Elsien's Traveblogue

August 2012
The Gardon, Cevennes
With temperatures in the high thirties there are only a few places to be, apart from our nice cool apartment: the seaside, packed in with the other tourists, or the river. I hid under the trees with my book, the guys scrambled across the stones into the river Gardon, not far from Anduze in the Cevennes.

August 2012

This is Anduze, gateway to the Cevennes in southern France. It's a good hour's drive from Montpellier on an excellent road which, even in full tourist season, was not terribly busy.  We went with a visitor who had lived around there in his youth. I had been there many times on holidays in the eighties, but never since. It hadn't changed at all, except, like all other French cities I've visited recently, it had been massively cleaned up, the shops have stopped looking a bit seedy and there are more restaurants. Anduze is no exception. The entrance is between two huge rocks, the gateway to the Cevennes; between is a little river, the Gardon, and a road. The road is the through-road to the rest of the area and passes through the middle of Anduze. We stopped for breakfast and marvelled at the constant stream of tourist cars in both directions. We were there towards the end of August, but it must be even worse in July when the Dutch and German holidays are in full swing. The area is popular with Dutch and German tourists: there are lots of campsites.

 We had a little explore of the town centre, traffic free, full of tourist shops; Anduze does rather nice local pottery, yellow-glazed stuff. I felt tempted to buy a pair of colourful plastic flipflops for my little granddaughter, who is already the mini-Imelda Marcos of Bishops Stortford.
There is a little square further back, also traffic-free, where we had lunch later, after a swim in the Gardon. One of those classic French lunch menus that you just don't find anywhere else: Salade du Chef, huge bowl to share, dripping in salad dressing, mainly at the bottom. I spilt lots of it on my trousers lifting a lettuce leaf. Main course: Poulet, Steak, Saucisse or Merguez with a generous bowl of frites - I had merguez - and icecream, fruit salad or crème caramel for dessert. Only the iles flottantes was missing. Total: 7 euros 90, a steal! A glass of wine and un petit café and you've barely spent 10 euros!
 A bit further into the town it's a different world. No tourist ever penetrates here, the locals are busy working, serving the tourists or, if they are government officials, they are as far away as possible from their little town on their own holidays. It was hot, the temperatures went up to about 40° that afternoon. We were quite used to it, but our visitorwas suffering a bit, especially as the old Renault Mégane doesn't have aircon ...
It was better by the river.
This is the central square of Anduze, Place de la République, I think, or otherwise the Place Jean Jaurès: deserted!