Oct 25, 2020

A WEEK IN PROVENCE

I love Provence, especially in the off-season, and especially the places that are not usually on the tourists' itinerary. Tired of the city's hustle and bustle, we packed a rental car, and headed to a little stone house we found on vrbo.com, near Mazan.

All was what I wished for - the crisp air, the blue skies, the faded hues of the stone walls, olive trees, the quiet... We took small trips here and there, but the best time we had was just staying in our little rental house, under a walnut tree, with a glass of red wine, looking out onto the seemingly endless rows of vines... This is my idea of heaven!

The fall was just starting to put her color here and there. We spotted it in the ivy covering the walls. There was some red and orange we saw in the vines, and on the trees. There was brilliant sunshine, a bit tricky, because some days one could not be warm without a coat, hat, and scarf.

Sometimes we planned our days, sometimes we headed in a general direction and stumbled upon beautiful vistas, randomly discovering hilltop villages, little vineyards where we tasted local wine, but also places that were always on out list to see, such as the Senanque Abbey.

We ate the delicious meals, drank the wines of the region, chatted with the local folks. Our dog wanted to hunt for the pigeons, squirrels, and rodents. We slept late, and avoided the news (not altogether, we did found out about the new curfew rules in Lyon...one cannot avoid reality forever).