A Tour of Provence

We booked a whole day tour of the area around Avignon and we picked well, the one day this week that it did not rain.  It was a small group as the tourist season is mainly over.  We were told it was just four in the morning and then we would would pick up two or three more after lunch.  The couple with us in the morning was Eric and Amanda, who were on their honeymoon.  Just married on November 1st.  They were from New Jersey, close to New York City and were a cute couple.  His father was retired Navy and thus stuff in common.

We set off to the east of Avignon with our first stop the Lavendar Museum.  The museum owned by the Lincele family, has many old distillers, used in the past by producers of lavendar.  The Lincele family, at the Le Chateau Du Bois, are and have been, producers and distillers of fine lavender for many generations on the Vaucluse hills.  The lavendar plant has existed for a thousand years and is well known not only to scent baths and perfumes, but also for its healing properties.  There are three kinds of lavendar.  There is Fine Lavendar, the purest, which grows on the arid mountains of Provence above an altitude of 800 meters.  It is small with only a single flower.  It reproduces by seeding.  Known as "population lavendar".  From earliest times it has been used for medicinal properties and became sought after by perfume manufacturers.  It takes 130 kgs of flowers to obtain 1 litre of essential oil by the distilling process.  In a good year, a plantation covering one hectare can produce up to 25 litres.  Fine lavendar in the form of 100% pure and natural oil can treat insomnia with a couple drops on your pillow, a drop rubbed into temples can relieve headaches, a few drops on cotton wool smoothed on cuts and burns, bedsores, sunburn, and insect bites promotes healing.  A drop behind the ears can keep lice off the head.  Inhale one or two drops for sinusitis and colds.  1 or 2 drops on a sugar cube for sore throat.  Several drops rubbed into the area can relieve cramps and rheumatisim pain.  What a natural wonder drug.

Then there is Spike Lavendar which grows on scrubland between an altitude of 0 and 600 meters.  It is tall with several branches carrying several small flowers.  It is not used in France as its perfume is to strong.  It is used in Spain and Portugal to dilute both oil paint and porcelaine paint. 

The third is  Lavandine, which grows between 0 and 800 meters all over the world.  It is a tall plant with two branches and grows in large round clumps.  It is a hybrid between fine and spike lavendar.  It is sterile and has to be reproduced with cuttings.  It started to be grown in the 1950's.  Often mistaken for the fine lavendar, it has a much stronger smell and cannot be used for medicinal properties.  It is used mostly in industry, in cleaning products and detergents.  Its flowers are used in little sachets.  However, it takes only 40 kgs of flowers to obtain 1 litre of oil ( a much bigger yield than fine lavendar ).  As a result less and less fine lavendar is being planted.  The below map shows the area of France where lavendar is grown and the fine is represented by the darkest color on the map.

Lavendar production in the old days

They took their distillers to the fields with them

All things lavendar in the little shop

which we purchased

Probably the only blooming lavendar that I will see, as it flowers in June and is harvested in July

From her we headed out to the village of Roussillon.  It is famous for its rich deposits of ochre pigments found in the soil.  It's economy was once based on the mining of ochre;  now that is prohibited and Roussillon relies on tourism.  A village surrounded by pine and red rocks.  It stands out.  All the buildings range in colors of ochre from yellow to pink to red to darker red.  As we drove up the mountain, it became quite foggy or cloudy, but still the village and surrounds were quite striking.  Reminiscent of Sedona, Arizona a little.

All the houses and shops are tinted with various colors of ochre

A tiny little village built in the red rocks, but so colorful

There wasn't a lot open as the tourist season is pretty much over.  There was a small market on the square and a patisserie where I bought a croissant to stave off lunch hunger.  The proprietress was not very friendly, in truth she was rude, and to top it off I left my Ipad laying on the counter when I paid and didn't realize it until we were almost out of town.  Had to turn around, but fortunately it was still there and the rude lady hadn't even seen it.  Ok, after our false start we were off to our next village of Gordes.

Gordes, another village built on the side of a mountain in rock, this time limestone, so not so colorful as Roussillon.  It does have the homor of being called one of the most beautiful in Provence.  The original buildings and even newer buildings must be built in the traditional way using limestone.  In the old days, the stones were placed without the use of mortar.  (An example of the mortarless rock can be seen behind this sign).

Now of course, mortar is used to anchor the rock; but to keep it authentic, most build so that the mortar is on the inside and cannot be seen when looking at the wall. A stop before reaching the village provides a pretty spectacular view of the Vaucluse Plateau and the valley and mountains of Luberon.

Just beautiful

The church

Another unusual pulpit

And the obligatory castle (oldest building in the village) Already closed for winter.

A few shops were open.  Saw these cute leather stuffed animals

WWI Memorial to villagers who fought in that war

All in all, I liked Roussillon better.  Maybe because this one was so closed up for the winter.  Not a lot of activity.  Not even a cup of coffee.  They say it is the best time to come because you can actually see the village verses all the tourists.  We didn't have a lot of time here as we needed to head back to Avignon to pick up the other passengers for the afternoon part of the tour.  

I am going to publish this and then continue on a second page as this is getting quite long.  AND I NEED COFFEE. Ha.  See you back in Avignon where the sun is shining.