Just like the postcards

Day 44 - Aix-En-Provence to Gordes

A sublime day of quintessential Provence villages. Village after village of postcard beautiful limestone walls, roads and buildings with views across the valleys to the next beautiful village.

Our first village was Loumarin where we discovered there was a market on, making Friday the busiest day of the week, and we were very lucky to find a car park right next to the start of the market.

We recognised a few of the stalls from the market in Aix yesterday. We attempted to stop for a coffee but the village was so overwhelmed with visitors we quickly gave up and drove on to Bonnieux. 

By the time we arrived at Bonnieux their smaller market was starting to pack up so it was much quieter. There were stunning views of town and the surrounding countryside, we found a cute place to share a caramelised apple crepe, along with coffees that once again had a bit too much froth. 

A few minutes drive from there was Lacoste (which we could see from Bonnieux). At the very top of the town is the castle of the infamous Marquis de Sade (whose "exuberant" lifestyle gave us the word "sadism"). The castle is in a state of partial ruin but there have been numerous attempts at renovation since the 1950s, including by Pierre Cardin. M walked up to the castle thinking it was the only way to get there, only to find a giant tour bus parked out the front. While M did this K relaxed at a cafe, seeing a blue heeler walk past at one point. We later drove up to the castle so K would also see the ruin. 

We made a quick stop at Pont Julien, an old Roman bridge (over a very dry river) dating from 3BC, then drove on to Rousillon to visit Le Sentier des Ocres (The Ochre Trail).

The short walk over red dust took us past cliffs and formations with beautiful shades of red and orange rock. K wished she had bought a plastic bag so she could scoop up the ochre under her feet and take it home to put in a glaze, luckily though the shops nearby sold ochre kits with lots of different shades, and of course she bought up big.

We pulled in to Gordes, our stop for the night, stopping at the city viewpoint before arriving at our nice quiet apartment for the night. 

We made the two minute drive to the town centre to do some shopping, though parking was problematic, especially when our first attempt was in the mayor's personal space! We found a lovely terrace overlooking the dramatic limestone cliff, it would be difficult to find a more beautiful spot, before heading back for a home cooked meal while overlooking the magnificent view from our apartment.