Like I was saying, at any turn along Provençal roads you could stumble upon a mountaintop village. We encountered La Roque-sur-Pernes, another tiny 400-resident town carved out of stone clinging to a rocky hillside, along D121. The first inhabitants date back to the Stone Age, as indicated by relics scattered throughout the area. Every vista […]
Tag Archives | Provence
Le Beaucet, France
At any turn along twisting Provençal roads, you might encounter ooh-worthy remote villages set high on rocky hilltops, poking above olive groves, vineyards and forests. We came upon exactly that type of village set into the Vaucluse hills. Le Beaucet is a tiny, serene town of 400 residents built into rocky cliffs. We were curious […]
St-Rémy de Provence, France
My husband and I took a short 13 km drive from Avignon to St-Rémy de Provence, a medieval town with twisting narrow streets surrounded by (you guessed it) gates and ramparts. A wide tree-lined boulevard encircles the outer perimeter. St-Rémy reminded me of an older, weathered, less-wealthy Carmel. Endless charming blocks are filled with boutiques […]
Rue des Teinturiers, Avignon, France
Rue des Teinturiers is a quaint area in Avignon’s old city center (so this is like doubling up in the “charming” category). Translated, this is the street of dyers. Thanks to the man-made canals that supply pristine water from the Vaucluse River, the neighborhood was once the center of Provence’s textile industry. In the 15th […]
Musée Angladon, Avignon, France
What’s better than a house museum? A house museum that doubles as an art museum. Musée Angladon houses the art collection of couturier Jacques Doucet. Though he never occupied the building, Hôtel de Massilian (named after the family that occupied it in the 18th century), his descendent who generously donated and funded the museum did. […]
Hôtel de l’Horlage, Avignon, France
Avignon is full of independent hotels so we took a chance and picked one off one of the main squares, Hôtel de l’Horlage. Though we usually shy away from such central locations, equating them with tour groups and sub-par food, Avignon is so small that to be away from the scrum would mean stuck outside […]
Pont St-Bénézet, or Pont d’Avignon, Avignon, France
If I were French, I would know this bridge from a famous nursery rhyme, “Sur le Pont d’Avignon.” Since I was raised in the U.S., though, the only bridge I know from childhood songs is London Bridge. However, my lack of familiarity didn’t stop me from admiring Pont d’Avignon, or, rather, its remains. This bridge […]
Man on a Clock Tower
This was the view from my hotel room’s balcony. Heights don’t bother me, but I’m not sure I’d want this job!
Avignon, France
Approaching Avignon, one of Provence’s main cities, I felt like a displaced medieval warrior. Though I was in a modern car on an equally modern four-lane road, the only view I had was of 14th-century stone ramparts fully encircling the city, high enough to conceal all but the very tops of the requisite medieval cluster: […]
