We had planned an overnight stay in a Formule 1 hotel in Mulhouse (Alsace) directly behind the German borderline. Who is familiar with the Formula-1-standard knows that luxury is not awaiting us. But the room was clean. After 10 p.m. we heard a little noise: a school class was arrived. The adolescents needed some time to move into their rooms. But then we sleptwell until 6 a.m.
We skipped the meager French breakfast. Between 6 and 7 we started in Mulhouse. Before the start we did all necessary settings of our satnav: first of all - to avoid toll roads! Surprisingly, the satnav didn't lead us in a westward direction but in the direction to Germany and Suisse. But we trusted to the modern technology! Shortly before the German border we turned right into the A35, passed the Euro Airport Mulhouse-Basel and suddenly we were in Basel, Switzerland.
Switzerland is -of course - not toll-free!! You need here a vignette sticking on the windshield. Has the satnav failed?? We stopped on a service area in Basel-Pratteln and bought - willy-nilly- the vignette for 30 € because we won't go back to Mulhouse.
Gluing now on your windshield
After a tasty breakfast with a wonderful coffee we got in our car with a peace of conscience. So we passed Bern, Lausanne and Geneva. After our vacation we read in the internet, that satnavs don't accept motorways in Switzerland or Austria as toll-free. Only roads with a toll counter is a toll road! Very, very strange....
So we drove with cosy 120 km/h through the beautiful Switzerland. The Swiss people are very disciplined on their roads. The don't never exceed the speed limits!
The city limit of Geneva is also the border to France. A Swiss customs official checked our windshield and showed a contend face when she discovered or vignette. The penalty would be 200 Swiss francs "without". Now, our satnav worked again correctly. At the first junction in France it led us from the toll motorway A41 to free D- or N- routes.
Toll-free yes, but not stress-free! It was Saturday. In the towns we were in the middle of the "shopping rush hours". Traffic lights, roudabouts and a lot of caravans (not only from Holland) forced us often to brake. But we hat enough time. So we passed cities like Annecy, Aix-les-Bains, Chambéry and Grenoble.
On the verge of Valence we turned southward and approached slowly the Provence. We crossed beautiful, typically French towns and villages with their narrow alleys, the old stone houses with the typically French shutters, the old churches (their names were all Notre Dame - we were struck).
After Grignan we reached a kind of island: the "enclave des papes" . Still inside the departement of Drome is this enclave, a part of the departement of Vaucluse. Historically, a remnant of the time when the pope in Avignon governed.
The departement Vaucluse is our destination. About half past three we reached the village of Aubignan. We were looking for our resort "Les Demeures du Ventoux". No sign to see. After we left Aubignan in direction of Carpentras we pulled over to the right and ask for it. Nach dem Ortsausgangsschild, Richtung Carpentras, fahren wir rechts ran und fragen. At first helpless shrug, then a lady who knew it: "Oui, a gauche", yes, to the left! Now , we could also see the sign of the resort.
Exactly on 4 p.m. we arrived our destination situated between Aubignan and Carpentras
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