Provence, Avignon and Vaucluse

April is a good time to visit Avignon and Provence: there are few tourists, the rooms are cheaper than later in the year, the weather starts getting warmer, and the cherry trees are in full bloom.  We started our trip in a rental car at Lyon airport and drove to Avignon, the medieval seat of the14th century Palais des Papes.  Avignon has a fully intact city wall that surrounds the lively downtown where it's easy to get lost in the tiny medieval streets. 

 

 

 The Papal Cathedral and dining hall.

 

 



One of the world's most famous bridges (Mount Ventoux in the background)

 

 

 

After hectic Avignon we decided to retreat to rural Vaucluse, famous for its stone villages, orchards, vineyards, good food and friendly people.  It starts east of Avignon and is just a tiny part of Provence.  We stayed in the little towns of Apt and Mazan, both in the middle of nowhere, but great places for daily excursions in all directions.  Some of you may remember traveling Europe in the sixties on Frommer's $5 a day; the bed-and-breakfast in Apt could have come straight out of Frommer: funky and quirky, the bathroom without a door, just a screen, the breakfast on the third level at the hostess' large kitchen table. BUT, much more important, she was exceedingly friendly; the breakfast was good; our room was huge with tall ceilings and a large window with exterior shutters (which we closed at night for privacy; the window stayed open so we could hear the fountain on the market place).

  

  

The B&B L'Espagniola in Apt where we stayed

 

 

Gordes and Bonnieux are the most touristy of these little towns on top of rocky outcrops, but so are Menerbes (made famous by Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence"), Lacoste (where the Marquis de Sade tortured his female victims and whose castle ruins are now owned and maintained by Pierre Cardin), Malaucene (where the Hugenots took refuge before they were persecuted), and yes, Myra, lovely Venasque; Barrieux where the height of the castle diminishes the town, Oppede-le-Vieux which the last inhabitants left in 1909.  We visited many more, even rented bikes and did what so many French people do in that area: bike, eat and drink. The highest point of the Vaucluse is Mount Ventoux, the 1,912 meter high mountain and murderous challenge of some the Tour-de-France bike races. (We did not ascend the mountain but rambled around its foothills.)
 

 Gordes

 

 

 

 Barrieux

 

 

 Apt market place

 

 Oppede-le-Vieux

 Lavender fields near Buoux

 Bonnieux

 On a bike trip below Mt. Ventoux

 

 

 Abbaye de Senanque

 Venasques



 Vinyards in the Cavalon Valley

 

 

Near Bonnieux (Ventoux in back)

 

 

  

The B&B in Mazan "Le Secretes du Cezanne".   Agnes, our landlady, not only spoke fluent English and German, but the comforts and size of the rooms, and the loving care with which she treats all her guests are so outstanding that they overcome the lack of food establishments in Mazan (imagine having to order a table at the Pizzeria!)

 

Thankfully, it was grey and rainy the last two or three days of our stay which made it a lot easier to say good-bye to Provence.