Today, the Provence villages of Roussillon and Lacoste were our targets. For the first time this week we heard plenty of English.
We stopped to see the 1st century Pont Julien Roman bridge near Roussillon, then went to the village itself.
Roussillon is touted as one of the most beautiful villages in Provence. It's hard to decide, trust me. What's unique about Roussillon is that it sits on what used to be a virtual gold mine of ochre. (Ochre ranges in color from yellow to violet red and is the result of some complicated processes that went on with ocean sand 110 million years or so ago. It's prized by users of natural colors, from house painters to artists and pot throwers.)
In any case, you can go down some stairs like you see in the picture and visit these abandoned open-air mines. The colors are quite impressive. The short loop takes a half hour.
We did it after lunch, which is probably a mistake. You'll want some strong light overhead to get the real effict of the colors; we had some deep shade in November. It was still impressive.
You'll find lots of ceramics in town, and we couldn't resist buying some plates which used a 17th century technique to make each plate show a unique swirl of color.
Then we headed over to Lacoste. Above Lacoste sits the 18th century chateau of the notorious Donatien Alphonse Francois Comte de Sade, otherwise known as the Marquis de Sade. There's an interesting bronze of him as you can see in the picture.
The walk to the castle, besides being steep, is quite interesting as well. The older parts of the village are particularly well preserved and evocative. English is spoken everywhere, because the Savannah College of Art and Design holds classes there.
The Chateau is owned today by Pierre Cardin, who has renovated parts of it and turned it and the quarry out back into performance space. He sponsors the Festival de Lacoste held in July and August.
Tonight, when the clouds rolled in, the old ruins of the Chateau looked somewhat sinister.
But the weather held as we headed up the hill to Bonnieux to buy some pate and a few chicken legs for dinner in the apartment tonight. When we got home to Lourmarin, we had a a pastis outside at Cafe Gaby, favored by Peter Mayle I'm told. There were just enough people out to make a nice evening; the French passing by our table as they went inside each greeted us formally, "Madame et Monsieur, buon jour!"
That was nice. November, lightly touristed, is perfect.
Hope you had lunch at Le Pont Julien. We did about a month ago and it was great, and only euro12.50. Roussillon is something of an enigma; it must have been a wonderful town years ago (although virtually abandoned for decades) but now it’s almost entirely for tourists. Sort of a Disneyland of the Luberon. Still, it’s really attractive and worth the visit if you’re in the area. We prefer places that are more “lived-in” and less geared toward visitors.
Hi Ron,
I’m with you, but I really haven’t discovered a Luberon town yet that hasn’t geared itself toward tourism. It’s sad for those of us searching for the “real” Provence or Tuscany or what have you, people who are willing to put up with a lack of tourist facilities and a bit of a language barrier. Any provincial village of 500 people with 17 expensive restaurants that the locals can’t afford except on very special occasions is suspect–but that’s most of them it seems.
james
I love it when couples are greeted by shopkeepers or townspeople with the exquisitely French salutation, “monsieurdame”