A walk through the Calanques

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Calanque de Port Pin, Calanque les Goudes, Cassis, Domaine de la Fontasse, Les Calanques of Port Miou Miou, Provence. Fall 2016 Tours, south of France

The soaring limestone cliffs known in the south of France as Les Calanques are a dramatic coastal feature, which can be explored by boat trips for a couple of hours or by foot . People who decide to walk have the advantage of time to stop and enjoy the different flora ( more than 900 species cling to the sun-backed rock) and a multitude of seabirds that make their home here. From the Calanque de Port -Miou just outside Cassis harbour to the Calanque de Callelongue at Les Goudes south of Marseille. The 12.5 miles long coastline is criss-crossed with different walking trails. The walk from Cassis takes about 3 hours for the round trip.

From Cassis you can park at the very end of the road. Walk along the length of the Calanques of Port Miou-Miou , through the old quarry. Port Miou-Miou‘s entire length is taken up with yacht berths. You can climb up the terraces over quite a long ridge to reach the calanque de Port-Pin named after the Pins d’Alep that once covered the domaine de La Fontasse. If you continue up and climb the plateau de Cadeiron , there are amazing views stretching from the magnificent cliffs of the montagne de la Canaille rearing up above Cassis wether on foot or by boat. the grounds start to fall away until you reach a view point over the Calanque d’En – Vau, one of the most spectacular of all the Calanques. Beneath the dramatic chalky  white cliffs and needle like rocks , there is a small sandy beach, with rocky steps leading down. the cliffs continue down into the limpid depths, sheltering a vast marine life. From here you can always continue to les Goudes ( be prepared for a full day’s walk) or just turn back along En – Vau out towards the pinnacle known as Le doigt de dieux ( God’s finger), and then around the headland back to Port-au-Pin and Cassis. In the summer month ( June-September) it is very advised not to stray off because of the risk of fires in the region.

Anne Suire

http://www.luxurytravelconsultant2.com

Provence.Fall 2016

Les Calanques d’En Vau

Top Picture is God’s finger near Cassis.

 

 

 

 

The seasons in Provence

Despite modernization , country life in Provence still continues according to the cycle of the seasons, a calendar that alternates periods of very intense work with equally intense festivities to c…

Source: The seasons in Provence

The seasons in Provence

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Luxury Travel Consultant2, Provence. Fall 2016, The 4 seasons in Provence

Despite modernization , country life in Provence still continues according to the cycle of the seasons, a calendar that alternates periods of very intense work with equally intense festivities to celebrate the earth and its fruits.

Spring.

Spring unfolds very quickly and by February mimosa is out and almond trees start to bloom in March, soon followed by wild flowers growing everywhere. Olives and vines must be pruned and cereal crops sown.

By April, plums,peaches, apples, apricots, pears and quinces are in blossom, and fires are lit in the orchards to stop the frost, killing the delicate buds. The sheep are sheared, and Easter is celebrated with the first spring lamb. The very first nightingales (known for its beautiful and powerful song) and swallows appear. In Arles ( Camargue) Pain de St-Georges is baked to celebrate the feast day of the patron Saint of Camargue on 23rd of April.

Summer.

May 1st is considered the beginning of summer. Primeurs are (early fruits and vegetables ) that you will find on vegetable stalls as well as asparagus, cherries,peas, apricots, melons and strawberries with amazing aromas and a taste of sunshine, they come from nearby market gardens. The flocks are shepherded back to the hill pastures, following the traditions of the Transhumance ,( a seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures ; a movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter). The autumn sowing of wheat is ready for harvesting in June. On the summer solstice, St John’s day ( June 24th), bonfires are lit to celebrate the end of the harvest ( Fete de la St Jean). Other harvest festivals include a great deal of wine, music and dancing and among them are St Eloi or St Roch and also huge banquets in village squares with the famous Aioli. As summer progresses the lavender fields are beautiful with color and thyme, rosemary, marjoram and sage can be culled from the wild. Melons, peaches and almonds are in abundance. August is the perfect time for ratatouille with courgettes, tomatoes, aubergines, garlic, onions and peppers, all of them overflowing in the markets. Honeysuckle, clematis and myrtle blossom on sunny walls or trellises.

Autumn.

September is dominated by the grape harvest, Les Vendanges, a perfect time for friends, neighbors and families come together to pick grapes and spend long evenings drinking jugs of wine and relaxing after the day’s arduous labor. The countryside is a patchwork of red, gold and rust coloured tones as the leaves turn in the vineyards and forests. Mushrooms and particularly sought after Cepe, begin to spring up in woodlands and everybody is out at weekends  collecting sticks and bags for turning over leaves to seek them out. Figs are in season and the rice harvest is in full swing in Camargue. A less peaceful harvest is under way as the hunting seasons open and you will find wild Boar ( sanglier) and walnuts appearing in the markets.

 

Winter.

The last major harvest of the year is picking olives, it starts in November, in his twilight years Frederic Mistral named his last work ” The olivades” since he knew too that his season was over.The first bottles of wine go on sale. The cold weather is the signal that the transhumance of sheep back down to the mountains and hunting begins for the famous black diamond in the forests nearby. The countryside seems to hibernate and many people only venture forth to warm themselves with hearty, nourishing soups and stews in the local taverns. Christmas is a major celebration in the depths of winter.

