Återbesök till sköna Roquebrun

Sarah, Olof och Mia landade i Roquebrun dagen innan vi skulle flyga hem. 

För att ändå kunna ses en kortis så beslöt vi oss för att göra en tur till den otroligt vackra byn Roquebrun som boat in sig  i en dal omgiven av stora berg. 

Tanken var att åka tidigare och bada i floden Orb, men dagen bara susade förbi med annat, inte minst en tur till havet vid Marseillan Plage. 

Det har som vanligt varit en underbar resa till Marseillan och Languedoc, med många minnen att se tillbaka till med besök till, bland annat, Bamouserai en Cévenne,  Jättens borg vid St Guilhem-le-Désert, stranden vid Tamaresian och Trois Digue och byn Méze. 

 

  Enligt en gammal legend från Roquebrun offrade man flickor till den heliga klippan för att blidka bergstrollen. 

Enligt en annan legend, som är kopplad till den kristna versionen, flydde en ung flicka vid namn Marie från en obehaglig jägare.

 För att undkomma mannen slängde hon sig in i en klippskreva, och räddades av ett gudomligt ingripande som orsakade ett jordskred och skapade en smal tunnel som jägaren inte kunde ta sig igenom. 

Det sägs att endast personer med god dygd kunde passera igenom tunneln. 

Roquebrune-sur-Argens har en historia som går tillbaka till omkring 975 efter saracenerna fördrivits, med en medeltida by byggd på en klippig bergstopp. Stora delar av den medeltida byn förstördes 1592 under religionskrigen.

Jag har skrivit om det tidigare...men det är verkligen tankeväckande hur mycket elände som religionskrigen i Frankrike fört med sig för städer och människors liv. 

De vindlande små gränderna ger bra benmuskler eftersom det antingen handlar om att gå uppför branta backar eller nerför dem...

Är det något som fransmän generellt inte är bra på så är det att plocka upp de bruna högarna som deras hundar lämnat efter sig. 

Stackars Elias råkade kliva rakt i en hög med hundspillning och såg allmänt miserabel ut. Lyckligtvis hittade vi en brunn där vi kunde skölja av den kletiga skon.  

I bergen runt Roquebrun bryter man sedan länge marmor i gamla griotte-marmorbrottet. Marmorn är  mörkröd med vita fläckar i sig och beskrivs som Morello-körsbärsmarmor. 

Man ser marmorn runt Roquebruns vackra kyrkport.  

Stans kändis: lurv-hunden var som vanligt på sin plats. Hen har till och med fått sin egen brevlåda som barnen kan lägga post i. 

 

Sarah hade bokat bord i stans lilla, men väldigt mysiga, restaurang Petite Nice klockan 19:00. Det var jättetrevligt att ses och bubbla några timmar. 

Som vanligt fick vi med oss tips på bra böcker att läsa. 

Alla tre (Mia, Olof och Sarah) rekommenderade varmt Tara Westovers bok som handlar om hur det är växa upp som barn i samhällen där familjer anser sig äga rätten att använda barn som slavar och hålla dem outbildade.

Boken ger en besk påminnelse om den skada som rörelsen 'home schooling' - som vuxit sig stark i USA på senare år - kan åstadkomma.    

Annorlunda uttryckt är det en bok om hur viktigt kunskap, skola och bildning är.  

HANDLING: "THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER A BETWEEN THE COVERS PICK Selected as a book of the year by AMAZON, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, VOGUE, IRISH TIMES, IRISH EXAMINER and RED MAGAZINE 'One of the best books I have ever read . . . unbelievably moving' Elizabeth Day 'An extraordinary story, beautifully told' Louise O'Neill 'A memoir to stand alongside the classics . . . compelling and joyous' Sunday Times Tara Westover grew up preparing for the end of the world. She was never put in school, never taken to the doctor. She did not even have a birth certificate until she was nine years old. At sixteen, to escape her father's radicalism and a violent older brother, Tara left home. What followed was a struggle for self-invention, a journey that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it. 'It will make your heart soar' Guardian 'Jaw-dropping and inspiring, everyone should read this book' Stylist 'Absolutely superb . . . so gripping I could hardly breathe' Sophie Hannah"

https://silviaedling.com/

Sarah, Olof and Mia...

... arrived in Roquebrun the day before we were due to fly home.

To be able to see each other briefly, we decided to take a short trip to the incredibly beautiful village of Roquebrun, nestled in a valley surrounded by large mountains.

The idea was to leave early and swim in the Orb River, but the day just flew by with a trip to the sea at Marseillan Plage first.

According to an old legend, girls were sacrificed to the holy rock to appease the mountain trolls.

According to another legend, which is linked to the Christian version, a young girl named Marie fled from a hunter. To escape the hunter, she threw herself into a crevice in the rock and was saved by divine intervention, which caused a landslide and created a narrow tunnel that the hunter could not pass through.

It is said that only people of good virtue could pass through the tunnel.

Roquebrune-sur-Argens has a history dating back to around 975 after the Saracens were expelled, with a medieval village built on a rocky mountain top. Much of the medieval village was destroyed in 1592 during the Wars of Religion.

It is thought-provoking to consider the impact that the Wars of Religion in France had on towns and people's lives.

The winding little alleyways are good for building leg muscles, as you either have to walk up steep slopes or down them...

If there is one thing that French people are generally not good at, it is picking up the brown piles left behind by their dogs.

Poor Elias happened to step right into a pile of dog poo and looked generally miserable. Fortunately, we found a well where we could rinse off his sticky shoe.

In the mountains around Roquebrun, marble has long been quarried in the old Griotte marble quarry. The marble is dark red with white flecks and is described as Morello cherry marble.

You can see the marble around Roquebrun's beautiful church gate.

The town's celebrity: the furry dog was in its usual place. It even has its own postbox where children can put letters.

Sarah had booked a table at the small but very cosy restaurant Petite Nice at 7 p.m. It was really nice to see everyone and chat for a few hours.

As usual, we brought some good books to read. All three of us highly recommended Tara Westovre's book, which is about growing up in communities where families believe they have the right to use children as slaves and keep them uneducated.

It is also a book about the importance of knowledge, school and education.

PLOT: "THE MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLER A BETWEEN THE COVERS PICK Selected as a book of the year by AMAZON, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, VOGUE, IRISH TIMES, IRISH EXAMINER and RED MAGAZINE “One of the best books I have ever read . . . unbelievably moving” Elizabeth Day “An extraordinary story, beautifully told” Louise O'Neill “A memoir to stand alongside the classics . . . compelling and joyous” Sunday Times Tara Westover grew up preparing for the end of the world. She was never put in school, never taken to the doctor. She did not even have a birth certificate until she was nine years old. At sixteen, to escape her father's radicalism and a violent older brother, Tara left home. What followed was a struggle for self-invention, a journey that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it. “It will make your heart soar” Guardian “Jaw-dropping and inspiring, everyone should read this book” Stylist “Absolutely superb . . . so gripping I could hardly breathe” Sophie Hannah"

https://silviaedling.com/