Les Mourres and Forcauquier
Our last day had a little less Geology, with more emphasis on the historical and sightseeing. The geology was Les Mourres, a barren area with rock pinnacles rising up. This all started 25 million years ago. The pinnacles were islands of water plants and primitive seaweeds which became embedded in the limestone deposits as deposits were laid down. Over time the limestone was eroded leaving the harder rock to survive, hence the grotesque shapes.
Next, some sightseeing in Forclquier where we wandered through the narrow streets, bought some pastis and then made our way up to the Citadelle. Here we had a picnic lunch and then walked back down for a beer in a bar. The final stop was to the Salagon Museum and Gardens. The Gardens have areas dedicated to Provence agriculture, so there were many lavender varieties. There were also planted areas of medicinal herbs, and finally a world area planted out by continent and country of origin.
There was an issue with their guide which ran from a Samsung galaxy phone. The idea was good, it knew where you were and tried to show you what there was to see. In practice, most of the devices didn’t work for long. We could have been there longer, so much to see. We didn’t get to look into the church.
Back at the Cruis was our final meal. A continuous supply of pizza from the wood-fired pizza oven. The pizza oven was indoors and had been used for most of the cooking throughout the week. The pizzas were good, probably was one of the best meals we had during the week. Seems two of the chaps on our trip have built outdoor bread ovens. Much discussion as to design.