Wonderful Time in Provence and the Cote D'Azur Region of France.

Wonderful Time in Provence and the Cote D’Azur Region of France.

I have read and heard a lot about the beautiful area in the south east of France known as Provence and the Cote D’Azur. From its herb-scented hills to its fabulous tourist towns and villages along the Mediterranean Sea I am sure that this is one area of France that most of us wish we could see for ourselves.

I must admit that the area actually known as Provence and the Cote D’Azur covers a lot more area than I had imagined and it took us some time to explore and see what we had hoped to see. When we planned our trip I had given very little thought as to what time of the year the fields would be full of lavender but to my great pleasure they were in full bloom, with harvesting and all the festivals that go with the harvest season due to happen only the week after we were there.

We had planned to spend at least a week around this area and because it is the Europe summer school holidays - we were not prepared to take the risk of not finding suitable accommodation - so we had taken the opportunity to book a cabin on the coast for our weeks stay early in our trip. Unfortunately the village we had made our accommodation booking in –Cavalier-sur-Mer was a lot further from the main road artery than we had hoped and also access to it was very difficult as there was only one way in and one way out. Traffic was most of the time bumper to bumper and it took hours to get anywhere. We therefore decided to stay put and have an enjoyable week’s holiday on the Mediterranean Sea. We were very close to the famous towns of Saint-Tropez and Saint Raphael so short trips were possible but very slow.

The Beautiful Blue of the Mediterranean Sea. 

We did however get up early one morning before all the other tourists and headed for Grasse-the perfume centre of France, Vence and St-Paul-De-Vence. We had an enjoyable day but we did travel about 300 klms and we saw no flowers at all in the fields, which was disappointing.

 

The Narrow Lane Ways in the Village Town of Tourrettes sur Loup.

 

One of the Shops.

In Grasses we visited a perfume manufacturer and went through the factory to see how they extract the essence from the flowers. It was a bit disappointing as most of the flowers they use are now imported from all over the world. Even though Grasse is a hill top town it is too large to really enjoy in a quick visit and as the traffic was horrendous and we could not get parking we went further in to the countryside and came across the little village of Tourrettes-sur-Loup. This village is a very small medieval fortified village in which the ramparts are formed by the outer houses. It is surrounded by violet fields but unfortunately they bloom and are harvested in March. We did however have a wonderful stroll through its delightful medieval streets and saw fantastic views across the countryside.

Vence was also a very pretty hill top town but again very difficult to find parking in. So we headed 3klms down the road and came upon St-Paul-De-Vence a beautiful walled hill top village surrounded by 16^th century ramparts, which offers fantastic views over many cypress trees and lovely villas with palm trees and swimming pools. On a clear day from this high vantage point, you can see to the Mediterranean Sea. It was just a delight to walk around the narrow cobblestone lane ways of this village for at every turn there was something beautiful to look at –old buildings with climbing roses and other flowers on them, restaurants with lovely outside eating areas, fountains, flower boxes and pots full of flowers, lovely old stone houses covered with grape vines and wisterias, a beautiful church and a cemetery.

 

                                                                    St Paul de Vence.

The Cemetery.

                                                        The Houses in St. Paul de Vence.

 

After our week on the coast we decided to go looking for the lavender of Provence - so we headed for the Valsensoles Plateau and we were rewarded with field upon field of deep purple lavender surrounded by mountains. It was just wonderful to see and walk through such vast fields, and in one spot the lavender fields had fields of bright yellow sunflowers for its neighbour. What a wonderful sight and colour mix –purple and yellow together.

                        The Wonderful Lavender Fields - Rows upon Rows of the darkest purple.

Bee Hives, Lavender and Sunflowers.

 



Some Lavender is planted in rows and in other places it just grows wild.

 



 

We also went to Manosque and visited the factory where L’Occitane en Provence products are made and spent time in their museum and retail shop. This factory complex was an absolute delight to visit.

The Factory Gardens. 

We continued on to another beautiful hilltop village of Gordes, which is said to be the most visited village in Provence and then down a very narrow winding road to the Abbaye de Senanque. This abbey stands all alone down in a small valley and surrounded by lavender fields. I had seen a picture in a book of this abbey but it was far better and absolutely delightful to actually visit and explore it and also to see it in its full glory surrounded by purple lavender.

The Beautiful Hill top Village of  Gordes.

 



The Abbaye de Senanque.

 



 

We had a beautiful and very enjoyable few days in this area and the weather was perfect. It was just wonderful to see the bright colours of the lavender and the sunflowers with the sunlight on them –it is a sight that will stay with me for ever.