A visit to Castillon du Gard

I have a long history with the village of Castillon du Gard, I'm not sure that I've ever shared here on the blog.  You see, one of my first trips to France, back in 1992, I spent the summer as a luxury bike tour guide for a small company that does trips similar to those of Backroads and Butterfield & Robinson.  We were based in a magical location in southern Burgundy, actually the converted stables of an old château, the kind of stuff 20 year old Americans dream of.  It was right at the time when Peter Mayle's first books about life in Provence came out, and I was lucky enough to be assigned to the Provence tours.  One of our stops in Provence was Castillon du Gard!  We spent two nights there at the Relais Châteaux hotel called Le Vieux Castillon. 

I was recently reminded of all this when, thanks to FaceBook, I found one of my old tour guide partners, Matt Desmond.  So for him and for all of you I thought it would be fun to show you around this beautiful village, among the most beautiful in France in my opinion.

The village of Castillon dates back the the 12th century when it depended upon the church of Uzès for protection, its  strategic hilltop location led the people of two nearby hamlets to desert them and move to the safety of the village.  It was at the center of a struggle between Protestants and Catholics during the religious wars in the 16th century, and was even occupied by the Germans during the second world war.  Today the houses of Castillon have been restored by locals and many foreigners who live there both full-time and some who use their properties as vacation homes.  The results are breath-taking and every year more renovations take place and the village becomes even more beautiful.

Back in 1992 when Matt and I came here on our tours, there were only two businesses as far as I can remember, the local café and the hotel.  The rest of the village was a sleepy, yet undiscovered Provençal village, today there are several restaurants, a butcher, a Tabac-Presse, even a beauty salon.  It's bustling in the summer, loaded with tourists who come to visit the nearby Pont du Gard, and can't resist stopping by this beautiful hilltop village.

In all honesty we don't go up into the village that often, we just don' t need to.  I run up sometimes to the town hall, or to visit with the previous owners of our vineyards.  During pruning season though, we tend to head up quite often for a coffee at the café.  It's a typical southern French café, where the locals stop in for a quick coffee, or a petit blanc (a glass of white wine) or even a pastis, this at 9 am!  The place hasn't changed a bit since we were there 17 years ago.  As an American I look at it and think, what a shame, this place could be so awesome, buy it, remodel it and make it into a café-winebar, what an opportunity!  But no, this is how it should be, and the owner refuses to change it or sell it, even though it's worth a fortune.  His family has always run the village café and always will, while he's around anyway.  We go there though, not for the charming atmosphere (I say this tongue-in-cheek)  but because they have the best coffee in the region.  I'm not kidding.  Coffee in France is almost always disappointing, just ask David Lebovitz, so when we tasted the coffee here we were overjoyed!  Now we tend to take too many brakes while pruning, but for us it's typical, if there's some little gastronomical treat to be had, we'll go out of our way to get it.

So there you have it a little visit to this beautiful village and a little more insight to our lives here!  People laugh about FaceBook, but I think it's such an amazing tool to get in touch with old friends again.  I would have never been able to find my old tour guide buddy Matt, and so many other people.  So if you're on FaceBook and would like to be my friend, invite away!

Comments

[Richard Lillard]

Amy; Loved your posting on Castillon du Gard. Iagree, the music was terrible(took me half an hour to figure out how to turn it off) Hope the rain has abated over there. Keep up the good work, I never miss a day.

Your California uncle

[Amy Davis]

Loved this post - we feel the same way. Have taken many visitors there and every time we find something new and better to discover. Will miss it and you guys.

[Gabriella Opaz]

It's funny, but if I could drop everything right now, i would most likely go back to being Butterfield and Robinson bicycle guide. There has been nothing quite so romantic, thrilling, exhausting and adventurous as eating, drinking, bicycling and educating a group of 25 visitors throughout the European countryside. Granted, for every incredible experience at a Relais Châteaux hotel, there were always a few bad apples who scared the living crap out of locals with their death defying bicycling tricks in quaint Catalan towns, but it was always worth it. I remember distinctly stumbling across little towns like Castillon du Gard, daydreaming of having a little house there to escape the bustling city life. Sounds like I need another trip soon ;-) Thanks for the great post Amy!

[Caroline Green]

This is so much fun to come across! My mother sent me the link to this post because they own a place in Castillon - and funnily enough, your second photo shows the back of their house (with the four shuttered windows.) We are headed there in a few weeks and will certainly have a coffee at the cafe. I'm hoping the weather will warm up so we can enjoy the terrace as well :)

[Cute Easy Hairstyles]

What a beautiful place!! I wish I could fly over to France right now!! I agree that facebook is awesome tool. I just got in touch with my old friends too!