Visit to Sorgue

With the arrival of spring weather and a few days vacation from school, the nearby towns of Sorgue and Uzés were waiting for a visit!

A street view in Sorgue.

The Isle sur Sorgue. It was very pretty, the town has many little branches and canals of the Sorgue river, many running right under the buildings! Unfortunately,I didn't  enjoy my trip as much as I might have because it was unexpectedly cold and rainy that day. I had dressed for the weather of the day before - sunny upper 70's Fahrenheit. I was also disappointed that I couldn't get to Fontaine de Vaucluse, which was where I really wanted to go.

According to my guide book, the place called Fontaine de Vaucluse is were the poet renaissance Petrach spent much of his time, and where he met his famous muse, Laura. It is also the place where the Sorgue river springs out of the ground; apparently it runs for many miles underground, and in the spring it shoots several feet into the air!

A view of the town market square.

 Sadly, Fontaine de Vaucluse is about 7 km from Isle sur Sorgue where the train station is, so it was too far to walk. None the less, Isle sur Sorgue is a very pretty town, with many excellent antique shops and art galleries, as well as the beautifully clear Sorgue running all through out.

The Ducal Palace, still home to
the Dukes of Uze!

Next I visited Uzés with a friend. It's is a lovely old city,  the seat of the dukes of Uzés, one of the oldest duchies in France, going back to the time of Charlemagne. The dukes of Uzés are still living and remain in possession of their ancestral palace. Parts of the ducal palace are open to tourists- palaces need a lot of money to upkeep, and charging visitors is a great way to get it.


The ducal palace was pretty interesting, though it is a bit expensive to visit-10€ on Saturday and 18€ every other day. I though the outside was a bit more interesting that the inside. It was built in three stages- late medieval, early renaissance and late Renaissance/Gothic, so three distinct architectural styles can be seen. The oldest part is a high defensive tower.
We climbed all the way to the top-135 steps- on a terrifyingly narrow staircase and were rewarded with a truly stunning view!

An interior of one of the public rooms
in the Ducal palace.

Me at the Ducal palace, Uze.

Inside, the palace is still furnished, which is a nice change from the empty chateaux-monuments so far, though the furnishings had a mis-matched air to them which makes me think that it's mostly the things the family doesn't  want or can't  fit in their primary residence in Paris. A bit of a very fancy storage locker, decided!

There is also a Haribo candy factory and a museum in Uzés, so that was our last stop. We learned about the history of the Haribo company and how it makes its candy. We also were able to buy some at their boutique. It's a very good place to take children.

Home office of Haribo candies.