Ma Vie Provençale: Terre Provencale

So over the past couple of months we have made a point of trying to get out and about to visit the different sites that Provence has to offer. It is nice to get out of the city and away to the different little towns which each have their own flavour and attractions. Maybe it's because I'm from the prairies (and got used to driving for hours upon hours in a straight line across perhaps the flattest land on earth a.k.a. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) but I am always pleasantly surprised at how quickly the geography changes in Provence. In a two hours drive you can go from sea side to flat plains to mountains. We've tried to get out and do a few of these mini-holiday day trips in the last several months to enjoy the changing geography, and I'd like to try to give you a sampling of what we have been discovering and exploring.

The pictures above and below are from the town of Bonnieux, which clings to the hillside, but overlooks a lush valley. To get to Bonnieux it is necessary to follow twisting turning roads along the sides of two other hills but the reward is totally worth it. This town is quiet with its only tourist attraction being its situation.

We also spent a weekend further exploring the ochre hills and mining in the Luberon. The colours are brilliant and it amazes me how such fragile rocks continue to survive the elements (as well as tourists walking all over them). We visited just after a major rain storm and it was impressive to see the amount of fine silt that had accumulated where small creeks should have been. The short hike we took showed us the remains of the mining operations that used to dominate the site and let us walk in valleys surrounded by rusty red walls. It is a landscape that is completely different from anything I have experienced before and seems a bit overwhelming as your eyes are stimulated by so many bright colours.

A left over lunch break area for miners or a time out spot?

We really will jump on any excuse to take a day trip somewhere new and exciting, and in fact many of our friends here have commented on the fact that we have quite possibly seen more of Provence than they have. One weekend Pascal and Jacqueline wanted to take a look at a motorcycle they were interested in buying north of Avignon. The car ride up was interesting enough. We passed little villages with hilltop ruins, as well as got a closer look at one of the many nuclear reactors that dot the landscape here, but it was the ride back that was really spectacular.

On the ride back we went along the Gorge d'Ardeche. We walked out next to bubbling waterfalls and peered over huge cliffs, but the highlight was definitely the Pont d'Arc. It is literally a bridge of stone over the river. The photograph doesn't do the size of the arc justice. It is completely natural and there were people kayaking right under it!

The Ardeche River snaking its way along at the bottom of some huge cliffs.

We also took a day to go back to the Fontaine de Vaucluse. We had visited this spring with Keith's parents last October, but wanted to take a look in the springtime. The water emerges from the rocks in a pool at the base of a small mountain difference in the water level was dramatic but much to Keith's disappointment it was not high enough to see the water flowing out of the pool above ground. Instead the water continues underground just a bit farther down the valley to come out of the rocks at various points. We climbed down to one of the these and you could start the flow of water from simply digging into the side of the cliff a couple centimetres.

The current was definitely faster and the sun was brighter as we explored the surrounding river, chateau ruins and had drinks at one of the many well situated restaurants right on the water's edge.