Our friend Marie-Lise, who lives in Paris, comes from the small village of Morette just northwest of Grenoble, in the Isère department. It is in the rolling hills above the Isère River to the west of the Massif du Vercors. She has a lovely home there with stunning mountain views. After Paris, we enjoyed a few days with her there to relax following our busy time in the big city. We travelled by train.

Morette and the region are know for growing walnuts, and Marie-Lise’s family are walnut farmers. The whole area is resplendent with beautiful walnut groves. On her kitchen hutch, there is a large wooden bowl filled with nuts from her family trees, harvested and dried last autumn. One evening,while sipping wine, nibbling bread and cheese, and exchanging stories and laughter, the three of us took turns cracking walnuts, so I could make a gâteau aux noix — a recipe you will soon see on Cocoa & Lavender. 

While you might not think there is a lot to do in a small village, a short drive got us to some fascinating places, far off the beaten path, which satisfies our preference for places with few (or no) tourists.

Our first stop was the commune of Pont-en-Royans in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region on the Bourne River, a tributary of the Isère. This village consists of medieval homes that are precariously cantilevered over the river gorge.  We strolled around for a while, enjoying the roses and wisteria hanging over garden walls, descended and crossed the river, walked along its babbling course, and then ascended several flights of stairs to get to a restaurant for lunch: M. Baret. Mark and I both had the local specialty of Ravioles Dauphiné — tiny, cheese-filled ravioli in a blue cheese and walnut cream. They were quite good and very filling. The restaurant is built into the side of the cliff with bedrock as its back wall, and has beautiful views of the village. The only downside to this town was that it has been found by bikers that often made a lot of unnecessary noise. Tant pis.

After lunch, we drove on to the Abbaye de Saint-Antoine. Built between the 12th and 15th centuries, the abbey houses the relics of Saint Anthony the Great (of Egypt) which were moved to France sometime in the 1000s. It was the main church for the Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony. The monks who inhabited the abbey were known for treating ergot poisoning, historically known as “St. Anthony’s Fire,” using herbs and tinctures they made from plants in their garden. This was before the modern knowledge that ergot comes from a mold that is mostly associated with rye grown in damp climates. The abbey is situated in the eponymous commune of Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye, which has been designated one of The Most Beautiful Villages of France. And it is.

Early one morning, before daylight, Marie-Lise was searching online for activities for the day, and discovered that the French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz was born just over the hill (forested mountains, really). The town of Côte Saint-André has a long, ordinary, old-fashioned French business street on which we found the stolid home of Berlioz’ parents. The ground floor of the house museum was devoted to formal exhibits about the romantic era, giving context for Berlioz’ music. Upstairs, the first floor was series of rooms with beautifully-reproduced historic wallpapers, some furnishings, and cases with objects of historical significance. On the second floor were formal exhibits, including letters Berlioz had written, and musical instruments of the type he learned to play as a boy. One fascinating room was devoted to later technology for recording music (cylinder recordings, gramophones, record players, even radios), a reminder that in his day, one heard music live or not at all. Behind the house was a very nice garden where, in spite of the gray chilly day, we found several people painting watercolors while another reclined in a chair, reading — a charming scene.

Our final outing took us (in the rain) further east to Voiron to visit the Caves de Chartreuse nestled between the Chartreuse Mountains and the Massif du Vercors. To most people, this region is best known for the herbal liqueur, Chartreuse. Being a fan of digestifs like Chartreuse, we felt a tour and tasting were de rigueur. Our tour included a variety of galleries with old engravings, photographs, documents, advertisements, utensils, and scale models related to the monastery of Chartreuse. We learned that 133 herbs and spices are used to make Chartreuse, and the difference between yellow and green is the amount of sugar and alcohol. The green (55% alcohol) is very strong and was considered medicinal. The yellow (at 43%) is sweeter and was considered more of a digestif. The green has roots in the early 1600s as a recipe for a medicinal liquor, and its recipe was given to the order of monks by the family who had created it and didn’t know what to do with it. Today, at any given time, there are only two monks who know the recipe, and they can never travel together. Production moved several times for different reasons (including revolution), even as far as Tarragona, Spain. The facility we visited in Voiron was a production facility but it closed in 2017 when production was moved yet again. The tour finished with us tasting the elixir (just a couple of drops on a meringue) and then, in another tasting room, sips of the yellow and green varieties. Photos weren’t permitted on the tour, so all I have is the stylish bar (what museum doesn’t have a cocktail bar?) and its stained glass windows. Funny note: the windows are replicas of those in Chartres Cathedral, yet there is zero connection between Chartres and Chartreuse. 

I hope you enjoyed a taste of the Isère region as much as we did. Many thanks to Marie-Lise for being a wonderful hostess.