John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 5 - LUBERON MOUNTAINS


Luberon hills

This morning we head inland, to the stunning scenery of the Luberon Mountains. It was here that Peter Mayle found inspiration for his book “A Year in Provence”.

This area was once famous as the haunt of highwaymen but is now a much-prized nature reserve. The twisting roads lead to tiny fortified villages, which are a delight, and we have some time out to explore a selection of them.

We will then visit Sénanque Abbey, a working monastery since the middle ages, surrounded by endless lavender fields.

We return to Aix-en-Provence by late afternoon.

Tonight, you have a free evening.[i]

[i] In “My Account” on the Riviera Travel website, the itinerary was worded thus:

This morning we travel north to the stunning Luberon Mountains. It was here that Peter Mayle found inspiration for his book, A Year in Provence. The region’s pure natural light has always attracted artists, while the hilltops are crowned by enchanting villages that, at a distance, appear frozen in medieval times, yet are alive with vibrant bistros, rustic restaurants and markets selling fabulous local produce. The landscape in this designated Regional Nature Park changes dramatically from flat plains dotted with olive and peach groves to sloping vineyards and then, higher up, rows of lavender whose fragrance mingles with pine and wild herbs to give the unmistakable aroma of rural Provence.

Signature Experience:
Experience the captivating atmosphere of the historic Abbey of Sénanque, continuously inhabited since the Middle Ages. Engage with the welcoming monks who will be happy to share an insight into daily life and how the cultivation of the fragrant lavender fields helps to support the community who live here today.

“Welcoming monks”, my arse! We saw no monks: the parts we saw were just an empty building site. Fortunately it was not the season for lavender to flower, so we were spared the olfactory offence of that.

The alarm clock went off, ca.6 o’clock. Janet noted in her journal that it was my birthday, but we didn’t let on to anyone else that it was. She added, “Spasmodic sleep as usual” — as usual for Fridays, I assume. “I envied [John] again, as he was fast asleep! [I got] up, 6.15am.” She vacated the bathroom, ca.6.30am, so I got up, showered, etc. We breakfasted, went back up to the room to prepare for today, and were at Boulevard Jean Jaurès for the setting-off time I’d noted yesterday, 8.15am.… I tried to follow our route from Aix-en-Provence on the “Luberon” map that Chris Brown issued to us, but I found that this omitted so many roads that it was impossible to do so.


Small scale “Luberon” map, with our starting point and such places seen today as it shows highlighted in yellow

My notes, however, mention going “through [the] award-winning village Rognes”, and after that passing by a “reservoir [to the] left”, which would be approximately east of “La Roque-d’Anthéron” on the map below.


Google Maps “Directions”, showing our starting point and places seen today


Friday 19 May 2023 08:31:08
On the way to Lourmarin


Friday 19 May 2023 08:36:52
On the way to Lourmarin


Friday 19 May 2023 08:41:58
On the way to Lourmarin


Friday 19 May 2023 09:05:40
Lourmarin, seen from the coach

Before we arrived in Lourmarin, I wrote “10:30 rendezvous”, the time by which we were to meet back at the coach. Janet wrote: “It was beginning to get warm. Very little wind with sunny spells. Our first stop was Lourmarin (today’s highlight for me). Very beautiful place. We had coffee at a pristinely clean restaurant/bar… Then we wandered around.… Narrow cobbled streets [and houses] with shutters and potted plants.”


Friday 19 May 2023 09:09:44
Lourmarin: market stalls on our approach along Avenue Raoul Dautry


Friday 19 May 2023 09:12:24
Lourmarin: donkeys in the adjacent field


Friday 19 May 2023 09:14:00
Lourmarin: donkeys in the adjacent field

The “pristinely clean restaurant/bar” was at Le Moulin.


Friday 19 May 2023 09:15:22
Lourmarin: Rue du Temple; (ahead, left:) Le Moulin


Bill, printed “09:21:34”. This, I think, was the first time that I saw the word “allongé” with the acute accent on the “e”, which enabled me to know with certainty how it was pronounced and therefore subsequently to ask for “café allongé”.

