Provence...Perfectly, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Provence... Perfectly! Itinerary 2015

After a leisurely start and a delicious breakfast, we will head out most days in the late morning. We will leave earlier when we are venturing further afield or need to beat the crowds (e.g. Les Baux).

We reserve the right to switch or cancel a day trip if the weather looks bad. Our day trips are listed below, with links to other websites for more information.

Here's a site with lots of good photos of places in Provence that we will visit. And here's one with lots of information on the towns and villages we will explore. Follow the links below for more details about specific places on our itinerary.
The photo on the left is The Abbey of Senanques.

First 3 days: Mediterranean Coast	Activity
Wednesday, June 17	Pickup from Marseille Airport, check into hotel, and relax or explore the town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.
Thursday, June 18	As most of us will be jet lagged today, we will have a leisurely start, aiming to be out of the hotel by 11:00am. We will drive to Cassis where we will have lunch and take a boat ride to Les Calanques, beautiful fiord-like beaches and cliffs. Later in the day we will drive to the town of Ciotat, 5 miles along the coast, via the Route of Crests - spectacular views from the highest cliffs in Europe, overlooking the Mediterranean. We will have dinner in La Ciotat.
Friday, June 19	Today we will start by visiting Mont Sainte-Victoire, famously painted by Cezanne. We will then continue on a few miles to Aix-en-Provence, where we will eat lunch on the Cours Mirabeau. In the afternoon we will wander some of the streets and alleyways of Aix, visit the Musee Granet art museum, and if we have time also visit the cathedral.
Days 4-10: Farmhouse in Eygalieres	Activity
Saturday, June 20	We will check out of our hotel by 9am and drive inland, to the lovely farmhouse where will will spend the rest of the vacation. We will have lunch in St. Remy, and in the afternoon we will visit the Mausole de St. Paul Asylum, home to Vincent Van Gogh in the last months of his life. See the bedroom, treatment rooms, and gardens where he lived and painted. We will also see the oldest Roman ruins in France, at Glanum. We will check into the farmhouse later in the day, around 5pm and will have a late communal dinner around 8 or 9pm.
Sunday, June 21	Isle sur la Sorgue and Fontaine de Vaucluse: two charming little villages, each with their own personality. Isle sur la Sorgue is built on a series of canals and is famous for its Sunday market. We will try to get here early to beat the crowds. Fontaine de Vaucluse, where we will have lunch, is the source of the Vaucluse River, which gushes out of the face of the cliffs. There will be lots of opportunity to shop for souvenirs today! Later in the day we will stop at the Lavender Museum in nearby Coustellet.
Monday, June 22	Gordes, perhaps the most famous perched village in the Luberon, is officially one of the most beautiful villages in France. We will spend several hours here walking and exploring the narrow streets. You will find all kinds of shops and artists' studios. After lunch, we will drive to the Abbey of Senanques, an iconic image of provence with its lavender fields. You may even see some of the resident monks working in the fields. If we have time, we will also visit the village of the bories.
Tuesday, June 23	Today we will head to Arles, an ancient town on the edge of the Camargue national park. Van Gogh lived here and we will walk in his footsteps, seeing many of the same views that he painted. We will visit the Roman amphitheatre, still in use today for bull fights, and will have lunch at one of the restaurants outside its wall. We will also visit the ancient cemetery of Les Alyscamps. There will be quite a lot of walking today.
Wednesday, June 24	After stopping at the fantastic St. Remy market this morning, we will drive to Avignon and the Pope's Palace. After lunch in Avignon, and a walk on the Pont Benezet bridge, we will visit the extraordinary Pont du Gard, a remarkaby well-preserved Roman aqueduct.
Thursday, June 25	Les Baux: Chateau, shopping, sound & light show at the quarry, restaurant lunch. One of the most-visited destinations in all of Provence. Wear comfortable walking shoes as this place is very steep!
Friday, June 26	Our local village, Eygalieres, has a Friday morning market. For those that would like to see it, we can spend about an hour here before heading out to Roussillon. Roussillon is a very beautiful village where all the houses are painted in various colors of ochre. The ochre mines are closed these days, but we will take a short walk through them (the Giant's Causeway) before having lunch in the town of Roussillon itself. In the afternoon we will head to the ancient and mainly abandoned perched village of Oppède Le Vieux. This is a picturesque and atmospheric place. A few artists live around the main town square, but the rest of this beautiful and somewhat eerie village was abandoned after a massacre a couple of centuries ago. This evening we will have a late, farewell dinner at the farmhouse "en famille".
Saturday, June 27	All good things come to an end and sadly we have to leave our Provencal paradise today. Most of the guests will be heading to Marseille airport, but we can also drive to the TGV station at Avignon for anyone who is heading to Paris to continue their vacation independently.