Tag: Provence

What do you know about Avignon … maybe the song ‘Sur Le Pont, d’Avignon’ learnt in French class at school? Mind you it’s all a bit topsy turvy as the bridge is actually Pont St. Bénézet and the dance happened under the bridge and not over the bridge as it crossed a river island with pleasure grounds where there was frequent dancing. Not just that, but today there isn’t much left, as every time the Rhone flooded, the bridge weakened and had to be rebuilt and by the C17 they gave up and just four arches remain. The other thing about Avignon is that in the C14, seven successive French popes, beginning with Clement V chose to live in Avignon rather than Rome due to conflict between the Papacy and the French crown. The plan was to visit for the day and explore, but having taken ages to actually locate the huge car park, all 1400 spaces appeared to be taken! We drove out of town, catching a glance at that Pont!

Entering Avignon we had seen a sign for the Carrieres de Lumieries at Baux-de-Provence called Marc Chagall – Midsummer Nights’ Dreams and decided to reschedule. The only time I have been to Provence before was for a walking week in 2008 and a visit to the lightshow held at these old bauxite quarries was included, with the theme of Van Gogh. I had never seen anything like it and was spellbound so we had to go! Chagall is a bit in the moment for us, having just seen a play at the Globe called the Flying Lovers of Vitebsk. My photos are below, but don’t really give an impression of the wonder of the experience with the images duplicated and moving over several walls at the same time, accompanied by music in a space with great acoustics. The show runs on a loop and we watched it through a couple of times from different vantage points lasting an hour or so … a fabulous end to our time in Provence.

We made our way to Marseille airport, to the Golden Tulip where we are staying the night before our flight tomorrow morning. We still have our bottle of Gigondas which we are enjoying as we really shouldn’t take a chance with it in a suitcase! A bit of dinner later and our trip is at an end.

We’ve had a great time in Provence. The Gorges du Verdon, Mont Ventoux and The Dentelles of Montmirail all provided the stunning hard landscaping of our trip. Add to that the pretty villages and there seemed to be two sorts … either pretty with shops and restaurants and lots of tourists like Moustiers, Sault and Rousillion or pretty and deserted with a view of which there were lots but we liked like Banon and Simiane best.

Finally we mustn’t forget the lavender, and we obviously timed it just right to see plenty. Getting a fabulous photo was harder than I thought as sometimes we arrived at a good vantage point at the wrong time of day, or the lavender was not quite at peak purple! But we enjoyed the adventure and the smell was amazing … shame this isn’t a scratch and sniff blog!

Thanks for coming along and hope you enjoyed the trip.

À bientôt!

 

The jagged hilltops which form the backbone of this area are the Dentelles de Montmirail, so called not because they resemble ‘dents’ or teeth, but ‘dentelles’ which means lacework as the pinnacles look like pins on a lacemaking board. Driving from Vaison, we made a quick stop in Seguret, another contender for the prettiest viallage in Provence, and it was pretty, but I think I must be suffering from pretty village wilt, as every time I raise the camera, it seems to be to take a photo already taken somewhere else! I can vouch for the lavender icecream though, very tasty and surprisingly white rather than purple.

Wherever you go in France, you are surrounded by wine and we have had Cotes de Provence to the south, producing mainly rose wines and Cotes du Rhone to the west with a mix of red, white and rose. Just looking at the countryside it is obvious we have exchanged rows of lavender for rows of vines here. A famous red wine is produced here in the village of Gigondas and we went wine tasting in the co-operative cave, coming away with a bottle to drink before we go home (as I don’t fancy chancing it in the suitcase!). Beaumes de Venise is also close by and we managed a tasting there too!

We are staying for three nights with at Le Grand Jardin in Lafare, a bit of a treat with a fabulous views across lavender in the garden and vineyards beyond.

Fortunately we checked in early as the plan is definitely to relax in the garden in the afternoons enjoying the pool …

… and on the terrace in the evening enjoying the fabulous cooking of Nataliya who made a lovely dinner each evening we were here.

