou and enjoyed her doggy Joie de vivre. Alas, with typical French independence, she abandoned us as soon as we reached the cobblestone streets of Lacoste.

Nowadays, Lacoste’s beautifully restored buildings house the Savannah College of Art and Design’s French campus. The clock tower’s still there, along with artists’, weavers’ and potters’ studios, galleries, shops, cafes, the bakery, the sweets shop, the butcher – all the accoutrements that make village life so appealingly fascinating to foreign visitors. Today, Lacoste is many things: a walkable medieval remnant of the middle ages, a reminder of a later madness that gave us the word sadism, a contemporary center for English-speaking students studying art and design, a world-class stage for the performance of live art.

But perhaps best of all, Lacoste is a state of mind, adaptable to the satisfaction of any who visit with the open expectations of a child and the maturity to benefit from the experience.

Walking in the Footsteps of Cezanne

Jas de Bouffon, Paul Cezanne’s house in Aix-en-Provence

“When I was in Aix, I thought I would be better off elsewhere. I miss Aix. When you’re born there, that’s it. Nothing else appeals.   – Paul Cezanne, July 23, 1896.

Inspired by deep blue skies, bright red poppies and quaint honey-hued villages, Van Gogh, Renoir and Monet came to Provence to capture on canvas the intense light on the bucolic scenes of this beautiful region. They all traveled south from Paris to paint coastlines, villages, mountains and vineyards. 

All but Paul Cezanne. For him, this beauty was just outside his door. Born in Aix-en-Provence, Cezanne had only to step out of his home to capture tree-lined avenues, ochre-colored houses and the mountain that loomed over the town and surrounding countryside. Mont Ste. Victoire was such a draw for Cezanne that over the years he painted and sketched it 88 times.

During our Provence tour this year, we’ll be spending a day in Aix walking in the footsteps of Cezanne, visiting his home, studio and the quarry where he painted.

Jas de Bouffan
“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.”    – Paul Cezanne.

Our tour starts in Jas de Bouffan, the house where Cezanne lived for a number of years. The red-roofed house and lush grounds set back from the street is as picturesque now as it was when he lived there more than a century ago. Walking through the house and grounds is like stepping into some of Cezanne’s paintings. Between 1866 and 1895, Cezanne painted 36 oils and 17 watercolors of the house, farm, groves, chestnut-tree lined paths, the ponds and its statues.

The Bibemus Quarries
“I have to know the geology. The geological colors.”   – Paul Cezanne on the Bibemus Quarries.

Eleven million years ago, Aix-en-Provence was under water. The area where the Bibemus Quarries now stand was the beach. Over the millions of years that followed, the sand was transformed into calcified stone ranging in colors from grey white to deep ochre. The Romans were the first to extract the stone and for almost 2,000 years the quarries’ limestone was used to build homes and churches. The quarries were abandoned at the end of the 18th century and what was left is a maze of arches and valleys. Deep within the quarry the walls of warm-colored rock are marked with long rectangular striations – evidence of blocks of rock being extracted by picks. Cezanne found the angular stones inspirational as he moved toward cubism, creating 27 paintings within the quarry and beyond to his beloved Mont Ste. Victoire.

The Studio
“Little Marie has cleaned my studio which is now finished and I am settling down there little by little…”     – In a letter by Cezanne written to his niece Paule Conil.

Of all the places to track Cezanne, it’s in his atelier (studio) that you’ll find him easiest. Hanging on hooks, sitting on tables and propped against walls are many of the objects he used in his still lives. A glimpse of just a few invokes many of his paintings. Scattered across the room are his tools of the trade – brushes, easel and flasks. At the end of one long wall is a tall narrow door through which Cezanne slid his oversized canvases so he could work outdoors. Dozens of works, many his masterpieces, including his last “Large Bathers,” were painted here. After his death in 1906, the studio was bought by Marcel Provence who lived there until his death in 1951. To save the studio, 114 American donors rescued it by buying the property and giving it to the Universite d’Aix-Marseille.

More info at http://www.ProvenceEscapes.com.