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
From Gordes, this place is just a hop, skip, and jump and well worth a stop. Bring your hiking shoes and take an easy walk up from the centre of town (impressive town hall) to the mysterious “Source” where water fills up every winter and nourishes what is hailed to be the most beautiful river in the Vaucluse, La Sorgue. In the Summer there are stands filled with gift items, snacks, bonbons for kids, along the walk up and also a restaurant (listed in the Michelin guide) called “Restaurant Philip” established in 1926 with pretty yellow chairs right next to the bright teal-coloured water of the river. It’s cold but you could take a dip in it. Continue reading Village Visit Focus Part II: Fontaine de Vaucluse
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
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
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
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
