Holidays in Provence III: Mont Sainte-Victoire

After Jin joined us after Christmas, there was no more lazing around the house! We had things to do! And so, one of the first things we attacked after Jin had rested a little bit was something that I had wanted to do all semester long but had saved until Angus and Jin got here: the hike up to the top of MONT SAINTE-VICTOIRE.
It is a towering peak that you can see from the town of Aix that they saw YOU MUST climb if you are in the area. It is also a pilgrimage site, so there is a very old stone church/monastery right below the summit, and at the top there is a giant cross and what I believe is a little chapel. People thought I was crazy for not having done the hike yet, but I am so glad that I saved it for when I could share the experience with two people that I hold so near and dear to my heart. We got up at a good hour of the day and took "La Victorine" a shuttle that would take us to a parking lot at the base of the mountain. It was a little nauseating, a tiny little shuttle that took turns really fast and bumped its way over gravel roads. But we got there and stepped out of the shuttle and saw what lay ahead of us and it was most definitely worth the temporary nausea.
At the bottom of the mountain, there was a beautiful dam that we marveled at for a little while before starting on our hike, but we had to get started so that we could get all the way up to the peak and back in time for the evening shuttle and also before it got too cold and dark. The hike ended up being much steeper and much more strenuous than I had thought it would be, but it was so refreshing to be out and about after having spent so much time studying indoors. It was beautiful outside, with tons of sun, and we stopped about halfway into the hike for a clementine and water break and marvelled at our surroundings.

The last bit of the hike was the most strenuous, I think, as we had to follow an incredibly steep rocky ridge up to the summit. The view at the top was AMAZING. And it was freezing cold. People who had been on the hike before had warned me of the low temperatures at the top, and I was very glad to have heeded their advice. We were fully equipped with hats and gloves and heavy coats and warm athletic wear, and even with all of that preparation, it was almost unbearably cold at the top. But not so unbearable that we didn't stop for a lunch break! We enjoyed the view and shivered behind a cement wall-ish type thing that helped to block the wind and gazed out at the southern French countryside that lay below us.

After eating and sufficiently freezing ourselves half to death, we began our descent down the mountain and enjoyed the same beautiful views from a different angle on the way down, and stopped once more at the beautiful dam to marvel at what we had just climbed.
Such a wonderful day of hiking :)