The Amazing Colours of Provence
Trip Start
Mar 27, 2010
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50
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Trip End
Aug 11, 2010
Valensole, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Saturday, July 17, 2010
From Cucuron we headed over the Montagne du Luberon to the city of Arles to go to the Saturday market. It was pretty crowded in town so we had a bit of difficulty finding somewhere to park the camper. The ‘marche’ was heaving with people and the temperature probably close to 40 degrees so the experience was a little challenging! However, we picked up some meat, vegetables, fruit (melons and cherries are everywhere), cheeses and olives to keep us going for a couple of days and had a bit of a look around all the ‘provencal’ stuff.
Our next destination was the ‘Tire-Bouchon’ (corkscrew) museum and Domaine de la Citadel vineyard. This was dad’s choice of destination but I have to say we all enjoyed it! There were 1200 corkscrews on display dating back to the 17th century! We also had a look around the cave and tasted and purchased some wine and gifts.
Mum’s choice for the day was to visit the little hilltop village of ‘Rousillon’ and this is where the colour story starts. Rousillon is situated in the heart of the world’s biggest vein of ochre. Ochre is bright orange and is quite similar to the colours you would see at Ayres Rock or the Grand Canyon. Ochre is a used as a pigment for paint. All the houses in the town are painted in various shades of orange and effect is quite beautiful. Next to the town is a walkway next to the cliffs and natural quarries where you can see the various shades of colour. We spent a bit of time wandering along the walkway and around the town.
As we left Rousillon we were determined to find some lavender growing. We heard that it was the time for harvesting and that it might be difficult to find some still with flowers. We found a few fields close to Rouissilon but decided that it might be better to head to Valensole in the Haute Provence (at the heart of the lavender growing area). We had also heard that there was going to be a ‘Fete de Lavande’ at Valensole the following day!
As we drove up onto the ‘Plateau de Valensole’ we were not disappointed. There were beautiful purple fields everywhere! It really is incredibly striking, you cannot quite believe what you are seeing. We found a campsite about 1km from Valensole. It was in a lovely elevated position looking over the purple fields!
Comments
These are beautiful pictures! Looks like you had a great time :) I will be travelling to Valensole 2 days after their festival, and was told that it would be hard to see the lavender. It seems that you were able to find some great fields right around that time - would you happen to have any advice on how to find a few blooming fields? If you recall the names of the places you visited, that would be very helpful! Thank you for your time!
Kind regards,
SM