Three Days in Provence

A friend of ours from Boston was visiting Paris to give a talk at PSE.  He had invited us to his house in Provence before, but the timing never worked out.  During his PSE visit, he reiterated the invitation, saying that we were more than welcome to use the guest house on the grounds in his absence.  We made the arrangements and planned our trip for the few days right before Thanksgiving. 

France is a big country.  If you superimposed it on the US, it would extend from Cleveland in the north down past Atlanta at the southernmost point, and east to west from Washington DC to the eastern border of Illinois.  And, of course, Paris is in the north and Provence the south.  Even so, transportation was pretty smooth.  We took the RER to the Gare de Lyon, where we caught the TGV to Avignon, which took three hours.  We poked around Avignon a bit and saw the palace where the popes lived when they were in exile from Rome.  

The palace was an imposing structure, but one must use a lot of imagination to picture its splendor from the days when it housed several heads of the Roman Catholic Church.  (The Vatican it is not.)  It had been looted and damaged many times over the years, most particularly during the French Revolution, and there was very little left from its glory days.  Below is a photo from one of the battlements and another of a leaded glass window.  I am sure that the window is not original, but still lovely.

Avignon did not have much to retain our attention and we were anxious to get to the property.  We rented a car at the train station and drove the hour to the estate.  We were greeted upon our arrival by the caretaker of the property, Cyril, and his dog Pix.  Cyril kindly showed us around (and Pix kindly showed Sandy around) and gave us lots of information about the history of the estate, its role in the region, information about geology, flora, and fauna in the area, and some stories about political and land-use issues that could have come straight out of "Yellowstone."  (See the Facebook page facebook.com/FauneetFloreduPetitLuberon/ for some of Cyril's spectacular photographs.)  

We could not have spent a more pleasant three days.  It was quiet and peaceful and sunny, and we were able to work during the days, taking breaks for hikes around the property.  In the evenings, we drove to nearby towns for some lovely dinners, the best of which was at La Gaudina Luberon.  It was a prix fixe menu, and they made us guess what each course was after we tried it.  (We were pretty good at it, only falling completely short with two ingredients, a broth made with langostines and grated celery root.).

There were many highlights, but perhaps our favorite part of the trip were the hikes around the property.  The vistas were gorgeous, and the sky was clear enough to allow us to see the Alps in the distance.  (We think we saw the Mediterranean as well---we know it is visible from the property---but we were not sure.).  Below are some photos from our hikes, but they do not do justice to the vistas.

The main house on the property dates from the 18th Century, and it had beautiful patina of age, as did the grounds around it.  Here are a few details.

We were very grateful to be invited and will remember our time there fondly.