Exploring Provence, France
Provence has been a bucket list destination for many years. After visiting England, we decided to make our way back to France. Did you know we haven’t been back to France for almost two years? We lived in Paris for two years and had the opportunity to travel quite frequently being based in Europe. So we decided it was time to return. If we could sum it up in a few words, the reasons we love France are: the bread, the produce, the cheese and wine. Let’s just say our month stay surpassed our expectations and we fell in love with this region. We stayed in a gîte, a little outside of the main town of Saint Cannat. We had the opportunity to go to the Friday marché (market) in Loumarin. This market ended up being bigger than we expected. If you venture to any of the markets in Provence, we would recommend going during the early morning. We bought some olives, local cheeses, and honey. We brushed off our French and the locals appreciated our efforts. We found that the people in Provence were happy to converse with us in French (even if its not perfect). Loumarin is a quaint town and also lovely on days that the market isn’t there.
The following week, we ventured to Apt. Again, we chose to go on the day of the market. This market was fairly big as well. We bought some bread with olives inside. We also met a friendly man selling organic produce. He told us about his adventures through the United States and how much he enjoyed Salt Lake City. One evening, we went out to a wine bar in Rognes called La Ritournelle Cave à Manger. We had a lovely rosé, a charcuterie board and a flatbread with Stracciatella cheese and sun dried tomatoes.
During our third week, we drove to the town of Gordes. It is ranked as one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France). It was a great village to take pictures and we could see why it made it on the list. However, we would recommend that if you are traveling during peak seasons to go as early as possible. There are a few parking lots sprinkled around the town but you must pay for parking. It’s a flat rate that many people complain about in the reviews. Nevertheless, we could see this can help the town cope with overcrowding and in all honestly, the price of the parking spot was reasonable. We grabbed some little bites at Le Fournil de Mamie Jeanne. Jackie’s favorite was the Petits Pains Fourrés with the lardon and cheese. Yum! We walked around the town and taking quite a few pictures.
That same day we headed to the town of Roussillon. This is also highlighted on Les Plus Beaux Villages de France list. Again, this is a town where you will need to pay to park. This time we were able to find a parking lot that you could pay hourly but it can depend on where you park. It was fun exploring and seeing different parts of this town. Towards the end of our visit, when we reached the top lookout, we grabbed some refreshing drinks at L'Elixir Des Ocres.
On the last Wednesday of our stay in Provence, we drove to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Our main objective was to check out the large, famous market. Since this was our last week, we decided to only buy a few things. We grabbed some sheep milk cheese and some more olives (Can you tell how much we love olives 😉). There were so many stalls selling a wide variety, it is hard to choose just one. Look around and see which one catches your eye. It’s great to pair it with some bread and wine. We also stumbled on a cute cafe called Colette. The people working here were very friendly.
The last place we visited was Arles. We took some pictures from Rick Steves’ France book to reference when walking around. We decided to follow the Van Gogh Walk. We used the map from the book to help us navigate. It was fun exploring the city and learning more about Vincent Van Gogh. There are small plaques throughout the city that mark specific things from when Van Gogh lived here.
Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Provence. The weather, food, and charm might bring us back for another long stay in the future. However, for now, we have more places we want to explore and spend time in. Stay tuned for our next destination…