One day we dove round rest of the villages of the Dentelles – Suzette …

… Le Barroux with a visit to the Chateau …

… and Roque Alric.

The other day we walked from the hotel, up into the Dentelles. We started just before nine and it was already warm but luckily a fair bit was shaded.

The route circled round jagged peaks, firstly on a minor road, then on a track, before ascending and running along the rock face before descending and returning to Lafare.

It was certainly challenging, both the steep ascent and the gravelly descent but the views were worth every one of the 11kms.

We arrived back at 1.30 very ready for a dip in the pool and a a well deserved beer!

Tomorrow we begin our return to Marseille … with one stop on the way!

Today’s drive took us first to Brantes …

… as Mattheu had said the view of the north face of Mont Ventoux was worth seeing from here, and he was right.

We climbed up through another pretty hilltop town to look out on a view that seemed almost alpine before descending and continuing our drive.

Vaison-la-Romaine is a town with two parts, the medieval remains on a defendable rocky outcrop while the Roman ruins and modern town are in the valley by the river. The two parts are joined by one of five remaining Roman bridges in Provence, which survived being hit by a German bomb during WW2 and also the devastating flooding of the Ouvèze in 1992, which killed 42 people.

We began with the Roman ruins of Puymin and Vailasse which claim to be France’s largest and maybe I was expecting more. Nonetheless, it was easy to see the lines of a couple of arcades of shops, bath complexes, and several large family houses and the museum contained a variety of recovered items from pots and jewellery to mosaics and statuary. The theatre, while dramatically entered by a passageway through some rock, has been completely restored and has lost all ancient atmosphere.

Crepes for lunch again restored our energy, and we continued with a quick look round the cathedral before heading out of town to find our stop for the night.

We were totally charmed by Au Coquin de Sort and welcomed by Anne and Christian who have transformed this old Provençal house into a B&B filled with tradition.

They must have enjoyed trawling through brocante sales and have decorated every corner with some quirky pre-loved item.

The garden is a delight, offering several places to sit, each perfect according to the time of day, and we collected a few provisions from the local Lidl and had a picnic supper there.

Our room was just as pretty, with spiral stairs to a loft with an extra bed.

Breakfast was an amazing spread including homemade yogurt and conserves (pumpkin was my favourite), a variety of breads as well as crepes and cake!

Returning to Vaison, we parked near the Pont Roman then climbed up through the Haute Ville to the ruined Chateau where the view included Mont Ventoux, again, and lots of vineyards.

Moving on tomorrow … South

Today we left the Luberon behind and our route took us into the Vacleuse and into view of Mont Ventoux, the largest mountain in the area which almost looks snow-capped as the summit is covered in limestone rubble with no vegetation at all. Adding to the bleakness, the mistral winds blow at over 56mph for 23 of the year. The Tour de France sometimes includes a climb to the summit and the race has ended there eight times, but little did we realise that it is also part of the route this year … today in fact! The ascent is up the far side so hopefully we won’t get too caught up in traffic, but some 500,000 spectators watched the race go by last time, and this year it is Bastille Day and a public holiday so it might attract more. Later, we found out that those very same mistral winds which have been blowing for a couple of days, have meant that the end of this stage of the race will no longer be at the summit, but at Chalet Reynard, 6kms lower.

Anyway, off we set, towards what proved to be our first hiccup at St Saturnin-les-Apt, where they were holding a huge Bastille Day second-hand/junk/pre-loved/brocante sale which closed the centre of this very small hilltop town and attracted every vehicle in a 20km radius to come and park down every side road. Why not hold the event in a nice big out of town field, accessible to all …? Signage was poor and we ended up heading down a narrow lane which seemed to be going in the right direction, so we stuck with it … but after 6km or so of very pretty scenery the road deteriorated into a unmade track with rocks … so about turn and back we went … and so did the car behind us! We managed to get out of the town safely in the end, following a big white van who didn’t take any prisoners, and headed toward Sault across the Plateau de Vacleuse, with lots of lavender. And where there is a nice photographic field of lavender, where will you find eager Chinese tourists taking their holiday snaps!