Anne Suire

http://www.luxurytravelconsultant2.com

Provence.Fall. 2016

The region of the Luberon in Provence

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Bories, Cavaillon, Luberon mountains, Manosque, perched villages, rock roses

The park national of the  Luberon was created in 1997; It covers around 140,000ha ( 345,940 acres in the Vaucluse and the Alpes de Haute Provence, the greater part is in the Vaucluse.
The Natural setting.

Between Manosque and Cavaillon, the Durance river flowing westward towards the Rhone.It takes a mighty loop within which the Luberon range lies. Stretching 65 km ( 40 miles) from East to west. The mountains are divided in two by a wooded valley, the combe de Lourmarin. To the west is le Petit Luberon while to the East is the Grand Luberon, it reaches its summit of over 3,280ft at the Mourre Negre.
One of the most striking features of the Luberon is the contrast. To the south the rich agriculture land slopping down to the Durance river is very Mediterranean; to the north the very steep ravines and abrupt cliff faces are much cooler and forested with oak trees.

Wild life.

The variety of natural features in the Luberon region has created a very rich environment where plants such as the fragrant honeysuckle, aspic lavender,and downy rock roses thrive. Predators have disappeared in the rest of Europe, such as Bonelli’s eagle, the ( white Egyptian vulture), the eagle owl, and the migratory eagle Circaete Jean Le Blanc, manage to retain a foothold here.

The human impact.

The Bories are the most curious example of habitat that goes back to the 18th

century but many date back to the iron age. The middle ages left the Luberon with many perched villages, positioned high above the valley floors. Many of these villages ( particularly those on the northern slopes ) went into decline with the changing agricultural patterns of the 19th century. They were revitalized in the 1950’s by a large influx of bohemians and artists who rebuilt many ruined houses. Now the enchanting

Circaete Jean Le Blanc

The white Egyptian vulture

Rock roses in the Luberon

Luberon villages are facing a new threat to their identity, that of being swamped by tourism.

The best time to enjoy the Luberon is in the Fall.

Join us at the end of September and enjoy the beautiful Luberon!

http://www.luxurytravelconsultant2.comProvence. Fall 2016

Frederic Mistral and his native Provence

Everywhere  you go in Provence you will always come across  the name Frederic Mistral, the region’s most famous poet. Plaques everywhere will witness his writings and his verses are found pre…

Source: Frederic Mistral and his native Provence

Frederic Mistral and his native Provence

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Abbey St Michel de Frigolet, Arles, Armanan Provencau, Camargue, Felibrige, Frederic Mistral, Journal L'aioli, La ciotat, Le mas de La juge, Maillane, Poem Mireio, St Remy de Provence, Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Everywhere  you go in Provence you will always come across  the name Frederic Mistral, the region’s most famous poet. Plaques everywhere will witness his writings and his verses are found pretty much everywhere and many a street or park is named in his honor. But he was more than a poet; he helped spark off what was to become a major revival of the Provencal language and literature of the 19th century.

Frederic Mistral was born on September 8 1830 in Le Mas de La Juge, his parents’farm just outside the Village de Maillane near St Remy-de-Provence. He to school at the Abbey of St-Michel-de-Frigolet and then in Avignon, where hi interest in his native language ( his mother was a Provencal speaker) was awakened by Joseph Roumanille.

After school, Mistral moved back to the farm in Maillane to help his father and devote himself to poetry. At the early age of 21 he had already embarked on what was to become his most famous work, the epic poem “Mireio“. Soon afterwards he joined a group of like -minded poets to form “the Felibrige“, an association of Provencal ( the name comes from Felibre, meaning doctor, why they chose the name is still a mystery).

The seven ( Roumanille, Mistral, Brunet, Giera, Aubanel, Mathieu and Tavan) had their first meeting in the Chateau Fort Segune on May 21st 1854. About a year later Roumanille and Mistral launched the annual Armanan Provencau, the first journal o be written in the Provencal language.Mistral cause was enormously helped by the publication of Mireio in 1859, which made him instantly famous. The poem is tragic and tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with a man that her family does not approve of; she runs away to Stes-Maries-de-la-mer in Camargue to seek help from the Holy Maries but ends up dying on the beach from a broken heart.

By now being established as the region most famous and greatest writer, Mistral began working on a monumental encyclopedia, Le tresor de la Felibrige, which would later become the most  important reference work on Provencal culture. He also published a second book, which also became a famous epic, Calendau, which tells the story of a young fisherman from La Ciotat who falls in love with a water- nymph. In 1876, Mistral married and lived across the street from his mother’s house in Maillane where he lived until his death in 1914.

In the 1890s Mistral and the Felibrige founded a museum in Arles devoted to Provencal arts and culture ( The museum Arletan) and started a new and more popular journal called l’aioli.  In 1904 Mistral received the Nobel price for literature.

Provencal Revival. The romanticism and nostalgia of the Felibrige for the chivalrous days of the troubadours was embodied in their poetry  and their defense of a lifestyle which they witnessed as being eroded by progress and the imposition of the French language by the central state in Paris.

Their greatest achievement was the revival of the Provencal culture and the interests in Provencal traditions.

Anne Suire

http://www.luxurytravelconsultant2.com

Travel with us to Provence in the Fall 2106.

Frederic Mistral ( Top left)

A Bastide in Manaille and along a river.