Provence travel guide

Drome Provencale:

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The up and coming area where many French vacation. Pretty much an extension of the Haut Vaucluse with historic wine villages, vineyards, lavender fields and the rolling green hills of the Pre-Alpes. To the east are les Baronnies, the baronial lands, a rugged, sparsely populated landscape with villages where gentrification has not yet arrived.

Many visit Grignan and its château (Madame Sévigné) and the historic villages in the area, like Poet Laval with its Knights Hospitalers (Maltese Knights) fortifications.

The Triumphal Arch of Orange

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The Triumphal Arch was built at the beginning of the first century AD, outside of the city wall. Coming from the North, on Via Agrippa (Agrippa's road) it said that you were arriving in Arausio, a city built by Veterans of the Second Gallic Legion.

La Camargue!

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Very different from everything you'll see in Provence. A bit too tourstic for my taste (souvenir shop and fortune teller), but very beautifull with a bohemian feeling. Go on sunday, you'll catch the fiesta, the meeting at the church Ste-Maries and maybe a corrida. But on monday and friday, you'll catch the market. Learn about the mythic creation of the city by 3 Maries (the city is called Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, or holly Mary of the sea) and the action of the sea on the land.

The theater of Orange

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The theater of Orange is in the UNESCO World Heritage list with the following comment: "The ancient theatre of Orange, with its 103-m-long facade, is one of the best preserved of all the great Roman theatres" Note that this is not an amphitheater or arena, oval shaped, but a theater, half oval shaped, with a front wall. I have here only a few picture from the outside : we were going home from Marseille, we were two hours away from home, the visit lasts one hour and there had been a warning of heavy snow falls forecast in the afternoon on the autoroute ! So, we chose to leave the visit of the theater for another visit to Orange. The theater was restored from 1825 to 1856. In 1869, it was used for a Roman show. As it had a great success, shows were done later on a yearly basis and since 1902 the Chorégies d'Orange (visit their site) are organized with great success. Roman theaters are always built on the side of a hill, to make building the tiers easier, with a high wall that send the sounds from the stage towards the audience. The Orange theater is in good condition but is nevertheless in repair, as can be seen on the first photo of the front. It is the only building of its kind which still has its acoustic stage wall, whose size is quite impressive: 103 meters long, 37 meters high, 1.80 meters thick. The stage itself is 65 meters long, with optimally useful space of 47 meters. Depth varies between 12 and 16 meters.

St Remy - Van Gogh Circuit

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Along the roads of St Remy are signboards which mark the suppossed positions where Van Gogh painted. However, to better follow the route, why not arm yourself with a "Patrimoine" brochure that is available in your hotel or the tourist office and you can see for yourself how Van Gogh managed to turn the scene before you into a piece of art. I would say that it was very moving to be able to in the same location as the great artist. Don't forget to visit the Monastere St Paul where Van Gogh seeked treatment for his psychiatric problems outside ot the town.

Aix-en-Provence - The Cours Mirabeau

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Created in 1649 and refurbished just this year, the majestic tree-lined Cours Mirabeau is often described as the most beautiful street in France. Well, it is pretty, but not as wonderful as all that. It's not even the most beautiful in Aix, really, but it is the Main Street in many ways. Coming from the Rotonde in high summer, you will find the Cours a welcome break from the beating sunlight, with it's shady plane trees. On the left hand side of the street is the bustle, for this is where the cafes are. Pass Le Festival, and you have Le Bistro Roman, and Movenpick ice creams (they do marvellous, if small, milkshakes - get the Tequila Sunrise one. Mmmwwaah!). This is the heart of chic Aix, the bourgeois capital of the south. Further on is Monoprix, the supermarket, outside of which can be found a fat but much-loved crepes man (with a match in his mouth, always), who in the winter swaps the crepes for roasted chestnuts, whose smell will drive you crazy! Next is the Librairie de Provence, a grand bookshop which sells foreign magazines and newspapers. Further up is Quick, the fast food restaurant that is Really Slow (see my Belgium pages for explanations!!). Les Deux Garcons, where Cezanne used to drink, is just a bit further up, and at the end is the Papeterie Michel, which sells stationary and cards and art materials for all. Aix is really a town for the artist in you. Up and down the centre of the Cours are a series of fountains, very small, very old. The one outside Monoprix is covered in moss, but further up is one that may be even mossier, but brings forth warm water - this is part of Aix's legacy as a thermal spa town, whose history goes back to the Roman times. On the other side of the Cours, the southern side which borders the classy Quartier Mazarin, can be found banks, not cafes. However, if you fancy watching a film, there is the Renoir cinema, which shows films in VO (original language).