We didn’t stop in Sault, as we figured on a public holiday everything would be closed and it would be better to return the next day. Instead we headed for a short hike through lavender fields, but we ran into our next hiccup as the access road was closed for the Tour de France. We tried taking another route and got a bird’s eye view of the area we were meant to be walking round.

Finally we found a spot to park and started the 5km circular walk at a different place.

The Chemin des Lavandes was a good route, mainly along roads, but so minor we only saw a couple of cars. It made such a difference to be on foot rather than trying to see everything from the car and every few steps brought a different angle so we took far too many pictures.

Afterwards, we continued to Montbrun-les-Bains …

… where we are staying for a couple of nights at Le Bellevue. A key had been left for us in a jar with our name on and we let ourself in to a lovely breakfast room and found our apartment with bedroom, en suite and kitchenette looking out to the mountains.

We checked on the progress of the Tour de France online as De Gendt crossed the finishing line first and Chris Froome collided with a cameraman breaking his bike then ran down the road! He was later reinstated in the yellow jersey by a jury decision. Some of the other guests had watched the race pass but we were quite happy to read about the result rather than be there. We also met the owner Mathieu, who was helpful with tips on places to see.

Later we went out to eat and came across our third hiccup … we should have booked! No table to be had at the cafe, creperie or pizzeria! Fortunately the pizzeria offered emporter or take-away and we returned an hour later (I said they were busy) to collect. Meanwhile, we tried to source some wine, but the only shop was the tabac and it was closing. We asked if we could buy a bottle of wine and proprietor went inside and came back with a bottle of rose. We asked how much and said he didn’t usually sell wine by the bottle and we could have it, but we couldn’t accept such a generous offer and gave him €20, probably far too much, but he had done us a favour! The pizza was one of the best pizzas we have ever had, made better by the wait, and went down nicely with the rose!

The next day after a lovely breakfast eat in a group with the other guests, we drove up Mont Ventoux …

… not quite following the Tour as they took a different route, but we still reached Chalet Reynard where the race actually ended …

… and then continued to the summit at 1912m as the race would have done of it had not been too windy. The first part was quite wooded, but this got sparser towards the top and it got colder too with the summit at only 10 degrees. There were lots of cyclists and apparently this is usual throughout the cycling season.

We came back down to Sault where we stopped for a wander and crepes for lunch and bought some of the famous nougat for a friend.

 

Onwards to Ferrassieres, for an hour’s walk round the lavender fields on the Plateau of Albion, probably the last place we will see lavender in such quantity. The afternoon sun gave a mellow glow to the little borie in a field and Chris picked me a sprig of lavender to take home.

 

Leaving the lavender behind, we now drive northwards.

Our drive today took us through the lavender fields of the Valensole Plateau although it was slow progress with all the photographing!

It was amazing how the colour changes within seconds as the sun goes behind a cloud.

We then made three stops, one in Forcalquier where the weekly market was just closing, but we still found some ratatouille and spinach tarts and nectarines for lunch, which we ate with our feet cooling in the town lavoir!

Next stop, the Haute Ville of Banon, where the houses form a guarding wall with the impressive Portail a Machicoulis gate and the hollyhocks which are planted everywhere give splashes of strident colour at every turn and an amazing scent.

Last up was Simiane …

… which is topped by the Rotunde, which looks like a keep, but is actually the chapel from the original chateau, with a white domed roof and great views.

We explored the cobbled streets with lots of little art galleries …

… and an impressive array of doors.

This area is called The Luberon, named after the massif comprising three ranges of mountains which sits in the centre of the Parc Naturel Regional du Luberon and we are staying just to the north of the mountains in Apt while we explore. The car park sign caused a little consternation, but apparently it has to rain for days on end for there to be a risk.

Christel welcomed us into her home, which had been part of an Ursuline Convent until the French Revolution. There are three B&B apartments, and ours was on the third floor, with a little sitting room, bedroom and huge bathroom and a delicious breakfast was served in the salon with the other guests.

