Main Provence page

Avignon

Arles


Aix-en-Provence

Luberon,Cavaillon

Saint-Remy,Glanum

Baux de Provence

Alpilles itinerary

Dentelles Montmirail-Gigondas-Sablet Seguret

Vaison la Romaine

(Text correction by Mr. Rip Green)  

Mont Ventoux


Bedoin-Beaumes de Venise


Carpentras

Pernes-Fontaines

Isle-sur-Sorgue


Fontaine de Vaucluse


Tarascon


Pont du Gard


Montmajour
 abbey

Camargue

The best guide for a traveller is of course the one he wrote himself. That seems evident even if the Guide Michelin, guide Bleu, guide Arthaud, and a lot of other French guides, not to mention the numerous English written guides like Rough Planet, Lonely Planet, Fodors, Frommers, Let's Go and so many more that are overwhelming the market. Which one to choose? Let me make a small remark: Provence is about 30,000 square kilometers  (the size of Belgium).

Street market in Provence

But very soon you come to the incredible discovery that EACH square meter is occupied by grottoes, holes, ruins, roman churches, oak trees, cypresses and numerous tree essences, animal and plant heavens, picturesque terraces under shady trees. But also a lot of misery, poverty, beggars, despair, distrust and xenophobia.
The guides I mentioned earlier are only interested in the first part, the second part is very rarely if ever or never mentioned. Because all travelers have their own ideas and very wrong viewpoints in their head, these will form a sort of mask during their trip.
People want to experience what they expect to experience!.
Luckily the Blue guides  period of the 70 's is behind us, with their sociological travel descriptions . Today all literature about Provence is too much centered on what the reader WANTS to hear. I 'd like to do something different. I revamped my Provence series with that idea. Provence is a heaven on  earth but we must not forget how much cruelty slumbers in the Provencal mentality (just open a history book about the Provence!!) and Provencal landscapes. It will not harm our enthusiasm if we can face this truth with honesty.
When I remember all those years I wandered through this country as a simple tourist but trying to think without eye patches , I understood that a visit to Province should be selective. We have to use the little time we have in the best possible way. Let's not be tricked by clichés: the smelling lavender, the picturesque mountain village, , the deep canyon, the insignificant small village museum, and a market day under the plane-trees. A first meeting with these stereotypes is surely very satisfying but we must avoid continuously making this kind of repetituous discoveries. Repetitions are tiring at last. That's why I said that we must be more selective. Our time is limited, let's not waste it with things that are not worth a detour.
Travel guides usually don't talk about living people, at the least about dead kings. When we read these guides , we think we are alone in the world. But there are people, we should look at them and think lot about them.