A week in Provence

My husband and I are just back from a wonderful week in Provence in the South of France.
We stayed in the town of Aix en Provence and in a little town in the Luberon region called Apt.  Aix en Provence is a beautiful French university town alive with vibrant young people and a fantastic atmosphere. It is home of the fabulous painter Paul Cezanne and a place that would inspire you to paint.   There are wonderful restaurants, cafes and bars.   There is a market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.   You can get everything imaginable at these markets.  

The food market with fresh vegetables and fruit.

The flower market has the most beautiful flowers

Beautiful pink peony roses.

Cours Mirabeau is the main street and a wonderful one at that.  A wide open tree lined street, with shops and lovely restaurants and cafes.  It’s a lovely place to just sit sipping your drink and watch all different types of people pass by.  There is a fantastic Fountain in the centre of Aix en Provence, in fact there are lots of lovely fountains in Aix.

Petits sacs de lavande

Beautiful Savon de Marsailles

The Tuesday market on Cours Mirabeau has stalls of beautiful things like Savon de Marsailles, nougat, baskets, lavender, rugs, provençal tablewear, textiles, clothes, bags, jewellery, quilts, rugs.  There was so many lovely stalls.   I bought some fabric, soap and a few little bags of lavender for my sewing room to keep the moths away from my fabric, something my Father always insisted upon.  We used to make them with nylon stockings filled with lavender.  The aroma of soap and lavender in my luggage and hotel room was really lovely.  I also bought some fabric at the Tuesday market – very nice for a provençal quilt I intend making.

Provencal fabric

I also bought a little French boutis (quilt) for our picnics, when we got home the weather in Dublin was glorious and we had a lovely picnic in our local park, using our little Provençal boutis. 

That's Lulu on the little french boutis, after her walk, on the most beautiful day so far this year. 

The shops in Aix are gorgeous, some with very unusual beautiful clothes – Souleiado was my favourite, a beautiful shop with clothes and accessories from Provence.  There is also a Souleiado museum and factory where they make the beautiful printed cotton fabrics of Provence.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to visit Souleiado, but there is always next time. 

Our best meal in Aix en Provence was at a beautiful restaurant called Lavault.  The menu and wines were excellent and the food was delicious.  There are about six starters, main courses and deserts (if memory serves me).  I had the fois gras starter which was delicious as was my main course rack of lamb. My husband had the St Jacques starter and also had the rack of lamb, which was truly scrumptious.  My husband had a lovely wine with his meal.  I don’t usually drink, but when offered an aperitif I choose a Martini which was perfect before dinner.   I would highly recommend a visit.  Natalie and Fred who own the restaurant have a warm, comfortable, beautifully decorated restaurant with white table cloths and a formal setting.  They renovated and restored this restaurant which exudes style and taste, while also keeping and enhancing some of the original features of the charming residence.

Our table was on the ground level, as downstairs was booked out.   The downstairs (Natalie very kindly showed us around a little) was also lovely with it's original very French tomettes floor (hexagon shap terra cotta tiles).  Natalie and her staff were courteous, attentive and friendly and we spent a very pleasant and satisfying evening at Lavault. Booking is essential, as we returned on the Saturday for lunch, but the restaurant was fully booked.

On a day trip to Cassis, a beautiful seaside town, I found a beautiful fabric shop which sold Les Olivades fabric. Again les Olivades fabric is traditional provençal fabric and the factory is also worth visiting, so I’m told. 

I treated myself to these, aren’t they lovely.  I’m not sure what to make with them yet, I just love looking at them, they are so gorgeous.

Avignon

♫Sur le pont d'Avignon, On y danse, On y danse, Sur le pont d'Avignon, On y danse tout en rond♫.

We visited Avignon and I spent the day singing this little tune, I didn't even know I knew it.  In fact, I couldn't get it out of my mind for the entire holiday.  I'll probably be singing it for the next week!!

The Bridge in Avignon

What a beautiful place Avignon is.  We visited the the Palais des Papes, the Bridge of Avignon and the Cathedral.  The Palais de Papes is magnificent and the history of the palace in the 14th century which was home to the popes before Rome is fascinating and very interesting.  They even had safes in the ground to store the money and jewels, because in simple terms, they didn't trust the banks of the day!!  It is a beautiful palace, a wonderful tour and well worth taking.

Palais de Papes

The Cathedral

The view from the Palais de Papes of
Le Banque de France at the Hotel de Calvet de la Palun and the Opera Theatre.

After the Palais de Papes you make your way out on to a beautiful wide street with a Carousel and lovely cafes for your Moules (mussels) and french fries, they are so nice.  The only thing I really missed, was my cup tea, as it is not a popular drink in France.  They don't boil the water or scald the teapot and the teabags are so weak!!  I did bring my own teabags, but the water isn't boiled,  it is so wishy washy, all you tea drinker will know what I mean.  It didn't allow it spoil my holiday, when in France and all that!!

While in Provence we travelled to the Luberon region which is about one hours drive from Aix.  We stayed in a town called Apt at La Madone.  The Luberon is a beautiful region in France.  We were a little too early to see the beautiful colour in the fields, but it was still a peaceful and beautiful place to be on holidays.  The poppy fields were just beginning to bloom and in another few weeks the majestic colours of the poppies and the lavender will be breathtakingly beautiful.  We have seen the fields of sunflowers in August and they are magnificent when in bloom. 

We stayed in the Baroque Apartment and really enjoyed our stay.  The apartment has a beautiful interior.  It is very French with antiques, vintage linens and beautiful chandeliers. We had use of the lovely garden and swimming pool, the pool seen here was like a Roman bath and the garden had the most beautiful climbing pink roses on the gate going out to the pool. 

The beautiful swimming pool at La Madone

The garden gate draped with beautiful pink roses

Each morning Nathalie the owner left a baguette, croissant and pain au chocolate in a lovely white cotton bag outside our apartment door.  This was a very nice touch.  The town of Apt has lovely little streets and shops to explore.  

We really enjoyed going to the brocante and markets in other towns and even during our short stay managed to find a few little vintage treasures to take home with us at the antique market, Sunday morning in the town of  I’isle sur la Sorgue, well worth a visit.  The town has lovely restaurants and wonderful antique shops.  I wish we'd had more time there.  Here are the items I bought at the market in I'isle sur la Sorgue.

A pair of brass wall bracket lights.

A gorgeous Limoges plate

A lovely china decanter

We really enjoyed our french holiday and loved the apartments and antiques we saw. Seeing again the rustic interiors, antique crystal chandeliers, vintage chairs with straw seats, blackboards, bird cages, wrought iron day beds and furniture, linen tea towels, antique glassware and dishes.  Curtains instead of cabinet doors in the kitchen and glass cupboards instead of fitted kitchens. 

The kitchen in the Baroque Apartment

The sitting room

Our very comfortable and beautiful bed 

While in Provence we saw lots of toile de jouy, crafts, patchwork quilts, quilted cushions and handmade bags.  They were all so pleasing and invoked memories of bygone days, items that had been discarded long ago, but were once again being sought, valued and enjoyed.  My Mother used to always say "keep a thing long enough and it will come back into fashion". How right she was.

We shall return to beautiful Provence in the near future, I hope.  In the meantime,  I will seek a nice design for my provençal quilt to keep the memories alive.

À bientôt

S.