DAY 13
Castellane, Verdon Gorge, and the lavender fields of the Valensole Plateau
After four days in Villefranche-sur-Mer (the longest we’d stayed in any one place on the trip!), it was finally time to continue on to the next region on our itinerary: Provence.
We headed west from Villefranche, following the coast for a ways before heading slightly inland and eventually linking up with the Verdon river. After two hours of driving, we decided to take a break and grab some lunch at one of the many adorable villages we’d been passing through. We made a detour to the village of Castellane, which by chance was in the swings of its Wednesday market.
The small square was bustling with activity. We grabbed a quick bite at a food truck selling socca (a local delicacy made of chickpeas) before heading to a nearby cafe for a proper lunch.
After lunch, we continued our journey westward. The next stop would be the point where the Verdon river meets the Sainte-Croix lake. At the start of the drive, the road was nearly level with the water. Eventually, the walls to either side of the river began to rise as the small river became a deep gorge. The landscape also underwent a noticeable change — the vegetation and forests faded away and a rockier, more martian landscape replaced it.
Finally we spotted the lake ahead, an indication that our drive along the river was coming to an end. Just before the road turned to head back down to the water, we pulled off at a scenic overlook of Verdon Gorge and the lake below.
We then drove down to the lake to join the hordes of people on the shore of the lake. Several canoe, kayak, and paddleboat rental stands competed for space along the water’s edge. We joined the long line for Verdon Canoe and 30 minutes later were setting off in our 2-person kayak toward the opening of the gorge.
It took us around an hour to paddle our way the length of the route before we turned around and headed back to our starting point. All around it took us about 2 hours with a few stops to admire the scenery and watch on as some more daring paddleboaters climbed the sheer rock face to then dive into the water below.
We dropped off our paddles and life vests and headed back to our car, wasting no time getting back on the road. It was already 5:00pm and we still had an hour-long drive before we’d reach the next stop on our drive: the Valensole Plateau.
Seeing the lavendar fields of southern France has long been on my travel bucket list. So naturally, this was very high on my must-see list!
We were lucky with the timing of our trip, as the lavender fields are at their peek at the start of July and are generally harvested by the middle of the month. We visited on July 15th, so I was a tad nervous that we would have missed the window. There are several regions to see lavender fields in this part of the country, but the lavender fields atop the Valensole Plateau are some of the last to be harvested, so this seemed like our best bet.
We followed this advice of this fellow blogger’s post and cobbled together a route to pass by most of the fields pinpointed on her map. We passed by 8 or so fields in their full, blooming purple glory. My expectations were definitely high going in, but was not disappointed!
We spent a little more than an hour driving around the region before it was time to bid the Valensole Plateau farewell.
We were start to lose light and still had another 1 1/2 hours of driving ahead of us before we would reach our home base for the next two days, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. We drove onward to the campground, stopping only to pick up a pizza on the way. We set up our tent, ate our pizza, and settled in for the night.
Where we stayed: Camping Monplaisir
DAY 14
Walking tour of Arles and Château des Baux
Having gotten in just as the sun was setting the night before, we spent the morning exploring the expansive campground, which was by far the faciest place I’ve ever camped. The place even had it’s own pool!
We picked up breakfast at the campground’s adorable grocery before setting out for the day to explore a couple of nearby towns. First up was Arles, a quick 30 minute drive from the campground.
As usual, our handy travel guide included a nice self-guided walk through Arles. The first stop of the tour was at the Cathedral of Saint Trophime, a Romanesque church from the 15th-century with an impressive carved portal and beautiful interiors.
Exiting the church, I spotted an ice cream parlor just across the square. Feeling adventurous, I ordered an orange sorbet and lavender ice cream (it doesn’t get much more Provencal than this, I thought) and managed to snap a quick photo only seconds before the meltdown began.
The next step of our walking tour was to see some of the town’s most visited sites, made famous by the artist that called Arles home in 1888, Van Gogh.
We first stopped by the Saint-Paul asylum, where Van Gogh was sent after having cut off his ear and where he would spend his final days creating some of his most iconic paintings.
Afterward we headed to Place du Forum to see the cafe that inspired one of his famous paintings, Café Terrace at Night. In the painting, the cafe is washed with a warm light; the current owners of the cafe, capitalizing on the tourist attraction, have painted the walls and canopy of the restaurant a mustard yellow to match the painting.
