A Taste of Provence with the Family (June 2009)

The story

Members: Edo, Laura (young forty-somethings), Marco (15), Luca (11)

An account of a 2-and-a-half-day trip (3 nights) may seem little, but perhaps it can be useful for anyone wanting to go to that area and skip the visit to Avignon (you need to spend a whole day there).

In any case the read will certainly be short and painless, grammar permitting.

14 June

We set off on the trip after taking Marco (15 years old) to his 3rd dive at Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice) at 5 pm. Duration: 3 hours.

Our headquarters, already visited on our previous trip, is the Clos de Buy at Jonquerettes, 10 km from Avignon. It's a b&b run by Francoise and Renee Dubuy. A delightful French couple.

The b&b has a pool and Francoise's kindness. I recommend it if you like peace and good breakfasts and conversations in French-Italian. It works like this: we spoke in Italian and she in French. Fun. Of course, if you have a smattering of French it's definitely better.

Anyway, we arrive at Jonquerettes at 8 pm, greetings to Mr and Mrs Dubuy and off to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue for dinner (10 km from Jonquerettes).

Isle is a beautiful village crossed by the Sorgue, dotted with canals and mills. So romantic you couldn't imagine anything more so. We, however, are looking more for a restaurant than bucolic settings. We eat at the Bellevue, right on the river. At this time of year there aren't many people, so it's easy to find a table. In July/August it's certainly worse.

After dinner, everyone home, tired as marathon runners. We've been up since 6 and Marco has 2 dives on his back.

15 June Senanque-Gordes-Roussillon

Breakfast at 9 (life should be taken calmly) with milk/coffee/tea/chocolate + yoghurt and jams made by Francoise, fresh cheese. A delight.

Today we start from the Abbaye de Senanque, reached by following the signs for Isle/Gordes.

This is our 2nd little trip to Provence and we had already visited the abbey one April a few years ago. We came back to see this place with the lavender in bloom. Which, however, was not in bloom?. Not much, at least.

The place is very evocative. The abbey sits at the bottom of a valley in a sea of lavender. In my opinion, you cannot come to Provence without making a stop at Senanque.

After 30/40 photos we set course for Gordes. Here they filmed the outdoor scenes of the film "A Good Year". The film is not a cornerstone of cinema but it makes you want to come to these parts to see if everything is really that idyllic. It really is. If you're romantic people, Provence is your home. If you like Bruce Willis, you might get chronic depression!

Back to Gordes: it's a little village perched on a rocky spur, all alleys and little squares with a tree, usually a plane tree. To wander around aimlessly, slowly. It's one of the most beautiful villages in France. I haven't seen many but it takes, so far, 1st place in my ranking.

Lunchtime. We decide to hold out (breakfast did its job) to move on to Roussillon, another little village not far away and signposted from Gordes onwards. Impossible to get lost.

The road skirts some truly enchanting, immaculately kept residences.

We arrive at Roussillon without the village having revealed itself to our sight. Unlike Gordes, which shows off its profile from far away.

We park in a paid car park (3€, I challenge anyone to find a free car park less than 2 km from the village) and head off to the most beautiful visit of our trip.

At the first little bar we buy sandwiches and drinks, which we consume under the trees in the first square we come across.

Roussillon: a name, a colour. This little village is all shades of red. We are in the land where ochre was mined.

Barely an hour at the top and Gordes gives up, inexorably, the sceptre of the best French village visited.

I realise I'm sickeningly sentimental, but this village cannot leave you indifferent. You walk in silence (they say that in high season the poetry goes out the window), red walls and lavender bushes. Here you could be enchanted by Pina, Fantozzi's wife.

The heat, which there is, is softened by a nice breeze. From the belvedere you can see the legendary Mont Ventoux; we have a chat with some very friendly Canadians and then head off towards the last surprise of the day, the Ochre Trail. For a few euros (I think 2.5 and kids free) you have a unique experience.

Two trails, one long and one shorter (obviously), let you admire the spectacle of the ochre. All the shades of red and yellow on the earth and on the walls, together with real pinnacles in what was once a quarry. We did the longer stretch, which takes no more than ½ an hour. You feel the heat when you come out of the woods but it's a sacrifice I really recommend.

Anyone who has seen Cappadocia in Turkey will find a resemblance in the landscape to that of the fairy chimneys, much smaller.

Back to base to let Marco & Luca splash about a bit (2 hours!!) in the pool and for us to have a nice nap (in reality only me; Laura stayed awake).

For dinner we went to Avignon in Place de l'Horloge. Nothing to report except the desolation of so few people around.

PS: today was Laura's birthday. Happy birthday!

16 June Arles – Baux-de-Provence

Yesterday a romantic day, today: history. We go to Arles. From Jonquerettes barely an hour by car and we're in this city dominated by the amphitheatre.

It is perfectly preserved even though in the Middle Ages an entire village was built inside it and under the arches, later razed to the ground to bring back to light a testimony of Roman architecture.

Today bullfights are held in the arena. People keep dying here. At least now it's the bulls' turn. One step at a time: first it was the gladiators who died.

After the amphitheatre, the theatre: here you have to use your imagination. The tiers are intact while the stage part is reduced to 2 columns.

Lunch based on crêpes and we head towards Baux-de-Provence. Along the road you pass the Abbey of Montmajour: an imposing construction.

We go in (7€, kids free). You admire the bulk of the building, more like a fortress than a monastery. From the tower, 26 m high, there's a lovely view (I didn't go up: tired, too tired).

Les Baux must be a lovely place. Perched on a rocky spur. The name comes from bauxite, a stone mined in these parts.

We came here, at least I did, full of high expectations. Bad luck meant, or maybe it's always like that, that we ran into caravans of visitors. The practically uninhabited village is a whole succession of little alleys. Dominated by the ruins of the castle.

Here we watched a projectile being launched from a perfectly reconstructed catapult. War, in the old days, had to be taken calmly: to launch a stone it took 6 men and an hour of time! You had to ask the enemy the courtesy of not moving (but I think he did move, he wasn't stupid!).

We return to base a bit disappointed by Les Baux, which had been praised by the guide and also by Francoise. The pool is waiting for us.

For dinner we went to Le Bercail, in Avignon, on the island in the middle of the Rhône. We ate the Braserade by the river, grilled meat. The special thing is the grill: they bring it to the table and you cook the meat yourself. Highly recommended (about 25€ each).