“Then we wandered around.… Narrow cobbled streets with shutters and potted plants,” Janet wrote.


Friday 19 May 2023 09:34:32
Lourmarin: proceeding east along Rue du Temple


Friday 19 May 2023 09:36:42
Lourmarin: looking north-east along Chemin des Écoliers


Friday 19 May 2023 09:37:02
Lourmarin: looking south along Rue Henri de Savorin


Friday 19 May 2023 09:41:40
Lourmarin: Rue de la Carreiretto, leading up to Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André

“We saw a tiny church and went in,” Janet wrote.


Friday 19 May 2023 09:42:54
Lourmarin: Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André in Place de l’Église


Friday 19 May 2023 09:44:20
Lourmarin: Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André


Friday 19 May 2023 09:44:46
Lourmarin: Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André


Friday 19 May 2023 09:46:24
Lourmarin: Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André


Friday 19 May 2023 09:47:02
Lourmarin: Église Saint-Trophisme et Saint-André


Friday 19 May 2023 09:51:14
Lourmarin: belfry visible from the north end of Place de l’Église, i.e. south of the belfry


Friday 19 May 2023 09:51:52
Lourmarin: belfry visible from the north end of Place de l’Église


Friday 19 May 2023 09:54:36
Lourmarin: trying to get closer to the belfry


Friday 19 May 2023 09:55:44
Lourmarin: view of the belfry from north of it


Friday 19 May 2023 09:56:22
Lourmarin: returning to one of the main streets


Friday 19 May 2023 09:57:34
Lourmarin: looking back

“Then not long after,” Janet continued, “I heard a violin and a lovely female singer. I remembered we’d passed a ‘busker’ earlier — and it was her. Such a beautiful voice. What with that and the violin and the song she was singing I was moved and wept! Excruciatingly beautiful. We gave her €2 in appreciation. (We’d also left €2 in the church.) Then [we] had another wander around, found a bar/café for a drink, then headed off to rejoin our coach.”


Friday 19 May 2023 10:15:30
Lourmarin: at La Fontaine, Place de la Fontaine


Friday 19 May 2023 10:19:48
Lourmarin: La Fontaine, Place de la Fontaine


Friday 19 May 2023 10:23:22
Lourmarin: view north-west while walking along Avenue Raoul Dautry back to the parking place


Friday 19 May 2023 10:24:14
Château Lourmarin near the parking place


Friday 19 May 2023 10:26:00
Château Lourmarin


Larger scale “Luberon” map, with places seen today highlighted in yellow

My notes mention “Bonnieux”, that we “arr[ived there] just after 11am into [a] traffic jam in the narrow main street” and therefore we “couldn’t stop.” Janet wrote, “We should have stopped at Bonnieux for lunch but there was total gridlock in the middle of the village — as in Rome that time, where nobody was prepared to back up. Idiots! Eventually, someone did, and we were able to move; but the driver and Chris didn’t want to risk getting stuck again so, instead, we went to Rousillon for lunch.”


Friday 19 May 2023 10:40:38
On the way to Bonnieux


Friday 19 May 2023 10:46:40
On the way to Bonnieux


Friday 19 May 2023 10:47:08
On the way to Bonnieux


Friday 19 May 2023 11:09:08
Traffic jam in Bonnieux

My notes mention: “Brief pause, Roman bridge”.


Friday 19 May 2023 11:26:42
Pont Julien


Friday 19 May 2023 11:27:18
Pont Julien

Before we all went our separate ways in Roussillon, I made a note, “1.20pm leave”. Janet wrote: “The driver and Chris didn’t want to risk getting stuck again so, instead, we went to Rousillon for lunch. Another beautiful village. It was sunny and quite warm. We used the public toilet then found a little café/bar to eat.” From the main road was a tourist trail to the ochre quarries. We went along this, following a sign to the toilets. From this vantage point I took a photo of the village.


