The best way to see Provence is undoubtedly by car. Most of the beautiful villages perched on the hilltops and among the valleys in the region are either inaccessible by public transportation or offer totally inconvenient timetables. Forget trying to get anywhere round-trip on a Sunday. And so it came to pass that we found a service called TripnDrive (think AirBnB for cars), and rented a car for two days of unrestrained Provençal village exploration. Day One was a Tuesday, and our main goal was to visit Vaison-la-Romaine. Days of the week matter in Provence, as village life often revolves around market day. And as far as market days go, even in the winter Vaison still had a pretty awesome spread. We couldn't help ourselves from buying (and immediately eating) fresh olive bread and an herbed sausage. To be fair though, we did hike up a pretty good hill to enjoy our spoils. Next on the itinerary was a very small village called Crestet. I imagine it is more lively in the summer months, but part of the charm for us was the absolute peace and serenity of the quiet stone village perched on a hill that felt abandoned from lack of human contact. We only saw one group of people unloading groceries into what we thought was a chateau in ruin at the top of the hill - only to discover that behind the facade was a furnished home the group was clearly stocking up with boxes of wine for a party later in the day. Too bad we weren't invited. After two villages (and a hearty snack), we sat down for the best lunch of our vacation at a small roadside B&B that serves lunch a few days a week. If you're in the area, it is absolutely worth planning your day around lunch at La Fleur Bleue. Other than a decent wine menu, the only choice to be made is whether or not you want to add dessert to whatever starter+main the chef happens to be serving for the day. After lunch, we drove to Le Barroux, hoping to visit the chateau. It's a good thing that the village itself is beautiful, because it turns out that the chateau is closed to the public during the winter months. We nevertheless enjoyed the views. Onwards to Beaumes-de-Venise. This particular village is known for it's sweet white Muscat wine, as well as its unfiltered olive oil, which you can really only find there. Our final stop of the first day was to Gigondas, which is a major wine-producing town with excellent red wines that I buy for special occasions. Out of all of the villages we traipsed through, Gigondas was the one that most felt like wealthy people visit on a fairly regular basis and leave happily toting a few cases of expensive wine. In that respect, it's a lot like Chateauneuf-du-Pape. On Day 2, we only had time to visit the one town I had wanted to visit for years: Les Baux-de-Provence. Compared to the quiet and peaceful village experience we had the day before, Les Baux was a complete shock to the senses. I knew that the town itself was going to be beautiful, and the chateau is indeed an impressive fortress on top of a hill with gorgeous views; but we had no idea when we planned the visit that Les Baux is one of the most highly-touristed sites in France. Hello swarms of children (and adults) all up in our business!! We managed to find a bit of peace and quiet among the chaos, and I even got to pet some baby sheep in the live nativity scene. I don't mean to discourage anyone reading this from checking out Les Baux - just go into it forewarned that the word is out and the people are coming.
Right next to the village of Les Baux, there is an attraction that is absolutely worth going out of your way to visit. Les Carrières de Lumières is a multi-media show where masterpieces by famous artists are projected on the limestone walls of an old quarry in the side of a mountain. Works of art that you have maybe seen a hundred times are projected onto massive stone walls, and dance to the rhythm of music that is perfectly chosen, and which you can almost feel the moment you step in side. These pictures will never do the experience justice, but it shows at least a flavor of the size of the place. If you're interested and have a bit more time, here's a nice video that shows many more photos from the same show we saw.
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AuthorBecause why not get married and move to Paris to really kick off your thirties? Archives
December 2016
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