Today is Tuesday September 27. We're waking up at normal early hours in Avignon. For breakfast this morning, it's croissants, coffee for me and chocolate for Mary. What a quick change from going to bed in Barcelona at 1:00am and getting up at 9:00am.
Our priority for the Provence visit is the hill towns in Southeastern Provence. We visited Lourmarin, Roussillon, Gordes and Les Baux en Provence. The four are all hill towns and the four are on the list of the 144 most beautiful vilaages in France. Along the way, we passed through Bonnieux which was smaller but equally as beautful. First, the Bonnieux pictures.
Now we're in Lourmarin which is another 10 kM or so more to the Southeast. What a beautiful villiage. All free parking and a pleasant stroll though the many shops, restaurants and galleries. There are public toilets on the outside stairs next to the information office but no TP. You can tour the chateau but they were closed from 11:00am-2:30pm so we missed the opportunity. But, we didn't miss a nice lunch.
Our priority for the Provence visit is the hill towns in Southeastern Provence. We visited Lourmarin, Roussillon, Gordes and Les Baux en Provence. The four are all hill towns and the four are on the list of the 144 most beautiful vilaages in France. Along the way, we passed through Bonnieux which was smaller but equally as beautful. First, the Bonnieux pictures.
Now we're in Lourmarin which is another 10 kM or so more to the Southeast. What a beautiful villiage. All free parking and a pleasant stroll though the many shops, restaurants and galleries. There are public toilets on the outside stairs next to the information office but no TP. You can tour the chateau but they were closed from 11:00am-2:30pm so we missed the opportunity. But, we didn't miss a nice lunch.
We had lunch on the back terrace of L'Insolite, one of the many restaurants and eating places in this small village. €30 for a nice hamburger and Mary's pizza. Food is not cheap in France. Interestingly, the mustard on the hamburgers is Dijon-style. Even McDonalds uses it instead of our typical yellow mustard. Daughter-In-Law Lora, who owns Au Marche, A European grocery store in Lawrence, KS will be very glad to hear this. One specialty in her store is mustards.
The Chateau at Lourmarin
The Village from the Back Street
One of the Entrances to the Village
Lourmarin Shops and Restaurants to the Right
Lourmarin Shops and Restaurants to the Left
After lunch, we walked all around the small and narrow stone streets and alleys. Very clean and beautiful. Then we were off to Roussilin, our next stop. Roussilin was genuinely a hilltop village but it was really touristy. Parking was not easy. Any place you could find to park, you had to pay. We parked in a nice lot down the hill a bit. €2 to park wasn't too bad. Roussilin is known for the really red cliffs. Here are a couple of pictures.
A petite cup of gelato (Glace in France) and off we go to Gordes. For this village, parking is really limited and there is someboday at any parking location looking for your money. You pay in advance to park. Many visitors park up to a 1/2 mile away and walk into the village. Again, the village center is small but very attractive with its shops and restaurants. The best visual feature of Gordes is from a distance where the houses are built right on to the sides of the hill. Here are pictures.
Larry, we love your posts, but we are missing the pictures for day two and day three France. It looks like you planned to post them, but they didn't come through. Sounds like a fabulous trip so far!
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