We'll sure miss this place and always remember it. We headed back on the road to Switzerland via a different route than we took on our way to Sablet. We took the freeway (even though it's not "free" but rather a toll road - you get a ticket when you enter and pay when you exit) because we'd been through this part of France and could speed north at 130 kph (80 miles per hour) to some new landscapes.
We got off the freeway somewhere in northeast France and drove through beautiful countryside (like we have all through this trip - the scenery has been consistenly spectacular) and visited some towns and villages along the way.
Eventually, in mid afternoon, we decided it was time to find a place to stay for the night. We didn't see any hotels or bed and breakfast spots until I swerved to a quick right hand turn when I saw a little "Hotel Aux Gorges du Cheran**" sign along the side of the road. A ** (two stars) hotel was right in our price range.
We followed the occasional signs and the hotel turned out to be not really close to the highway and just past the surprisingly named French town of Gruffy. In fact, it was a 20 minute drive .jpg)
that culminated in a downward spiraling narrow road with the mountainside going straight up on the left and a stone wall on the right to keep cars from careening down the cliffside. The road was about a lane and a half wide and a bit scary. We decided that going up that road wasn't going to happen unless the hotel was a real dump or incredibly expensive...
We reached the hotel and it was a nice little place on the edge of a precipice next to a bridge across the gorge. We decided that our top price was 60 euros (about $90) for the room and I went in to negotiate with the innkeeper. It turned out that a room was 67 euros - but considering the drive out of the canyon, I decided to hedge on our "top price" and agreed on the room.
The innkeeper seemed a bit formal and didn't speak any English (well, maybe a word or two). I assured him that "madam" in the car (Paula) could "parle francais"... Actually Paula's French is a remnant from her school days in Chile (and has gotten us around very well on this trip), so .jpg)
assuring him that she could speak French was maybe a bit of an overstatement...
We hauled our stuff into the hotel and after looking over the options for dinner (the hotel restaurant is only open for hotel guests on the "semi pension" plan and the drive up the canyon wasn't very appealing) we opted for the "semi-pension" plan - dinners and breakfasts and the hotel room for a total of 125 euros (about $200) for the two of us. So our original 60 euro max had again grown... But that's travel in Europe...
It turned out that my first impression about the manager might have been correct - he was a bit on the French "nose in the air" side of the personality scale. Paula noticed it immediately.
We wandered over to the one lane suspension bridge and looked down into the precipice - the sides of the gorge were almost vertical and went down maybe a thousand feet (that's like 300+ meters for you European speakers). It was a loooooong way down to the bottom.
When dinner time arrived, 7pm, we retired to the dining room.
The hotel/restaurant is a two person affair. The manager that we met earlier is the cook and a woman, who matched his "nose in the air" personality, is the waitress. We referred to them as Monsieur Nez and Madame Nez (Mr. Nose and Mrs. Nose).
We were asked for our drink order and asked for a small (25dl) carafe of rose wine. Madame Nez pointed to the larger carafe (50dl) as the one we wanted. No, just the 25dl we said (we're not big drinkers). She pointed again to the larger 50dl and we again said that no, the 25dl carafe would be sufficient. Eventually we prevailed.
Then came the first plates of food, a small green salad and half a dozen slices of paper thin ham. It was very good.
Madame Nez arrived to ask about the main course - flank steak - and how we wanted our prepared. The French enjoy their steak rare. Very rare. We were prepared for this and had looked up the French words for "Well Done" - bien cuit. We asked for our steaks bien cuit and hoped that they would arrive at the table in what we would call "medium" in the US - pink in the middle (that's about the best you can hope for in France with steaks).
The main plates arrived with our steaks under a brown mushroom sauce. Along side were what could best be described as a couple smashed tater tots (but they tasted much better!). The mushroom sauce was delicious (I considered licking my plate clean, but decided that the French probably were too proper for that and ended up moping the plate clean with some bread). The steaks left a red river through the sauce when we sliced them - so maybe they hadn't quite reach the bien cruit stage in the cooking process... But they were delicious too.
Our desserts were a blueberry torte for Paula and the cheese plate for me. The selection of cheeses was very nice with the exception of the pure white one that I guessed was either goat cheese or sheep cheese (I'm not a big non-cow cheese eater, but Paula liked it). The torte was delicious.
I thought maybe a cup of coffee would be a nice topper for the evening and Paula clued me in that "un cafe s'il vous plait" would get the coffee for me. I tried to get Madame Nez's attention, but she wasn't giving attention to our table (or really to any of the other tables either...). Paula knew I was trying for a cup of coffee.
About that time a guest came to the door of the hotel. I could see the door from my seat and it was closed with a sign that said to ring the bell. The new arrival had hit the bell button but nothing seemed to happen. I noticed this and managed to wave at Madame Nez and pointed to the window where I had the view of the front door to let her know someone was trying to get in.
Paula saw this and mistakenly thought I was asking for my cup of coffee so she said, "un cafe s'il vous plait" to help me out. Everyone in the room was pretty much finishing up their desserts and at the sound of a voice above a table-talk whisper all heads snapped around in amazement at Paula's audacity. Madame Nez ignored Paula's outburst and went to assist the gentleman at the door (who probably had better manners than to ask for coffee when it was obviously not included on the menu...).
The perfect end to a perfect French dinner.
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