Through the Mountains and into the Woods

Through the Mountains and into the Woods

The adventure continues……….I actually have so much to share I am hustling to organize my thoughts and photographs. This is a good thing! I have not had this much excitement in my life in….,well, a life time.

One day while I was shopping in the village deciding what cheese to buy I was having trouble translating to French and vs versa what to buy. A woman happen to be there and spoke English. She recommended a very good cheese and after we started conversation which lead to her inviting me over to her home in Puyvert for lunch and adventure.

This was a wonderful day for me and I was honored to share time with Vanina and meet her family. The day started with lunch in her beautiful home. Her husband owns a boutique in Lourmain called Cote Vintage. There they sell vintage items such as stoves and coffee makers from the 1940/50’s.

So, off we go into the mountains to start our adventure. The Luberon is a mountain range in the South of France which divides the most southern part from the Northern part of the south. Lauris is in the south of the Luberon. There are a few passes in the mountains that will quickly take you through to the north villages. As we drove the landscape transformed from pastoral farms with lots of grapes and olive trees to the winding roads that were lined with rock formations and desert like shrubs and trees. It was not a desert by any means but very different plants and terrain for sure.

It seemed like we started climbing up the mountains to see everything from above and then slowly descended back down to more pastoral farms with lots of lavender. I could not get a good picture of this because it is too early in the season and they just looked like small green mounds. One of the villages we stopped at was Saignon. There was a small flea market taking place and I found some rusty items for 2 euros….such a deal!!

From here we traveled through Bonnieux to arrive in Lacoste. This village is famous because of a former residence the Marquis De Sade. He was of course sent to prison for problems with women and the police. In the 1990’s the fashion designer Pierre Cardin bought the castle and quarry of De Sade and turned it into a theater. The rest of the village is mainly an art college for American students. The oldest building in the village dates to the 9th century so you can imagine how old the village feels as you walk through the arch and are swallowed by the surrounding buildings of stone.

Finally we have reached the top…..the chateau and the well placed sculptures. I was only able to get a good photo of one because the placement of the sun.

I have to say this was such a breathtaking village. I wish I could have stayed for several days. But fortunately there was hardly any people in the village that day so I got good photos.

As we climbed down the hills we stopped in Buoux. This little area had a hiking trail in the forest and a small abandoned center that use to be a children’s camp.

I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to see all these different villages and there is more to come! Thank you for listening and please subscribe to this blog for automatic updates if you have not already!

Blessings

 

 

 

 

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