Provence

Holy mistral!!  Photo shoot in
front of the Pont d'Avignon

We came in search of the fragrance and colour of lavender fields and were greeted by nasty, hurricane-like winds of the mistral. We read about the strong winds of the mistral in these parts when researching where to live but never imagined they'd be so strong. By end of day Wednesday the mistral gave way to a blanket of cloud and rain. 

Time out

Ascension Day (June 2nd) is a national holiday in France and schools were also closed on the friday so naturally we pulled the kids out of school Tuesday packed up the Clio and were off for 5 sun-filled days in Provence, or so we thought. At least the websites and brochures that we read all described Provence as being 'sun-soaked' and there has been very little rain in all of France over the past month.

Palais des Papes

Nancy spent countless hours on the net (I'm convinced she loves it) researching where to visit and where to stay and decided upon Le Medievale, a beautiful bed and breakfast just outside the village of Velleron, in the Luberon National Park. It is ideally located for easy day trips to all the small towns and villages in the area but most importantly (for the girls at least) it had a pool and beautiful gardens. 

Yes!  I love it Nancy

We turned the three and half hour trip from Nice into a six hour trip by stopping in for visits in both St Remy de Provence and Les Beaux which were described as 'must sees'. We weren't overly impressed with St Remy. Did we miss something? Not sure what all the hype is about. As for Les Beaux, it is a beautiful village embedded into the side of rocks which seems as though it is suspended from the sky. There is nothing not to like about Les Beaux but after all the perched villages we've visited I was ready to jump over the edge. I'm convinced that nobody lives in these perched villages and every morning some official opens the village to let the merchants help the tourists empty their pockets. I know I'm being cynical but how many shops could we enter selling the identical chinese-made, provencal-themed bed spreads, table cloths, dish towels, runners, lavender soaps and on and on.

Place de l'Horloge Avignon

We arrived at Le Medievale and were warmly greeted by Rebecca and Jean Claude the proprietors. Our apartment was perfect and, rain or shine, we should be in for a memorable 5 days in Provence. 
Sal

Not another water colour dad!!

Hmmm more table cloths