Saint Maximin is just a 30 minutes’ drive from Cotignac and a nice half-day visit combined with lunch at one of its numerous restaurants. With a population of around 16,000, Saint Maximin is considered a medium-sized town in the Var and is also popular to tourists from around Europe that more than triple its population in the Summer. Continue reading Saint Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Category Archives: village visits
Village Visit: Lorgues
Just 20 minutes’ drive from Cotignac is the town of Lorgues (it’s called a town (“ville”)rather than a “village” because of it’s over 3,000 population). Lorgues is a medium sized town in the region with 9,200 inhabitants and several middle schools to cope with the proportionately higher number of children. Continue reading Village Visit: Lorgues
Charming Salon de Provence
A bustling university town, Salon de Provence has 44,000 inhabitants and resembles a mini version of Aix-en-Provence. It’s actually a practical place to stay if you want to spend more time on this side of Provence (Bouches-du-Rhone). Aix, Arles, Les Baux, and Avignon are a hop-skip-and-jump away and it’s also only one hour and 15 minutes’ drive from Cotignac. Continue reading Charming Salon de Provence
A day in Cannes
Cannes is always in fashion, no matter what time of year but September is a particularly nice time to rent a “matelas” on the beach and sunbathe while having cocktails brought to you. Continue reading A day in Cannes
Village visit focus Part III: L’Isle-sur-La Sorgue
Just East of the more famous city of Avignon is the lovely L’Isle-sur-Sorgue where “shabby chic” and funky antiques shops are visible everywhere. Lots of colour can be seen on the shop fronts and the town is made extra special with real river canals that run through it, reminiscent of Amsterdam or Annecy in Savoie. It’s full of charm! Continue reading Village visit focus Part III: L’Isle-sur-La Sorgue
Village visit focus part I: Gordes
Listed as one of France’s “les plus beaux villages”, Gordes features as one of the must-do visits on almost every guide to Provence on the Vaucluse side. It’s domineering chateau in the perched centre is well frequented by tourists and is used as the town hall and a venue for artist expositions and other events. Pol Mara’s paintings are housed here permanently and Marc Chagall (one of many famous artists) once called it home. Continue reading Village visit focus part I: Gordes
Cotignac in black and white
Black and white photos do something to an image that I really love, particularly when a lot of sunlight is in them: shadows are more pronounced, skies look more mysterious and the photos allow the viewer to see different aspects of the subject at hand. Time seems to stop and the monochrome world somehow appears less busy, more calm, and with fewer flaws. Many of these photos capture images of buildings that most likely looked exactly the same several hundreds of years ago. Cotignac is an exceptionally beautiful village in the Var department of France and I find something every day to photograph here that makes my heart skip a beat. – Susana
Beautiful Villecroze
The village of Villecroze is like a mini-Cotignac with its very pretty but slightly less dramatic limescale cliffs and old troglodytes. There is, however, an impressive waterfall that comes down and into the little rivers below that flow through the pretty public park (great for kids and feet-dipping in Summer!). Continue reading Beautiful Villecroze
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a must see village
It’s one of Provence Living’s MUST VISIT villages if you visit our region yet it’s one of the least visible (on a map it is hidden behind Parc du Verdon!) making it a bit of a Provence secret. The stunning village, however, is very easy to get to from Cotignac. Plan on spending about a 45 minutes driving and maybe just a little longer in the Summer season. Continue reading Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a must see village