Gordes is the home of a couple of the most photographed views in Provence. The first is a view of the town as it seems to tumble dramatically down the hillside …

… and the other is of the Abbaye de Senanque, another of the Three Sisters of Provence, but still lived in by monks. As we approached the town, we saw a sign for a viewpoint and we able to take the first picture, although it was a bit overcast and we thought we might take another look later. The Abbaye is only open for individuals in the morning, after that it’s just tours, hence our early start, but the morning was a bit misty, with even a small shower of rain and the Abbaye looked a bit subdued.

We looked round the cloisters, abbey church and chapter house …

… and as we came out so did the sun and the Abbaye lit up.

The Tour de France comes through here in a couple of days, and the road have been smartened up and given fresh white lines, and we’ve seen plenty of cyclists around, some maybe checking out the route! There are even some mobile homes parked up in prime positions for viewing the race.

Just outside Gordes is the Village de Bories, a collection of reconstructed drystone buildings all cleverly designed so that rain runs off easily and the temperature inside remains constant. They almost look prehistoric, but are mainly C18 and were inhabited till the C19. They reminded us of the trulli buildings with conical rooves in Alberobello in Italy.

We would have stopped in Gordes to look round and visit the castle, but it was market day and we couldn’t find a place to park, so gave up. Instead, we decided to return via Roussillion.

Ochre has been extracted from the rocks here since prehistoric times and produces a range of colours from pale yellow to blood red which are unaffected by sunlight. The ochre is made up of white clay mixed with iron oxides but when extracted it is mixed with a lot of sand that needs to be removed first. At its peak in the early C20, 40,000 tonnes of ochre were exported from the area, but by 1930 competition from chemical pigments ended the industry. We walked the Sentier des Oches, a short trail showing the landscape formed by quarrying and subsequent weathering and the sun was definitely out so the colours were amazing, very much reminding us of the Red Canyon in Utah.

We took a turn round the town, where ochre of every shade has been used to decorate the buildings.

Next day, we took a 6km hiking trail round Colorado Provençal, another former ochre quarry, and were quite pleased it remained cooler with a breeze. The trail began in a lavender field and we were surprised that the rocks certainly weren’t red on the first part of the trail …

… but they certainly warmed up as we reached the area called the Sahara and had been weathered into a striking landscape.

We took a tour of the Mines de Bruoux, where tall arched entrances led to some 40kms of passageways, all of which had been dug out just with manpower and a pick axe. Fortunately our tour was only 30mins as it was only 10 degrees inside and we only had one fleece between us (Chris lent me his fleece!) but unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside.

Last stop of the day was a climb to the Bellevue in the village of Saignon …

… which gives almost 360 degree views

… and then tomorrow we move on northwards.

Moustiers says it’s one of the most picturesque villages in Provence and it certainly is lovely. We arrived around lunchtime and it was busy with visitors.

We walked up the 262 steps to the little chapel Notre-Dame de Beauvoir, passing the stations of the cross on the way.

The view over the village and plain was worth the climb …

We looked  up at the small gold star, suspended above, which is in fact almost 2m across, but almost impossible to see in a photo. It has been replaced many times over the years, but nobody knows how it originally came to be there, although one legend says that during the Crusades the knight Bozon de Blacas was held prisoner by the Saracens and he vowed to hang a star over his village if he was able to return.

We found a boulangerie and bought fougasse for lunch, one with béchamel sauce and black olives and the other with bechamel and spinach and we ate them in a shady square beside a fountain.

Afterwards we wandered round the cobbled streets where many ceramics were for sale. Moustiers is famous for its pottery, thanks to a visiting Italian monk in the Middle Ages who brought the secret of how to make a white tin glaze which became very popular.

We are staying at Maison d’Hotes a Angouire for the next couple of nights, a lovely Provencal home set just out of town up a rough track amongst woodland.

