What about the vacation itself?

After several exhausting trips through three continents and a busy schedule, we decided to retreat for our summer holiday to a less hectic place and exchanged homes with a family in Carnoux en Provence, five kilometers away from busy Cassis on the Cote d´Azure. After visiting this famous holiday destination once, we were just happy to be able to go back home to a quiet, grand home where we enjoyed our tasty meals on the terrace overlooking the sea away from the crowds and heat.

This spacious home with a gorgeous swimming pool was all we needed. It was located up on a hill, with an airy terrace and a view of the Mediterranean. Gilles’ brother came down from Paris for a week. We kept ourselves busy shopping at the local markets, preparing tasty dishes from ultra-fresh vegetables and fruits of the Provence and apart from that just enjoyed life and each others company.

Oh yes, we undertook a few trips, a boat trip along the famous Calenques, the only area in the south of France that is a protected area, without any constructions, hotels, etc ...

Another unforgettable outing was to Aix en Provence, where we visited an exhibition honoring Cezanne. Afterward we had lunch at Relais Ste Victoire in Beaurecueil. We have been to many great restaurants but this simply topped everything in terms of quality, ambience, service and price. You can find proof among the photos taken at this venue.

Doing a Home-Exchange, does this mean anything to you? The system is rather simple: you exchange your apartment / your house with someone else during your vacation: you live at this person’s place and your exchange partner comes to stay at your place in the meantime.

There are many advantages in doing this: (1) You pay nothing for accommodation during your vacation and enjoy a nice apartment or a beautiful, comfortable house. (2) You do not have to eat out three times a day, and usually you exchange cars.

How does it work? (1) On www.intervac.com you can “advertise” your apartment / home and define what you are looking for. There are many such organizations; Intervac is the oldest one and the second biggest, as far as we know. (2) You contact the persons whose offer might suit you and you work out an agreement. We often contacted people who didn’t plan to travel to Austria but changed their mind when they received our offer. (3) This simply costs about 80 € per year, actually, in some countries 120 €, which is about the price for a night in a barely acceptable hotel in a major city!

Can we recommend it? We have so far made 23 home-exchanges, all of them were good to fantastic experiences. We exchanged with a beautiful house downtown San Francisco near the Castro District with view on the whole bay area, with a big house in the Provence in the south of France with a very nice pool and a breathtaking view on the sea, with a very nice house with a garden full of flowers in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, only to give you a sample of our experiences. The most import issue: communicate, communicate, communicate, what you expect, what you definitely don’t want, ...

What about the vacation itself?

We started visiting Strasbourg and the “Route des Vins” in Alsace, where we enjoyed very much the local gastronomy and white wines.

Then we drove to the heart of the Bourgogne, where we relaxed for a few days at the summer home of one of Gilles´ family.

The next step in our trip was a meeting of the whole family Barbier in the Gorges du Tarn, a very scenic canyon in the center of France. We also visited the astonishing cave of “Aven Arman” with the highest density of stalactites in the world.

We finally moved to Carpentras, in the very heart of the Provence, where we had arranged a home-exchange. From there we discovered the Gallo-Roman vestiges in the region: Pont du Gard, Nimes, Arles, Orange, the wine growing area and of course the numerous open markets that have along tradition in this region with its incredible tasty products!

Doing a Home-Exchange, does this mean anything to you? The system is rather simple: you exchange your apartment / your house with someone else during your vacation: you live at this person’s place and your exchange partner comes to stay at your place in the meantime.

There are many advantages in doing this: (1) You pay nothing for accommodation during your vacation and enjoy a nice apartment or a beautiful, comfortable house. (2) You do not have to eat out three times a day, and usually you exchange cars.

How does it work? (1) On www.intervac.com you can “advertise” your apartment / home and define what you are looking for. There are many such organizations; Intervac is the oldest one and the second biggest, as far as we know. (2) You contact the persons whose offer might suit you and you work out an agreement. We often contacted people who didn’t plan to travel to Austria but changed their mind when they received our offer. (3) This simply costs about 80 € per year, actually, in some countries 120 €, which is about the price for a night in a barely acceptable hotel in a major city!

Can we recommend it? We have so far made 23 home-exchanges, all of them were good to fantastic experiences. We exchanged with a beautiful house downtown San Francisco near the Castro District with view on the whole bay area, with a big house in the Provence in the south of France with a very nice pool and a breathtaking view on the sea, with a very nice house with a garden full of flowers in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, only to give you a sample of our experiences. The most import issue: communicate, communicate, communicate, what you expect, what you definitely don’t want, ...