Moustiers-Sainte-Marie

Saturday 26 May 2012 Continued

When we entered the village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie (pronouced Moos-Tee-Ay Sant Marie) we immediately began looking for bathrooms and a place for lunch.  We found a nice looking pizza place.  Before arriving in the South of France, I never would have guessed that there would be so much good pizza available - it's not what I think of when I think of French food.  The waitress go a little snippy at us - Marissa and David just ordered drinks and she reminded us that it was a restaurant and not a cafe.  The rest of us were planning on eating, so it all turned out okay, but it did sour the experience.  Cindy and I split a wonderful Hawaiian pizza - it was just the right amount for lunch.  

View of the Village

Following lunch we headed our separate ways to do some shopping and poking about.  It wasn't until David and I were looking at postcards (I swear I had about $30 in postcards by the end of the trip) that I realized this was the city with the star suspended above.  It took us a little longer to realize that we were standing right underneath it.

The Star Hanging Above the City

Legend has it that the star was placed there by the Duke of Blacas, a warrior taken prisoner by the Saracens during the Crusades, after his release.  Of course the star has been replaced since it was first hung, but it is still pretty neat.  The chain the star hangs upon is 227 meters and weighs 400 kg, the star itself is 80 cm in diameter and has ten points/rays.

David and I did try to find a couple of geocaches, but no luck.  One was way up on the cliff and the other very tiny in a very public area.  I didn't really feel like trying to explain the game with my limited French, and I had forgotten to pack a brochure about in French to show people if they did ask me what I was doing.

Bryce walking through my photo opp of the WWI Memorial

Near where we met the bus was the village's WWI memorial.  This was was unique and featured a woman next to the tablet type stone listing all the names of the dead (18 in all) with "1914-1918" on the bottowm.  There was also a small plaque for a man killed in Indo-Chine in 1947, but no memorial for WWII.  I wonder if I just missed it or if no one from Moustiers was killed during that war.

L-R: Bryce, Minda, Tim, David, Cindy, and Erica

Back home to Vergons for more games of Carassonne.  Bryce and David each won a game.  I'm glad I brought it along - who knows what we would have done without it!

For more photographs from our time in Moustiers click here.