And we’ve swapped resident sheep with bells for resident donkeys with bells … luckily they sleep in!

Our room was pretty with shuttered windows, wooden floors and crispy white linen and we arrived early enough to relax in the garden and watch a dozen or so hang gliders catching the air currents.

When we booked we requested dinner and Emmanuelle cooked us a fabulous meal of mixed entrees, pasta, cheese and homemade fruit tart which we ate sitting on the terrace, watching the sunset.

We made an early start next day to drive to Quinson at the far end of Sainte-Croix-du-Lac and had barely left the town before we saw our first field of lavender, followed by several others stretching in every direction. We had to restrain our temptation to stop and take pictures as we had a boat to catch, but knew we would have time later. Arriving at Verdon Electronautic, we picked up our little electric boat which would take us 9kms into the gorge and back again.

There were lots of people out on a Sunday enjoying the river, some more energetic than us in canoes and pedaloes but our boat was great and a really peaceful way to travel.

Back in Quinson, we followed another route back, stopping at St Croix for lunch with a lake view.

After lunch, we stopped at every lavender field we passed to take photos … and we saw sunflowers too! You really have to be here to realise that as well as the view that goes on forever, the air is completely saturated with the scent of lavender and humming with the constant buzz of bees.

As we approached Moustiers, the sun caught the gold star above the town and you can even spot it in the photo!

Having eaten lunch late, we picked up provisions and decided on a quiet evening on the terrace with bread, cheese, olives and another bottle of local rose to watch another sunset.

Tomorrow it is time to move on … west towards more lavender!

Having seen some photos, we felt we had to include the stunning Gorges Du Verdon in our trip. The ravine, some 25 kms long and up to 700 meters deep, has been cut in the limestone by the startling green waters that give the Verdon River its name. The river now flows into Sainte-Croix-du-Lac, the largest reservoir in France, formed when dams were built.

Our day began with a drive to Aiguines …

… where we walked up through the town to La Chapelle Saint-Pierre for a great view of the lake.

Afterwards, we explored the south of the Gorges du Verdon by driving along The Corniche Sublime where we got the first glimpse of the river Verdon …

… and the bright-blue Sainte-Croix-du-Lac.

We stopped at several viewpoints including the Falaise des Cavalier …

and Pont de l’Artuby …

… as well as at a little boulangerie where we were spoilt for choice.

We also saw our first lavender, just a plant or two growing by the side of the road.

The best views were saved for last at the Balcons de la Mescla …

… and Point Sublime.

The road was quite winding but not too busy but it was a little disappointing there were not more places to stop and take pictures. Not much further and we reached the Auberge des Cretes, a small family run auberge, conveniently placed to explore the area further, with our room looking out on the Pétanque court and a herd of sheep grazing in the field across the road.

Chris was pleased to see a sign advertising the match which he watched at the bar, saying there was a bit of a soft penalty for the first goal but France went on to deserve their place in the final.

After driving round the gorge yesterday, today we are walking into it! The most famous hike in the gorge is the Sentier Martel, laid out in 1928 by the Touring Club de France and named to honor the explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel. Martel visited the Verdon in 1905 to carry out geological surveys of the river and discovered the canyon. Today the Sentier Martel travels 15kms along the right bank and takes most walkers around 8hrs one way. Needless to say, we won’t be doing that one! Instead, we chose the Sentier de Pecheur or Fishermans Path, billed as 6km and taking 3hrs but also a circular route so no hassle getting back at the end. The day began a little overcast, and while that made our first few photos a little dark, by the time the sun came out later and we got hotter, we were glad of it. We had a steep descent from the car park, with loose stones underfoot, but the path evened a bit. We got good views of the gorge and river below and the path took us right down to the shore before rising again with more views and a steep climb upwards. We thought we had nearly got back when we reached a wild meadow with lavender growing, only to find we had another 45mins to walk … and not all on the flat! Exhausted we finished 3.5hrs later, after lots of stops to take pictures and catch our breath! I hope those fish were worth it!

