Cycling in the Luberon

We started off Tuesday by having breakfast in the dining room (pictured below) of our B&B (which is called "Ralenti du Lierre").  The above picture was taken on the hillside above the back of the property.  Yes, that's a pool ... but it's been populated by Germans since we got here, and we didn't feel like crashing the party.  But you can see the "Petit Luberon" (long hill/mountain on the horizon) in the background.

Mark and I sat next to a very refined older (about our age) German couple at breakfast.  The owner of the B&B was speaking to them in French, then they turned around and spoke to us in flawless English. I marvel at the knowledge some people have of languages.

Breakfast consisted of items prepared or made by our host, Thierry.  He gets up every morning and bakes bread, which he serves with jams and preserves that he has also made.  He also serves brownies (yes, brownies) which he makes, along with a fruit salad that consists of fruit grown entirely in this region.  The best part of the breakfast, however, was the extremely strong coffee, which is the best we've had since we've been in Europe.

While I'm on the subject of our B&B, here are some other pictures of the place:

Courtyard off of dining room

Entrance Hall

The circular staircase also leads outside

The door to our room at the very top of the stairs

Patio where Mark and I sat to write in our journals

After breakfast, we set out on our circuit of hilltop villages in the western Luberon.  

We started with Lagnes:

Then retraced and went through Gordes on our way to Murs:

Murs wasn't much, but the scenery coming down from there to the valley floor was spectacular.  Our next stop was Rousillon, which is where we stopped for lunch.

This was the view from the cafe where we had our lunch

Rousillon

Our next stop was the village of Gault.  Just outside the village, we saw this sign 

(which I couldn't resist taking a picture of):

We thought that Gault was the most photogenic of the villages we visited:

From Gault, it was on to Bonnieux:

View from Bonnieux out over the valley

Then to Lacoste, which we decided had the prettiest approach through groves of oak trees.

We found a place to get a Diet Coke and sat on a terrace with this view:

Yes, it was amazing.  By the time we got back to Beaumettes, we had cycled 52 miles. Today, we set off for Toulon via Cassis (on the Mediterranean), where we plan to spend some time strolling, cycling and swimming before heading in to Toulon to return our rental car and board the ferry for Corsica!