Saturday, July 14, 2007

PROVENCE, PEINTRES & ÉCRIVAINS

LES BAUX DE PROVENCE - MAY 2005

This post pays tribute to Peter Mayle, an enthusiast for Provence, whose books – A Year in Provence, Encore Provence and Toujours Provence - I read after coming back home, and recommend to anyone intending to visit the region. You’ll find there many good reasons to make the trip! Here you'll find pictures of two beautiful villages in Provence: Les Baux and Fontaine de Vaucluse.

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LES BAUX DE PROVENCE is surely one of the most beautiful places in Provence; I would say in the world. These pictures don't show such beauty, but you may have a look at the official site of Les Baux and make the virtual visit! Les Baux is famous in different ways: Dante visited France between 1308 and 1310 and gives details of the Alyscamps cemetery in Arles (see last post), as well as of Les Baux; Van Gogh painted at Les Baux; Bauxite derives its name from Les Baux, as it was from samples from Les Baux de Provence that double aluminium chloride was made...



"VIEW from the La Calade Street"


"ON THE WAY TO THE CASTLE. A castle at Les Baux is mentioned in documents from the second half of the 10th century. When we got to its entrance, the ticket office of the castle was already closed: we were taking these pictures and were three minutes late! Nice pretext for a next visit!"


"ARTS AND CRAFTS. Shopping is also possible at Les Baux"

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FONTAINE DE VAUCLUSE (The Fountain of Vaucluse), located at the foot of an abrupt cliff of 230 meters, is the largest source in France. It is also classified fifth in the world, with an annual water flow of 630 million cubic meters. At Fontaine we were on the way to the Luberon, one of the most beautiful areas in Provence!




"The emerald green calm summer waters become spectacular in the wet seasons: 90 cubic metres of water per second spill into the bed of the River Sorgue"

29 comments:

lyliane six said...

Bonjour, profitez bien de la fête à l'ambassade, il y a une trentaine d'années, j'étais invitée en Belgique aussi à le réception du 14 juillet.
Peter est en ce moment à Arles, mais ne pourrez vous rencontrer,car votre voyage là bas date de 2005.

lv2scpbk said...

Love the painting of the bedroom. Also, the windmill looks wonderful. Not sure what you are saying but these are the photos that spoke to me.

Neva said...

I loved your photos-and thanks for the nice comment about my name :)-
I am not sure what you wer saying but I bet I would have learned a lot from you today! Have a nice weekend!

Aditi said...

no idea abt the write up.. but the paintings were all nice

Anonymous said...

oh my Arles.... loaded with history and art!

Miss Kim said...

I just watched "A Year in Provence" today and it was so beautiful-- what serendipity that you have written about Provence today!

Sally said...

Nice tribute to Arles' favourite "son".

Cuckoo said...

Pictures are very nice. Could understand the post but replying in English.
Why don't they revive the windmill if it worked till 1915 ? How big is the museum ?

Chica, Cienna, and Cali said...

I dont understand French..but i know if Arles is mentioned, van Gogh will follow.....love his paintings and ur pics :)

Anonymous said...

Well, sorry to all that couldn't understand French, but I thought it was compulsory to post in French on the 14 juillet...
However, I must confess I was (I am) waiting for some comments of the French speaking visitors that didn't come yet... :((

Lilyane,
La réception a été «fair»...
J'attends les photos que Peter va prendre en Provence!

Alice,
merci!

Lv2,
Vincent's bedroom is one of his superb paintigs!

Neva,
Aditi,
Thanks. I'll get back to english on the next post.

Piika,
You're quite right. Arles is everyone's city...

Kim,
The book is a must, but I've never seen the film... One of these days I'll make a post dedicated to Peter Mayle and his different books on Provence!

Sally,
Thanks. That was also the intention...

Cuckoo,
There are two museums: the Arles museum is a small house with a reproduction of Vincent's bedroom as painted by Van Gogh; the windmill is also a museum dedicated to Alphonse Daudet, the author of "Lettres de mon Moulin" (Letters from my Windmill).

Moi,
In Arles, Vincent is a must...

Monsieur Pain d'épices said...

salute j'ai decouvert votre site depuis longtemps mais faute de temps je n'ai pus vous dire ce que j'en penssais, vous avez etablis de beau voyage et itineraire je ne dirais qu'une chose Bravo...
je voudrais savoir si vous avez eu l'occasion de venir en corse et si vous allez un jour y mettre des clichés...

en attendant je vous invites à découvrir mon site...

Olivier said...

votre site est superbe, toutes ces recherches bravo. j'espere que vous avez passe une bonne fete du 14 juillet à l'ambassade.

. said...

