A Famous French Literary Landmark; mainly a Day of Rest

12.06.11 A Famous French Literary Landmark; mainly a Day of Rest

The Moulin de Daudet is one of the most famous literary landmarks in France and is right here in Fontvieille. We were taking it easy today, so drove the couple of kilometres to the town and then struck off up the path to the mill. Alphonse Daudet (b. 1840 in Nimes) “observed local characters and wrote about their lives with irony and pathos”*.
More photos here

He is less famous aboard than Marcel Pagnol (also born in this department, Bouche du Rhone) but is the number one man here. For €3.50, we were able to visit the windmill, the little museum underneath and the Chateau de Montauban where he stayed as a guest and which has rooms full of interesting exhibits on Daudet and Provencal life (including the Santons).
Temperature was at about the 25C mark. Called to an ice cream parlour in the town and, for the same price as the Daudet trail, bought a really tasty coneful, one boule of strawberry, the other of blackcurrant. Very enjoyable stuff.
Today was mainly a day of rest. Having returned from the town, we hopped out to the back of the gite to the deserted pool for a dip and a rest on the loungers. It was our second visit of the day to the pool and I made some progress with literature of a different kind: John Grisham’s The Confession. Tough going, isn’t it?
 *Provence and Cote D’Azur, DK Eyewitness Travel.

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