Friday 19 May 2023 11:52:24
Roussillon: view north-west from Montée du Belvédère

Back on the main road, looking over the retaining wall shown in photo “11:52:24”, I took a photo of the ochre ridge ahead of us to the right, with people above it going along the tourist trail. An identically ochre-coloured dog was standing on top of the wall.


Friday 19 May 2023 11:54:36
Roussillon: view east, over the retaining wall shown at the left of “11:52:24”, of the ochre ridge

Turning left from there, we crossed the road and turned down the next street on the left, and had lunch at the first restaurant that we came to. “We had to sit al fresco,” Janet wrote, “and it was a bit cool, but I managed. [John] had a pizza and I had a small salad (yellow, orange and red cherry tomatoes and lettuce) with bread and a Perrier.”


Friday 19 May 2023 11:59:36
View from the terrace at the rear of Restaurant du Côté de Chez Charles, 41 Rue de Bourgades, Roussillon, where we had lunch


Friday 19 May 2023 12:48:22
Lunch at Restaurant du Côté de Chez Charles, 41 Rue de Bourgades, Roussillon


Handwritten note showing what we had


Rear of the handwritten note with “30” written on it


Printed bill for €30


Friday 19 May 2023 13:02:36
Restaurant du Côté de Chez Charles, 41 Rue de Bourgades, Roussillon


Friday 19 May 2023 13:09:40
Roussillon: war memorial to “Roussillon et ses enfants”, Avenue de la Burliere

“Our next stop was Gordes and Sénanque Abbey,” Janet wrote. On the way to visit Sénanque Abbey we stopped at a viewpoint looking over to Gordes, but we didn’t actually enter the village till after the visit. “More twisting lanes and beautiful scenery (and sheer drops: we were pretty high up). Also, we’d seen poppies everywhere: in fields, at the sides of roads, etc.”


Friday 19 May 2023 13:48:40
On the way to Sénanque Abbey: Gordes


Friday 19 May 2023 13:50:40
On the way to Sénanque Abbey: Gordes

My notes mention, after “Gordes” and before “Abbaye de Sénanque”, “Dry stone walls and houses”.


Friday 19 May 2023 14:04:52
On the way to Sénanque Abbey: the abbey, below


Friday 19 May 2023 14:05:06
On the way to Sénanque Abbey: the abbey, below

“We went in the refurbished abbey (still a work in progress),” Janet wrote. “Well, what a let-down! We’d been in some stunning monasteries, but this was, as Jasper [our bad golliwog] would say, ‘Shit’!” I was more vocal in my expletives about it than Janet, notwithstanding its putatively being a sacred place. This holiday was one of Riviera Travel’s flagship “Signature Tours”, and this particular visit was supposed to be a “Signature Experience”:

Experience the captivating atmosphere of the historic Abbey of Sénanque, continuously inhabited since the Middle Ages. Engage with the welcoming monks who will be happy to share an insight into daily life and how the cultivation of the fragrant lavender fields helps to support the community who live here today.

We were welcomed by no-one. We engaged with no-one. There was no-one around, with whom to engage. All there were, were empty rooms and rubble strewn chambers. Fortunately it wasn’t yet the season for the lavender fields to be in bloom, and so they were welcomely not “fragrant”. In Avignon, we’d passed shops selling soaps and lavender products, and the odour from them had been disagreeably almost overwhelming.


Friday 19 May 2023 14:11:12
Sénanque Abbey: notice at the entrance for the guidance of visitors


Friday 19 May 2023 14:13:40
Sénanque Abbey: lavender field, fortunately for our olfactory sense not in flower


Friday 19 May 2023 14:13:52
Sénanque Abbey: poppies in the lavender field


Friday 19 May 2023 14:20:22
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:20:30
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:21:20
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:22:38
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:23:34
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:24:26
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:25:28
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:25:54
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:29:16
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:30:18
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:32:50
Sénanque Abbey

Very quickly I ran out of doors to look through. “This way?” No, I’ve been there. “That way?” No, I’ve seen that. “Is that it, then?” That’s when my language commenced to become foul. “When we came out we were so pleased when Chris remarked that (although he didn’t use these words, of course) that was crap!” Janet wrote. “Apparently, he’d taken people there to see the place and take photos, but never been inside. He said he’d report back to Riviera that it was rubbish. What a rip-off! That saved the day: we’d had a marvellous time, and that threatened to spoil it.…”


Friday 19 May 2023 14:41:04
Sénanque Abbey


Friday 19 May 2023 14:45:38
Sénanque Abbey

My notes state that we went “back via Gordes (photo), Cabrières [d’Avignon and] Cavaillon”.


