The weather gods like to have their little laugh. I thought we had the upper hand this time – surely visiting Provence in spring would spare us its usual ferocious summer heat? But alas no, the mercury is set to soar into the 30s. Luckily it’s only an endlessly steep walk up hill…everywhere. 😂😂😂
It’s a meandering kind of day. We start at the Abbaye Notre Dame de Senanque, a working Cistercian monastery, albeit now with only six monks in residence.
Founded in 1148, it prospered quickly. Supported by a successful working farm and attracting significant donations, a second site was soon established in Vivarais.
The Religious Wars of the 1500s saw the monks brutally hung and sections of the Abbaye burnt but fortunes turned in the 1700s when the Abbaye was sold as a National Property and restored over the following centuries. The once thriving farm is now a modest vegetable garden but there are extensive lavender plantings supporting the gift shop.
We tour the Abbey and cloister then walk the grounds. The lavender is just starting to bloom, but it’s a distinct improvement on the first time we visited when it had just been harvested.
We find an ancient oak tree, split into two and somehow, extraordinarly, still thriving. It’s a mesmerising magic trick. I would love to know its history.
Tour and hike over, our sights turn to nearby Gordes, but the carpark is packed and it’s impossible. Between you and me, I’m a little relieved. It’s quite a distance away up another steep hill under a now blazing sun. We set off instead to the Les Plus Beaux Village of Roussillon.
Roussillon is quintessentially Provence – bright and colourful, its buildings echoing every ochre hue.
Traded to the East since Roman times, ochre overtook the village’s successful silk farming history in the late 18th century when Jean-Etienne Astier, a local man, invented a process to extract ochre pigment from sand.
The surrounding cliffs are brightly pigmented and weathered into a sculptured landscape. There’s a long ochre trail hike but it’s just too hot for a two hour steep and dusty cliff climb.
We walk Roussillon’s colourful streets instead and take respite in what little shade is on offer.
By day’s end I feel as though I’m wading through treacle, each step weighted by the sun. Enough already, heat be gone.
Miss Baci Travels 