Three star lodging in a one-horse town
Written: Oct 31 '09 (Updated Oct 31 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Charming three star lodging...
Cons: ... in the middle of nowhere
The Bottom Line: A great jumping-off spot for day tripping in the South of France.
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| sundogg99's Full Review: Hotel Latreille Muscate, Cliousclat, France |
The tiny village of Cliousclat is nestled in the hilly no man's land between Lyon and Provence. It consists of little more than a few stone buildings scattered on either side of a winding country road. Remarkably (or perhaps not - after all, this is France), this seemingly nondescript town is home to at least two excellent restaurants and a wonderfully charming hotel, La Treille Muscate.
It's testimony to the awesome power of the internet that we found this place and made our arrangements well in advance of our visit in July. Thanks to GPS we drove straight to our hotel, found a wide spot in the road to park, and checked in for two nights of absolute tranquility.
We arrived in the late afternoon, tired from a fairly long drive interspersed with wine tasting. We opened the shutters and gazed out onto the grapevines that give the hotel its name ("treille" means trellis in French) and beyond, to orchards, pastures, and copses of trees - a classic pastoral French landscape straight out of Van Gogh.
As I relaxed on the bed, enjoying the evening breeze, I heard an uncharacteristic utterance - a sort of moan - from my wife in the bathroom. When she emerged, she simply and without inflection stated, "Bug in the bathroom... by the toilet." As the designated bug killer in our family, I am used to this sort of thing, but when I stepped into the bath to dispatch the bug, I looked, turned pale, and retreated for more substantial weaponry than the bundle of tissues in my hand. It was... a grasshopper, I guess, or maybe a locust. I'd say it was easily 5 inches long and a couple of inches tall. It wasn't threatening in the least, other than its extreme hugeness. This guy looked like he could very easily have begun the day in the desert of Algeria, caught an urge to take a quick spin over the Mediterranean, and decided to chill out for the night on the cool ceramic tiles of our bathroom floor.
Bug adventures notwithstanding, we enjoyed a very mellow, very pleasant stay at this hotel. La Treille Muscate has only 12 rooms, which gives it a B&B sort of feel. The multilingual staff are pleasant, if not effusive, and the whole place exudes a laid-back rural charm. Our room, although not expansive, was plenty comfortable, with nice amenities and that fantastic view over the French countryside - to the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant in the far distance. Seriously, the towers did not detract from the overall rural charm of the place, but they were a reminder that we weren't actually in 18th century France, even if the village felt that way.
The hotel offers breakfast in its on-site restaurant, but we opted to get our coffee and croissants on the road, in a nearby village on our way to a day tour of the Provencal countryside. One evening, however, we sat on the delightful outdoor terrace and enjoyed a delicious dinner under the shady trees as the sun set. For al fresco dining, this spot was hard to beat.
Although Cliousclat really is kind of in the middle of nowhere, it's only a couple of hours' drive south to the Mediterranean coast or to the east to the French Alps. In an hour, you can be amidst the olive trees and lavender fields of Provence, or tasting wine on the steep slopes of the Rhone Valley. We spent an entire day just meandering through the backroads of Provence-Luberon. When we got back, we enjoyed being able to freshen up in our spotlessly-maintained room, then walk all of 20 meters to a nearby resto-bar for an aperitif and dinner.
La Treille Muscate sort of epitomizes to me the effortless charm of the French - a charming, sophisticated, yet pleasantly rustic retreat. Would I go back? In a hot minute.
Recommended:
Yes
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