Friday 19 May 2023 15:19:12
Château de Gordes


Friday 19 May 2023 15:22:00
Gordes

After “Cavaillon”, I wrote: “On the way back, rain started — heavy, with lightning (16:15, and again a bit later). We passed from under rain clouds just before the turn-off to Aix.” I didn’t note from where the turn-off was, though. Janet wrote: “Then it was homeward bound. We eventually got onto the motorway and the heavens opened. Hah! We were OK!”
 I wrote that today, there had been “a number of instances of bus parks being stolen by cars.” In parking lots with spaces reserved for buses, we found none available because they had been occupied by cars.
 Tomorrow would be a free day, but in the evening we’d all be going out together for dinner; so I wrote: “Tomorrow 7.30pm.”
 “We were back at the Aquabella around 5.15pm,” Janet continued. “We used the ATM nearby first and withdrew €300. We returned to our room, ‘sorted ourselves out’, then headed out for dinner. It was raining a bit, but it was OK.… We found a big square, but most of the restaurants had shut until later. However, we took a cobbled street off the square and found an Italian restaurant (Il Tavolino). [We were the] first in. It was tiny inside: it was old. [John] had chicken escalope (breaded) with spaghetti in tomato sauce, and then ice creams and a coffee. I had a Salade Niçoise — without onions, garlic, oil and ‘French dressing’ — and a couple of bits of baguette. The salad was delicious — don’t know why I hadn’t considered Niçoise before!”
 The “big square” was Place des Cardeurs. We’d been there yesterday evening, actually, and had found the same state of affairs then, i.e. that “most of the restaurants had shut until later.” The exception yesterday had been Le Beffroi at the end of our traipse along the whole length of the square. This evening, we turned right from Place des Cardeurs, southwards along the long, narrow Rue de la Verrerie, some 200 yards to where it took a left turn.


Friday 19 May 2023 18:22:46
At Il Tavolino, 37 Rue de la Verrerie, Aix-en-Provence


Bill, printed “18:41:04”






Friday 19 May 2023 19:01:32
Il Tavolino, 37 Rue de la Verrerie, Aix-en-Provence


Friday 19 May 2023 19:02:02
Returning along Rue de la Verrerie, Aix-en-Provence

“We were back just before 7pm,” Janet wrote; but I reckon, judging from the time of the above photo, that it must have been more like 7.10pm. “We have a free day tomorrow, but I still got my backpack ready and sorted some other bits, then I cleaned my teeth, had a shower, updated this [journal] and was in bed at 9.15pm. I was so tired. Hope I get a good sleep — at last! [John] was reading in bed. What a great day! Rain didn’t stop play again and mostly, I was quite warm. I loved Lourmarin. So French! We have nothing like this in the UK — but that’s why we go abroad. More adventures, discoveries, knowledge — and fun! Loving this holiday so far. I like the French!!” That last statement was in contrast to our former impression gained by our unfortunate experiences in “Villefranche-sur-Merde”.
 Janet’s description of ablutions has a quasi-counterpart in my notes: “Shave from 19:20.” Because of the early start on Monday morning, I’d shaved the late afternoon before. I think the shaver had then gone into one of the suitcases, and hadn’t come out till we arrived in Aix. So I’d been shaving in the evening, not the morning. I transferred 65 photos from the camera’s SD card to the WD Elements HDD (19:39–19:40), then copied the files to “Pictures” on the computer (19:42). … Played Solitaire (20:06–20:30): lost 8; won 1; lost 1. In bed, I read more of The Jewel in the Skull.

[Saturday 20 May 2023]