The Perched Villages of Provence

Among all the very famous regions of France Provence seems to stand out just a bit in our minds, and perhaps Lavender leads the parade of distinctive features. It seems there have always been those images of fields of the pungent plant, often including lavender at the famous 12th century Cistercian Abbaye Notre Dame de Senanque. After lavender, there is Provencal cooking, rich in garlic and herbs that like dry Mediterranean climates, like rosemary and sage. Then there is the Rhone river, which runs down the middle of it all. The Cotes du Rhone, on the left bank, produce some of the best and most expensive wines in existence. And the Rhone ends in the Camargue, famous in its own right for semi wild white horses, black bulls, salt, rice and flamingos. Provence includes the Luberon highlands, and bald Mont Ventoux, famous as a stage in the Tour de France (the real one, not the Grampies' one!). The Romans had a big presence in Provence, and there is lots of evidence of their works in Nimes, in Avignon, and in Arles. One of the better known sites, in addition to arenas that are still in use, is the Pont du Gard, an elevated aqueduct crossing the Gard river as it carried water to Nimes.

But strangely, amidst all of this, Provence stands out for us because of the writings of a former British ad executive. That, of course, is Peter Mayle, who moved to Provence for the sunshine and whose first book, "A Year in Provence", documented his experiences through one cycle of the seasons. Mayle's writing evoked a vivid portrait of the restaurants and food, the weather, and the people. It really was great and very well received. He went on to write other books, with titles like "Encore Provence" and "Toujours Provence". He was so successful that he became a one person tourist attraction, and eventually had to move away from the house he wrote about, which was near Menerbes . He did stay in the region however, 20 km south at Lourmarin. But when he passed away early this year, it was in Menerbes.

Menerbes, and surrounding towns like Lacoste and Bonnieux, were also stars of the books. They lie within 20 km, all in the Luberon hills and are typically perched on hilltops themselves. For this reason they are called the "Villages Perchees".

Peter Mayle, of course, was not the first to notice Provence. Take Vincent Van Gogh. As Rick Steves puts it: "In February 1888, the Dutch artist left Paris for Provence. Coming from the gray skies and flat lands of the north, he was bowled over by the sun, bright colors, rugged landscape, and raw people in southern France. He painted furiously for the next two years, cranking out a masterpiece every few days."

As a tourist in Arles you are very aware of Van Gogh, as his images peek out from every post card stall.

What with painters like Van Gogh and writers like Peter Mayle extolling the place, millions of people have come to see what it is all about. The Grampies will be for a brief moment the latest in a long long line.

The Bikeline tour book for Provence details 27 possible circle routes. None of these quite worked for us, though we do have their GPS tracks. The reason is that although this time around we really do want to see a few specific villages, we are not making time for any kind of a real tour of the whole region. No doubt, we'll be back for that. But even our limited excursion should be great!

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