Provence is a province in southeast France.
Provence was a Roman area and did not come under the rule of France until about 500 years ago, thus it has a different vibe than Paris. We arrived in Avigon and rented a car to go to St. Remy where we were staying. We used this to drive to the surrounding area over the next 3 days.
The first night we went into the center town for dinner. I’ve discovered that we didn’t take pictures of St Remy itself other than this picture of a guy that is 1/4 French.
1/4 because to be true French you have to were a beret, a scarf, a stripped shirt, and be carrying a big French bread.
The next morning we took of for Les Baux Which is an old village and castle ruins set on one of the large hills in this area. Pronunciation.
This was on the other side of the hill range south of town and on the way over we stopped at the top for some pictures. While taking this we also found that snails tend to grow on bushes. Thea reminds me of the old joke where the punch line is “look at that S car go”
As we crested the hill we had a view of the village from the back side across the valley.
The next day we passed by from the other side below its view over the valley.
This site has evidence going back 6000 years. During the second century BC the Celts used it and on through the middle ages where it was a feudal lordship over 80 or so towns in the area. Those guys were kicked out in the 1300 and by the 1500 just a village with a castle. During the early 1600 it was the center of a Protestant revolt against some Cardinal guy that run the area and they lost and the castle walls torn down. This view through one of the few remaining wall opening looking south kind of shows why it was such a strategic location for more than a few years.
The village is mostly restaurants and small shops as the whole village is devoted to tourism.
Finally for Les Baux a view from the very top of the castle ruins.
After spending the day here it was back to St Remy and another dinner in the village.
The next day was market day in Fontvielle so we were off in the morning to get to that. We only have one picture of the market.
They had the usual market stuff, just more French like. This town had a street and a church.
As it got to be noon we partook in the, as required by French law, noon to 2 lunch in a restaurant on the square.
On our return trip to St Remy we stopped at the Roman ruins of Glanum. This was a fortified city founded in the 6 century BC by Celts and became a Roman city in 27BC. It was destroyed a few times and finally the Roman version was abandoned after the fall of Rome in about 250. These 2 things are a couple thousand years old and are outside of the actual city that has been rediscovered and excavated over the last 100 years.
While there are a fair amount of ruins
the remaining columns of the temple are about all that is recognizable as something.
The next day it was off to Arles and what was billed as the best market in the area. If nothing else it was large, a few blocks long. The other reason to go to Arles is the 21st largest Roman coliseum in the world which is still used for bull fights.
After a brief rest at the fountain we returned to St Remy and pack for the next days journey to Nice and the French Riviera. Pronunciation.
See the full picture gallery at the right.