Your blog is really great, wow you've visited so many wonderful places :) I'm sure I'll back here more often to learn new things about other countries :)
keep the good work!

regards, Iwona

Shionge said...

You are so widely travelled GMG :D This is amazing and what a lovely place :D

Lori said...

Arles is one of my favorite places. Thanks for all of this wonderful information. I'm very impressed with your ability to speak many languages. Hope your enjoyed the party!

kuanyin333 said...

I've spent lots of time in Provence with my girlfriend who lives there, and she's trying to talk me into buying a home there not too very far from her, only for almost a million Euro! We shall see. Do you love Provence? Tell me the pros and cons.

Anonymous said...

Too bad, I can't speak French. But, the pictures alone are good enough to know that you had such a wonderful time. I researched the places you've cited in your post, and I can't wait to hear more about them. I wish I could be there, too. But for now, I'd say that I have to stay in Rabat for a while. Anyway, great post!

Nazzareno said...

The masterpieces of Vincent and the photograph of the places that inspired them, splendid!

Emilieee said...

I'm enjoying the beautiful photos but too bad I don't read French.. :(

The old-looking windmill is cute.. Is it still functioning?

travelphilippines said...

me too i cant understand french but i know u really enjoy the place. looks so niceits the best of old world.

Anonymous said...

I like it very much to see Daudet's mill. Very beautiful.

Ash said...

Tres interessant! Merci Beaucoup pour sharing with us :-)

Wonderful images!!!!

Ash said...

Sorry i couldnt post comments earlier. The comment box just wouldnt show up.

Thank God its working today!

CaBaCuRl said...

Just read your posts about Salzburg and Vienna on your 70s Revival blog...thank you for bringing back great memories of my visits in '79 and '85. Vienna is one of my favourite cities.

Anonymous said...

Sorry everybody to be so late in answering your comments. I’ll try to visit your blogs at the latest this weekend. Promise!

Terra vecchia,
Merci. Je ne suis jamais allé en Corse, mais j’espère pouvoir le faire prochainement. Dans ce cas, je ferais surement des posts sur l’île! J’essaierais de faire une visite à votre blog, peut-être ce weekend; j’espère en avoir du temps pour tout voir...

Olivier,
Merci aussi. L’Ambassade, ç'a été...

Neela,
Thanks Iwonna. Actually, I’ve also been posting some lousy pre-digital pictures from other last century trips at the 70s&80s and at the Revival 90s, but the Blogtrotter is the blog from more recent times. Hope to see you back soon!

Shionge,
It’s probably unfair, but I feel there is so much to see that I’ve not seen!

Lori,
After the third language, it becomes easier, but now it’s too late for one I would like to learn: Chinese! You definitely have a very good taste: Arles is great, any point of view!

Kuanyin,
Only one million… wish I had a house there to sell... ;)
I loved visiting Provence, but for living there I recommend reading the books from Peter Mayle (my next post), an English-speaking expert on Provence, which I’m not. Anyhow, be careful: he’s living on the success of such books... ;)

Rcon,
Thanks. Talking research, I think your work on Morocco is absolutely superb and unbeatable! How do you mange to live in Rabat not speaking French; do you speak Arabic?

Nazzareno,
Thanks. Your Rome blog is an inspiration!

Emily,
Travelphilippines,
Sorry for the French, but it was 14 July...
The windmill worked until 1915; now is a small museum dedicated to Daudet, the author of Letters from My Windmill.

April,
The windmill is amazing; hard to believe it’s a museum...

Ash,
So glad to see you back! Thanks. I’m addicted to your Dreaming in Metaphors!

Cabacurl,
Glad to know that you enjoyed the 70s&80s Austria’s posts. Vienna and Salzburg are also some of my favourites!

Peter said...

How nice to see how you describe these places I know so well and love so much! I have been "off" for some ten days and actually visited some of these places again and I just made a post about Arles - before reading your post! We have a lot of things in common so the readers of my post have nothing to learn if they have read yours!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Peter! Actually Lilyane wrote that you were in Arles by the time of my posting, so I was looking forward to seeing some fresh pictures of such a beautiful place!

Marie said...

These are places I have visited and where I will again for sure. I go every year to a three days' conference in Arles (translation). I love it there.

If you have the opportunity to read John Locke's journal, which I have turned in French, you will read a very funny story that takes place in the Alyscamps.

Anonymous said...

Merci Marie.
Alors, c'est bien toi qui est la responsable de la parution de "Carnet de voyage à Montpellier et dans le sud de la France, 1676-1679: inédit/John Locke; édité sous la direction de Guy Boisson; traduction de Marie Rivet; introduction, présentation et commentaires de Guy Boisson; préface d’Henri Michel. – Montpellier: Presses du Languedoc, 2005. – 206 p."?
J'essaierais de le trouver...