Our walk continued through the town until we reached the Amphitheater, a relic from 90AD when Arles was a thriving Roman metropolis.
The amphitheater was originally built for chariot races and similar Roman pasttimes, but these days it’s used for a variety of events — from concerts and places to soccer games and bullfights. When not being used for events, visitors are welcome to wander the ancient structure.
Having reached the end of our walking tour, we headed on to the next stop of the day, the commune of Les Baux.
The village of Les Baux is charming, but the star of the show is most certainly the ruined castle that sits at the highest point. Climbing to the top of the castle gives you a complete 360-degree view of the comparatively flat landscape that surrounds the village.
This rocky outcrop has a long history thanks primarily to this rather strategic positioning; amazingly, some artefacts recovered at the site have been dated back to 6000 BC. The castle and fortress was built in the Middle Ages from the 11th until the 13th centuries. Today, the ruins can be freely explored by visitors (with paid admission, of course).
The view from the top of the castle tower was spectacular, as was the wind. Provence in general is known for its strong winds, but the gusts atop Les Baux were especially fierce and made climbing the decrepit stares sans handrails all the more thrilling!
DAY 15
Avignon’s Palais des Papes and Pont d’Avignon; the Roman aquaduct Pont du Gard
The morning of day 15 started with another simple but tasty breakfast courtesy of the campground’s grocery. We then deconstructed our tent and packed up the car, hitting the road around 9:00am. We had a 10:00am reservation in Avignon and a half-hour drive (and half-hour for parking) ahead of us.
There are two main attractions in town — the Palais des Papes and Pont d’Avignon — and we allowed just enough time to see them both in a whirlwind tour of the city.
After parking our car, we headed directly to the Palais des Papes, where we were greeted by a massive line that snaked around the courtyard in front of the entrance. Luckily we had our tickets in-hand and got to skip this line entirely (definitely recommend making a reservation in advance!).
Once inside, we were set up with an iPad-esque device called a Histopad that would serve as our tour guide of the expansive palace. The Histopad proved to be more difficult to use than it was worth, but I did enjoy some of the interactive features that let you envision how the spaces would have looked back in the 14th century, when this medieval Gothic building served as the official papal residence.
After the palace we swung by the other main point-of-interest in town, the partially-completed bridge called Pont d’Avignon.
This bridge is well-known by the French thanks to its namesake song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” (“On the Bridge of Avignon”). Fanatics of the bridge can pay to walk along its length and back again. We were plenty satisfied with the view from the shore.
And just like that, our brief stopover in Arles was complete and we were on to our next event of the day.
A quick 45-minute drive west from Arles is the ancient Roman aqueduct known as the Pont du Gard.
There are two parking lots at the Pont du Gard, one on either side of the aqueduct. We followed the recommendation of our guidebook and parked in the left bank parking lot. After paying admission, we were granted access to the site. We decided to skip the museum to conserve time and headed straight for the main attraction.
The Pont du Gard site offers a variety of viewing platforms at different elevations. We made sure to see it from below and from above. Standing at the base was probably the most impressive vantage point. It’s hard to tell in photos, but the arches supporting the bottom row are massive! In fact, the one that spans the river is the largest Roman arch ever built.
We spent a couple of hours working on our sunburns before finally departing the Pont du Gard to head to Carcassonne, a medieval fortified city in the Languedoc-Roussillon region about two hours southwest of Provence.
We were staying just one night, which was quite unfortunate given how lovely our accommodations were!
Where we stayed: Carcassonne Bed and Breakfast
We spent some time resting at the B&B before showing and getting ready for our second fancy dinner of the trip. We had a 7:30pm reservation at the Michelin-starred restaurant La Barbacane.
This turned out to be the culinary highlight of our trip. Every dish was better than the last. We also had a chance to taste our first truffles, a specialty of this region. After the main course and before dessert came the cheese course. A lover of all the cheeses, I was thrilled and completely overwhelmed when the waiter rolled over a cart filled with a few dozen varieties of cheese and said simply, “Which ones would you like?”.
After several hours spent gorging on food and wine, we stumbled out of the restaurant and back down to our hotel, located just outside the city walls. The fortress walls were lit beautifully at night. Had I had more energy, I would have loved to stroll around the town to admire the beautiful lights — but alas, sleep was calling, so perhaps another time!
Don’t miss it…
This post is a part of a larger three-week road trip around France. Check out the full itinerary and an overview of the trip here!
