For the first few hours there wasn’t anything exciting because we were doing highway driving and the towns we drove past were mainly big industrial towns, so not very pretty.
Our first stop was Gordes, a spectacular village overlooking the Coulon Valley. After World War II it attracted a number of well known artists and is now home to very chic restaurants and hotels – many of them 5 star establishments. The view looking across to this village was absolutely spectacular.
This area is a wine, olive and lavender growing region, but looking at the “soil” (and I use the term loosely), it is difficult to see how anything would grow. It’s basically just pebbles. On the windy little roads leading up to the villages there are walls made completely of stone and in the 18th century, farmers built “bories” – little huts made of flat stones. No cement, carpentry or roofing was used in the construction. These were used as storage sheds, sheep shelters or for grain storage. There are over 3000 in the area still in existence. Just near Gordes, we made a very quick visit to the Abbaye de Sénanque which is hidden away in the valley.
Next we visited Roussillon, a town known as the Provençal Colorado and from the pictures it is easy to see why. It is noted for its large ochre deposits found in the clay surrounding the village with pigments ranging from yellow and orange to red. After walking through the colourful hills in the heat, Anne and I decided we deserved an ice cream. I had two flavours, Nutella and Carambar (For those of you have not known the delight of tasting a Carambar, it is a very famous French caramel lolly). Delicious!
Finally we headed towards Avignon. The area surrounding this town has many fruit trees and it is known as “Le verger de la France” – the orchard of France. Anne and I stopped at a little fruit stall and bought some stone fruit and grapes. The plums and grapes are perhaps the sweetest I have ever tasted.
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