In Van Gogh Country

Posted July 4th, 2009 in France, Travel and tagged Bonnieux, France, Lourmarin, Luberon, Provence by Lisa

After two weeks on the road, we’ve had enough and are ready to settle down for a while. Our digs for the next month are in a 17th century building in a town a little east of Avignon. The apartment is huge (way more room than we are used to in New York!), and beautiful, with two floors, 20 foot ceilings in the living room, and big provincial windows that open wide onto a pretty little courtyard. We are in Van Gogh country. Van Gogh painted the majority of his famous works while living in Arles, and while at the asylum at St. Rémy de Provence, which are both just south of here. And I must admit, it does look like a Van Gogh painting. Most of these farmhouses and towns have been here since before Van Gogh’s time, so really, the scenery hasn’t changed all that much. The sun shines brightly in clear blue skies each day, punctuated occasionally by intense afternoon thunderstorms. The intensity of the sun down here reminds me of Arizona, so, of course, I love it.

We arrived last Saturday afternoon and spent Sunday exploring the towns and countryside of the Luberon a bit. The Luberon is the area made famous more recently by Peter Mayle in his book ‘A Year In Provence’ and the follow up works surrounding it. If you’ve seen the movie ‘A Good Year’ with Russell Crowe (also based off a book authored by Peter Mayle), it was filmed in this region. I got to see my first lavender fields in full bloom! We were especially enamoured of the towns of Lourmarin and Bonnieux. The pictures speak for themselves.