Yvoire & Les Cinq Sens

Last month, Mr. Wild Dingo and I visited Yvoire, a medieval village on Lake Leman in the Rhone-Alps region of France. I also visited it again last week for a second time.

It's a mere 20-minute boat ride across the lake from the port in Nyon, shown above. 

Yawn. Yet another castle in the village of Nyon.

Rated as one of France's 152 "Les Plus Beaux Villages," Yvoire (shown above) is a 14th century walled-village that sits in a strategic area of France, between the "large lake" and "small lake." It still contains some of it's original homes and castle.

Before we start our tour, we stopped at the local hat shop for some new hats. A freshly hatted Mr. Wild Dingo heads to the walled entrance.

Mr. Wild Dingo is in his element when it comes to medieval history, war and war tatics. He's probably marveling at those tiny windows up there thinking about how they defended the city.  But I'm thinking of how easy those tiny windows must be to clean!

We stroll through the city and feel the history of each house and merchant building.

Homes almost look like they were constructed for Disney. Other than updated woodwork and shutters, one can know for certain that these stones have been here for centuries.

Le Jardin des Cinq Sens is our next stop.  The labyrinth with themes dedicated to the five senses was once the garden off the kitchen of the city's now privately owned-castle. Visitors can take advantage of all senses including touch and taste!

A little zen waterfall welcomes the visitor in the first garden.

Oh.... so that's what they call that!  Now I know what sign to put up in our special garden in Santa Cruz.

They need to paint these babies hot pink for a little glamour to spice up the joint. Don't you think?

I could totally curl up in the sun next to this bird bath and take a snooze next to the sound of falling water.

The maze begins with ivy covered archways. Sure glad they have a door in this garden (open to the left). You never know when you have to keep insects and pests out.

This photo is in honor of Maggie, founder of Wild Dingo.  Daily intake of this herb is what gave her 3.5 more glorious, quality years after being diagnosed with cancer and told she had only 6 months to live. If you want to learn more about artemesia absinthe and cancer, just google wormwood and you'll find much research about it's advantages and ancient uses.

Now a feast for the eyes...

I wonder if these flowers know how pretty and deadly they are?

Now that's some eye candy!

I was referring to the tulips. Like I meant Mr. Wild Dingo.

You can never have too many chocolate flowers.

"Ralph, you said the real estate agent called this hole-in-the-wall slum a delux penthouse with a short commute to the swing?  Boy were you sold a wooden loaf of bread."
"One of these days Alice...POW! Right in the kisser... straight to the moon Alice, STRAIGHT TO THE MOON!"

The horny dude above is such a lush.

Unfortunately, they weren't in bloom and we couldn't taste. But I'll take their word for it. They probably are starking delicious.

Later in town we visited some of the shops. There are plenty of hand-blown-glass shops for home decoration, lighting and jewelery. There are also many art galleries, relaxed country stores and to my delight, plenty of hat shops. I love me the hats.

Because you all think this is a dog blog--I can't imagine why--I throw you this bone, err, this shot above of the merchant's dog. She's a sweet little lady but not exactly over-friendly to the strangers. She's got that Tony Tiger brindle thing working for her and stays just out of reach, unless you have something interesting to eat.

All the homes and buildings are decorated with flowers.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your.... oh never mind. I'll come up.

At the lake side cafe, I ordered Risotto with black truffles. About a month ago I had ordered a veggie dish with black truffle sauce at another local restaurant and I didn't see one black truffle in the sauce. So imagine my eyes when this bad boy was placed in front of me.  The truffles look like shavings of chocolate. Deliciousness to the power of 10.  A feast for the eyes, nose and mouth and a perfect way to end my second visit.