On the way back through Palud …

… we spotted today’s lavender …

… and continued to the pretty village of Rougon …

… as I had read about a creperie with a view and we sat and relaxed, with lemonade and lavender honey crepes watching the vultures circling above.

Back at the auberge we had another great three course dinner with wine and coffee which was fantastic value for €100 a night for us both including the B&B, and Jordan cooked us mushroom risotto especially knowing Chris was a veggie.

We made an early start in the morning to avoid billed crowds on the Routes des Cretes, a road which runs close to the north side of the gorge and is renowned for its 23km of wiggles and 14 lookouts. As it happens, we beat any rush there may have been later, although it did mean the gorge was in shadow for our first few viewpoints.

The upside was that we were early enough to catch the vultures circling on the rising air currents. Some passed so closely overhead that we could hear the whoosh as they glided by and it was an amazing experience.

We were able to see the Corniche Sublime on the other side of the gorge that we had driven down a couple of days ago as well as some goats guarding one of the tunnels.

We returned to Sainte-Croix-du-Lac, where we had begun, and saw the docks for all the little pleasure boats we had seen yesterday.

The Gorge behind us, we drove on to Moustiers Sainte Marie.

Having flown into Marseille airport and collected our car, we then drove straight out, north-east, away from the coast. The road got smaller and wound between vineyards and olive trees until we reached the Abbaye du Thoronet, the oldest of three Cistercian monasteries, known as The Three Sisters of Provence and conveniently placed for a lunch stop. The little kiosk had tables set under the shady trees, perfect with the temperature just over 30, and made a great fromage gallette with salad. Revived, we walked round the monastery, built in the C12, and celebrated for its austere lines and pure proportions. Even the acoustics imposed a discipline on the monks as the stone walls created a long echo forcing them to sing slowly and perfectly together.

We then drove northwards, into the Parc Naturel Regional du Verdun, where the road was surrounded on both sides by scrubby woodland, until we reached Aups, in the foothills of the Alps. Capital of the Haute Var, Aups is also famous for holding the third largest truffle market in France during the winter months, and we are staying the night at Auberge de la Tour. The Auberge is just what I hoped for, set around a courtyard with faded turquoise shutters and a pretty bedroom.

We took a turn round the town, and took some pictures of clocks and towers and fountains, then had dinner outside in the restaurant, beginning with a kir and tapenade then moving on to pizza and port fillet.

After dinner, we walked down to the town bar as Wales and Portugal were playing in one of the Euros semis, but neither side had scored, and after our early start, we opted for an early night, only to find out in the morning Portugal had won 2:0.

We want to see purple as far as the eye can see … fields of lavender disappearing into the distance … and thought Provence in July would be the place to come.

Many of our trips include football and Chris was hoping to get some tickets for one of the Euro games in Marseille, but it was not to be. We will be in France for the semis and final, no doubt showing in a bar near us!

As ever, once we started planning, we realised how much there was to see! Finally we settled on a trip across the centre of Provence from the rocky chasm of Les Gorges du Verdun, across the Plateau de Valensole and the Luberon, known for their fields of lavender, to the rocky spires of Les Dentelles de Montmirail.

We’ve planned some walking, but we’ll see how it goes as it’s going to be hot … far hotter than we would usually choose for walking, but we had to come now to see the lavender in bloom.

There will be lots more besides with Roman ruins, Medieval abbeys, a Papal Palace, and lots of picturesque villages, many perched on the top of hills, and all claiming to be the most beautiful in Provence!

And then there’s the food … starting the day with a croissant and cafe creme, then since everything stops for lunch, maybe a plat du jour in a village bistro. I like the idea of l’apero with a few olives early evening … then dinner under the stars!

So if you fancy a couple of weeks off in sunny Provence, do come with us while we look for lavender!

Journal Entries

Aups and our first Auberge

Gorges Du Verdon

Moustiers Sainte-Marie

The Heart of the Luberon

Mont Ventoux

Vaison-la-Romaine

The Dentelles de Montmirail

Chagall en Provence

Map