Day 9: Movie Locales in Provence

July 15

We enjoyed a leisurely start today, commencing with a full breakfast of fresh fruit, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, croissants, pancakes with sliced apricots, and coffee that was provided by our B&B hosts. Shared our table with a family of 3 who live in Munich; the husband was Irish, the wife Austrian/French, and their 12 year old son. We really enjoyed our conversation with them.

We spent the rest of the day touring the neighboring villages of Provence many of which were featured in various movies. The Luberon mountain chain runs east to west across the eastern edge of Provence and all of these villages are on one side or the other of the Luberon. We had lots of narrow windy roads...again!

Our first stop was in the small city of Apt where we visited a church where St. Anne's remains were encrypted for a while. Joni purchased a post card of the church for a relative in Massena. We then drove to Lourmarin, a very upscale but relaxed village where Peter Mayle now lives. Joni shopped as I read the paper as and enjoyed another coffee at the Cafe Ormeau. On the way to lunch we drove through the village of Vaugines, where the movies Jean de Flourette and Manon des Sources were made. We then continued to Cucuron to eat at an outdoor restaurant that bordered a very large man-made pond surrounded by plane trees...another locale used in the movie, A Good Year. Another delicious meal: beef stew for me and shells stuffed with eggplant for Joni. A citron mousse and coffee completed feast.

After lunch we continued our driving tour through Ansouis, Buox, Saignon, and back through Apt. Saw lots of lavender all along the way & took lots of photos before returning to our B&B by 5 pm in time for a relaxing swim before dinner.

Dinner at another family run restaurant; this one in St. Saturnin where we are staying. We ate way too much, but couldn't resist. Our menu included postage stamp sized ravioli stuffed with cheese and covered in langouistine sauce, escargots, 3 lamb chops enrusted in breaded herbs, chicken stuffed with olives, 4 different desserts (lavender ice cream, chocolate mousse, lemon flavored something, and a cake with poppy seeds and lemon), and finally coffee. Gotta cut down, but may have to wait until we return home.