Markets and hilltop villages

Trip Start Mar 19, 2006
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Trip End Apr 16, 2006


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Friday, April 7, 2006

We started our day at the Lourmarin village market - the biggest market we'd seen to date. We enjoyed the selection of clothing, jewelry, scarves, bread, meat, cheese, dishes, lavender, and pottery. (The only downside was Nancy's French squabble with the weasily scarf-seller she had seen in Aix-en-Provence who had doubled her prices and wouldn't barter). We still gladly dropped close to 100€ on souvenirs (but not on scarves). Feeling market-weary, we headed north to more serene places, starting with Bonnieux. This village had an incredible view of the farmlands surrounding it. We read that old steps led up to the 12th-century, hilltop church, so we headed up some stairs near our parking spot. We suspected that these were the wrong stairs when they ended at an overgrown footpath, but we pressed on, climbing onto some stone building roofs and a patch of grass that was caving into some old rotting basements below behind a chained gate. We found ourselves at the base of an abandoned building with stone walls, empty windows, and fireplaces that we could climb into A farmer near Abbaye-St-Hillare
A farmer near Abbaye-St-Hillare
 . But the exits were sealed off, so we couldn't get through to the village. Encouraged by our previous trail-blazing luck, we figured we would just walk a little further and would be able to get to the church that we were now very close to. But alas, after climbing some more stone steps, we came to a drystone wall that only Jean Valjean could have scaled! So we were forced to retrace our steps. Back on the street, we walked about 15 metres around a bend and found the proper cobblestone alley that led easily up to the church. The view was incredible.

We also explored Lacoste and Menerbes, which were both beautiful but our descriptions will be the same as the last few: hilltop villages containing narrow alleys, stone buildings, old churches, and a ruined castle or chateau. We also stopped at a beautiful 13th-century Carmelite Abbey called St-Hilaire. If you ever visit one of the chapels from this time period, sing a little bit - the acoustics are amazingly haunting.
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