Hauterives - A road leading up the mountain

I'm guessing that the sentiment is similar for many of the assistants who first come to l'Arche de la Vallee - Hauterives is a pretty darn small town. I remember taking the train from Lyon to a station called 'St.Vallier sur Rhone'. Now, Lyon is a beautiful town, and I spent a lovely afternoon there while waiting for the scheduled train. But it seemed like the further south the train went, the smaller and smaller the stations got. Finally, the smallest station arrived, and I remember saying to myself, 'There is no way this is where I get off', but sure enough, the conductor called the name, and there I was- standing in, what I believed to be, the smallest station in all of France, with a bag in one hand and a violin in the other. So, I explored the town a bit. A bit small, but a few neat bars, some stores, bakeries, and right beside the river Rhone. I recall predicting which cafes I would frequent and what I could do in my spare time. So I took the bus to L'Arche to meet my new family. But I soon found out that Hauterives is a good 40 minute bus ride away from St.Vallier sur Rhone... 40 minutes of further increasing levels of agriculture, and decreasing levels of civilization. It just so happens to be that Hauterives is a pretty darn small town, with a few cafes, a little pharmacy, a video store, a grocery store and a church.

Le Palais Ideal du Facteur Cheval...

A small section of the Palais

Translated as - 'The Ideal Palace of Postman Cheval', this is, perhaps, the greatest reason why over 120,000 tourists visit our little town. It combines aspects a khmer temple, a mosque, a hindu sanctuary, a feudal castle, a swiss chalet and the manger in Bethlehem, with ostriches, geese, eagles, flamingoes, angels, skies, Julius-Caesar, Vercingetorix, and Archimides. It was built by postman named Cheval, born on April 19th, 1836. Every day, without fail, he worked on the palace, without any skill in architecture, sculpting, or building. After 20 years, the palace measures 26x14 meters in length, 10 meters in height and in 1984, was depicted on a stamp.

Cafes and bars...

The owner of the 'Palais de Glace' café happily doing what he does best

There's two or three cafes in Hauterives, that I know of. They are, unsurprisingly, small and you'll generally find the same crowd there on any given day of the week. I like to go there to sit and think undisturbed, although if a person that I know passes by, I'm usually more than eager to invite them to share  a coffee with me.

Nightlife...

(I'll leave this section blank, and you can interpret as you will)

The Countryside...

Cornfields a few minutes before sunset

As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of countryside to see in Hauterives. Hauterives translates literally to 'High River Banks', a name that I don't consider to be typical for a community with prospects of becoming a booming metropolis. But the countryside provides a wonderful environment for long walks, collecting your thoughts, and it is a wonderful backdrop to our dining room, equipped with floor to ceiling windows which open up to the gorgeous French sunset.