Châteauneuf-le-Rouge

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The Provençal gastronomy festival: the first Sunday of July, attractsa crowd of gourmets who come to savour specialities made by themost prestigious cooks of the region under the plane trees of thevillage square. Growers, honey manufacturers, chocolate confectionersand the "freshcart" of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables all meet atthis festival which closes with a meal and an orchestra.Festival and evening event: Horse Festival. Village fête.Grape-harvest and New Wine Festival.

"Calendale" evening (Traditional festive meal). Summer Evenings,classical music concerts in the Castle courtyard and Drama Eveningswith the Compagnie des Comédiens en Herbe.

Art: In the château (2nd floor), is the ARTEUM museum of contemporaryart which permanently shelters work from the 1900s to nowadays,as well as a reconstruction of the painter Arsène SARI's studio.Two or three temporary exhibitions are held during the year.Tourist Information Office on 1st floor.

Vaucluse area

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Le Luberon

This is a land of castles, perched villages and craggy landscape. The Luberon is a place much sought after. Even before Peter Mayle and his bestseller Une Année en Provence famous people both in politics and show business came here to escape the curious crowds.

Right in the heart of Provence, Luberon offers such historical and cultural sites as the Abby of Senanque and the typical villages of Gordes, Ménerbes, Lourmarin.

In the midst of this rough countryside of deep crevices and terrassed slopes the Luberon inhabitants have made a living out of wine making and the cultivation of lavender native to this soil.
The Rhône Valley and The Comtat Venaissin

From Bollene in the north to Avignon in the south,and passing through Orange, one must add Cavaillon and Carpentras to this fertile valley.

These vast plains consecrated to agriculture heads the national production of fruit and vegetables.

Here wine making is a tradition; it is the land of Côtes du Rhône, Côtes de Ventoux and Côtes de Luberon mostly classed A.O C, Chateauneuf du Pape along with Gigondas add prestige to the region without forgetting the fragrant Vacqueyras or Rasteau.
Haut Vaucluse (Provence des Papes)

This protected site, historically rich for more than 20 centuries is surrounded by oak and pine forests.

The Dentelles of Montmirail, curious looking hills with sharp peaks eroded in a manner that resembles lace attract mountain climbing enthousiasts.

Below the Pope's Enclave the land is rich in truffles, lavender, honey and good wine. Here nature is strong and is respected by the inhabitants. This is the Provence made from the love of hard work and the knowledge that has been transmitted trom generation to generation.

Vaucluse travel

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The Vaucluse is bordered by the Rhône to the west and the River Durance to the south. Mountains occupy a significant proportion of the eastern half of the département, with Mont Ventoux (1,912 m), also known as "the Giant of Provence", dominating the landscape. Other important mountain ranges include the Dentelles de Montmirail, the Monts de Vaucluse, and the Luberon. Fruit and vegetables are cultivated in great quantities in the lower-lying parts of the département, on one of the most fertile plains in southern France. The Vaucluse département has a rather large exclave within the Drôme département, the canton of Valréas (Enclave des Papes).
The north of the departement has a unique story in that 4 of the villages of Vaucluse were hemmed in inside the "departement" of the Drome and have since been named the Pope's Enclave just above Vaison la Romaine in the rocky Haut Vaucluse. The eastern boundaries are sculpted out of the Alps and the Mount Ventoux; while in the south one finds the Luberon , between Cavaillon and Pertuis which follows along the Durance River.

You can see here a desctription of the Vaucluse area.

touristic routes

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leisure

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accommodation

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events

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partner links

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Welcome to Provence

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Provence is bounded by the Alps to the east and the Rhône River to the west, with the Mediterranean Sea providing its southern border. It has an unusually varied physical aspect, with landscapes ranging from fertile plains in the Rhône valley, to mountains in the east (notably Mont Ventoux, the Luberon and the Alpilles) and marshlands in the south (the Camargue).
The Principality of Monaco is nestled between Nice and Italy. Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon and Arles are other cities of importance in Provence. Marseille is by far the largest city in Provence, and is the chef-lieu (capital city) of both the Bouches-du-Rhône département and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur région.