The most beautiful villages of Provence
May 2017 We've wanted to visit Provence for a while, so took a long weekend to explore the Provencal countryside.
We left our booking a little late, and that weekend happened to be a public holiday in France (Ascension Day) so our accommodation options were limited, as were our hire car pick up locations. So we ended up staying in a minimalist, dingy and quite run down apartment hotel right near the airport on our arrival - not ideal but at least we got to watch the entertaining French tv show Le Zap! The next morning was a 45 minute taxi to our hire car location on the other side of the city. Not quite ideal, then again we couldn't really complain - we were spending time in the warm Provencal sunshine on holiday!
Saturday - Les Alpilles
We decided to stay away from major cities as much as possible so I navigated us along the smaller roads while Rach drove us towards the hinterlands.
We headed north along small roads, stopping for our first croissant breakfast (a mandatory start to every day on holiday in France) in a small sleepy village of Cadolive. We kept going north and the countryside began to open up, stopping for cafe au lait on the main street of Le Puy Saint Reparade late in the morning.
Our first destination was Le Baux, a small village dramatically perched on the side of a hill/cliff in the Alpilles (the little Alps). After some issues with the parking meter - this was very busy village - we walked up to the top to explore. It was by far the busiest village we encountered on the trip, with small cobbled streets and great views across the valley. We had our first proper Provencal meal - I had vegetables and cod with aioli sauce, while Rach had goats cheese on toast with salad. All washed down with a carafe of wine - though as Rach was driving, I had to shoulder the burden of most of the red wine.
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| Le Baux |
We continued on to a nearby village to quickly check out Le Moulin de Daudet - a windmill made famous by the writer who moved into it in the 1860s. He wrote a series of famous short stories of Provencal life while living there, which I read just before our trip to get a better idea of the place. We had a quick drink in the local village (Fonvieille) afterwards.
We'd booked our accomodation at a nearby village and drove there. When we arrived, the owner very apologetically told us there had been a problem with the booking with her limited English. My rudimentary French was enough to understand that Booking.com had problems with its booking system, and she very kindly let us stay and have a drink of water while we talked with Booking.com on the phone. They eventually arranged another place for us to stay, which turned out to be just as good, if not better.
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| Mas Guiraud |
It was called Mas Guiraud - a big old farmhouse (called a "mas" in French) converted into accommodation with a pool, nearby huge fields of grapes. After a quick dip in the pool we drove off to get some dinner. We ate a delicious dinner in a tiny village called Argilliers - I had duck breast with goats cheese and honey, while Rach had beef and morelle sauce. The restaurant was built into the side of the village church!
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| Argilliers |
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| Rach just saw someone else's food coming out of the kitchen. |
Sunday - towards the Luberon
We started with a hearty breakfast in our Mas of croissants, coffee, juice and bread then set off the next morning.
En route we decided to take a slight detour to drive through the small cities of Tarascon and Beaucaire, perched on either side of the Rhone River. They were both very picturesque, with tiny streets that were clearly designed before cars - several times we squeezed through streets with a few centimetres to spare on either side of the car.
Then it was off to L'Isle sur La Sorgue - a town on an island in the middle of the Sorgue River. There was a big market there that day, so we parked up a little outside the town to walk in. As we left the car, a middle aged French couple walked past us, the man looking a around a little confused. The woman walking in front of him sighed and said in a very loud but defeated tone of voice "on est perdu!" Or in English "We're lost!".
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| L'Isle sur La Sorgue |
The town was packed. It was very pretty, surrounded by the river on all sides. Its old streets were lively, full of people and market stalls. We managed to dip our feet in the water, which despite its looks was surprisingly ice-cold and actually left your feet in pain after a few minutes of submersion.
Lunch was a delicious glass of wine each at a Marchand de Vins (wine merchant), along with a selection of cheeses and charcuterie. And we bought a nice chopping board while there which we brought back to London with us.
We continued on to the Luberon, a national park area full of picturesque little villages. And it did not disappoint.
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| Gordes |
First was Gordes, which dramatically spread out and down a steep hillside. We decided to explore Gordes properly the next day, but how about that for a nice photo stop! We had a quick look at the nearby Abbaye de Senanque, famous for its bright lavender fields - but unfortunately we were a few weeks too early and it was just green.
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| Lavender! |
Then to Rousillon, our accommodation for the night. The woman at the reception could speak only a few words of English so my limited French skills came in surprisingly handy. After a bit of lounging by the pool and reading, we went to explore the village properly.
The village of Rousillon itself is 50 shades of red, due to the ochre mining nearby. The main buildings are near the top of the hill, clustered around a pretty, old fashioned square. The road wends further up the hill, towards a church looking out off the cliff. Just like with Portofino, the early evening (around 6pm onwards) are the best times to explore the big tourist draws of small villages - all of the day tripping tourists and coaches are gone for the day.
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| Rousillon |
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| In French, the sign reads: Please respect this 169 year old vine! Do not pick the grapes. |
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| Delicious meal at Le Grappe de Raisin |
Monday - the Luberon day two
Croissants from the local boulangerie again kicked off the day and we drove south. We looked in at the markets in Lauris which were tiny and quiet, then had a quick coffee across the road in the cafe before making our slow way back to the north.
A stop in the village of Loumarin, another picturesque medieval village - but this time not perched on the side of a hill! The village felt small but lively in parts. We had a panini to eat, pestered by dog Cachet, a terrifyingly squash-faced French bulldog belonging to the cafe owners.
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| Loumarin |
Onwards to Bonnieux, a village this time perched on a hill. We had a beer and pizza with stunning views over Provence countryside after wandering down then up then around the village.
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| Bonnieux |
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| Lacoste from afar |
Onwards to Lacoste - probably the emptiest village of the lot we saw, and possibly the most beautiful to walk around. The village was made infamous by the Marquis de Sade who got up to all sorts of depravities in his castle overlooking the village in the 1770s.
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| Walking through Lacoste |
After a return to the hotel for an afternoon by the pool again, we went onwards to Gordes - this time to properly walk around it. The village was probably the most touristy of all apart from Les Baux but was quiet in the early evening (see Rousillon above) and full of tiny winding alleyways and streets. We had a quite average dinner before heading back to Rousillon for a cheeky dessert and wine back at Le Grappe de Raisin.
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| Gordes, redux |
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| Rousillon by night |
We had only had half a day so made the most of it with an early start. After a quick croissant stop we set of for the Pont du Gard. This is a massive, 49m high Roman aqueduct built around 2000 years ago. It's the biggest remaining aqueduct and one of the most well-preserved. It was part of a 50km system designed to carry water to the city of Nimes, built to amazing precision - the bridge itself was designed to descend only 2.5cm along a length of 245m to allow the water to flow. The whole water system descends only 12.5m over a distance of 50km, which is pretty astounding when you consider the technology they had.
Then it was back to the car and we motored back to Marseille.
Merci beaucoup pour une excellent sejour, Provence! Nous reviendrons!
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