Perched up on the Luberon mountain range in Provence, our beautiful village home for the last 5 days has been wonderful. We’re writing this from the outskirts of Marseille, our new base for the next few days and already we miss Goult.
We miss the beautiful mountains covered with green trees and craggy limestone rocks.
We miss the small hilltop villages with their pretty stone buildings and cobbled streets.
We miss the scenic drives where every route is gorgeous and every turn a new delight.
We miss the pretty walk for a baguette or croissants for breakfast in the morning.
And, we miss our home, our lovely lovely home with the corner sofa, large double bed, pretty lighting, dishwasher and oven. It was a true AirBnB gem, a real home from home, we could’ve stayed for a month.
We did however finish our stay in Goult in style and it’s fair to say we had a good tour or three of the village while we were there. I’ve read books to Zaza in French in the local library, explored the geometrically perfect trees in the cemetery and enjoyed watching the locals play boules whenever we pass.
We’ve enjoyed takeaway pizza cooked in front of us in 5 minutes flat in a traditional hot stone oven, drinks in the cafe/bar on the plaza while people watching and walks down every cobbled side street in sight, through archways around the castle and its buildings coming straight out of the rock, to the windmill and its beautiful panoramic views.
We’ve had a delicious evening meal in The Terrasse, where the waitress was cooing over Zaza all meal, she even held her for a while during our starters, and where Marie had the best lamb she’s had in a long while. It was one of those meals where all the flavours have been carefully selected and paired on the plate; a passion fruit and pine nut sauce to go with my red snapper starter for example. For me the dessert was the highlight; a super soft meringue with a caramel centre sat in a bowl of caramel and vanilla sauce with crunchy bits of caramel sprinkled over the top- heavenly!
My highlight though was discovering that the cafe/bar on the main square that we had visited one afternoon early in our stay turned out to do the most wonderful lunch on market day; the day we left. The market was a small, local affair where people are only allowed to sell what they directly produce so the farmers are there with their strawberries and asparagus, the olive farm with its range of tapenade and oil products and homemade quiche and pies are amongst the offerings. On our way back we noticed the bar’s lunch menu and decided to treat ourselves before we left. What a choice that was! Everything was delicious, we were surrounded by locals and many people had reserved tables, including groups coming for work lunches.
I had beef carpaccio with pesto, rocket and parmesan shavings to start, Marie had prawns and avocado. For mains, Tuna tartare and a provençal dish of rabbit layered with aubergine with a rich tomato sauce- my third try of rabbit and I’m now a fan. It was all completely perfect but in a dessert twist, the waitress informed us something else had been added to the menu- praline creme brulee- two of those then please! Oh my! A crisp lid of perfection, soft custard underneath and a beautiful sweet praline taste coming through every mouthful.
Goult, we miss you already….
Zaza on tour 