Cézanne's Provence

Introduction

Discover the color and radiance that inspired the Impressionist masters Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse. Brilliant blues of sky and water, dazzling flower fields and groves showered in sunshine where the Muses are still heard by a thriving creative community. We walk through cherry orchards and gentle hills, explore dramatic limestone gorges, and follow packhorse trails past towering medieval châteaux. Taking a winding path through woods and vineyards, we reach the Marquis de Sade's picturesque village of Lacoste. Then, heady scents of rosemary, cedar and thyme accompany us to old Ménerbes. We visit a wine grower and taste the Luberon wine.

Walk Summary

Dates	16-MAY-10 - 22-MAY-10 26-SEP-10 - 02-OCT-10 10-OCT-10 - 16-OCT-10
Trip	7 days, 6 nights
Terrain	Walk Rating: Moderate to Energetic. Moderate walking on firm ground, contoured rocky paths. 8-12 miles walking per day.
Price	US$4295.00 per person double occupancy (single supplement US$625.00)

Walk begins in Lourmarin, with arrival at Avignon TGV Rail Station and ends in Gordes, with departure from Avignon TGV Rail Station.

Walk Itinerary

We'll start here

Sunday

We rendezvous in Avignon, and proceed to our hotel in the village of Lourmarin, for our Welcome Dinner and Introductory Talk.

Overnight: Lourmarin

Monday

We spend our day strolling through typical Provencal countryside to discover the richness of its nature: flowers, herbs, fruits, scents, vineyards and scenery. Lunch is in a medieval village and we end our day by visiting the grand Renaissance Castle of Lourmarin.

Overnight: Lourmarin

Tuesday

Following a sparkling river, we explore deep and dramatic gorges bounded by dramatic cliffs and inhabited only by birds of prey. An old pack-horse trail brings us to lunch at a traditional Auberge. Our walk today is punctuated by stunning Provençal panoramas viewed from the hills we climb. We hike to the hilltop village of Bonnieux where we stay for dinner and overnight.

Overnight: Bonnieux

Wednesday

We explore Bonnieux, then follow a winding path through woods and vineyards to the Marquis de Sade’s picturesque village of Lacoste for lunch. The heady scents of rosemary, cedar and wild thyme accompany us past craggy stone walls and almond trees to old Ménerbes, a former Calvinist stronghold in the Middle Ages. We finish our day by visiting a local wine grower to taste the Luberon wine.

Overnight: Bonnieux

Thursday

We walk to the beautiful multi-hued village of Roussillon for a guided visit to an ochre museum and time to browse the market and village shops before lunch. We continue across the valley to the stunningly situated, tiered village of Gordes, perched on the rocky face of the Vaucluse Plateau.

Overnight: Gordes

Friday

We visit the source of the River Sorgue at Fontaine de Vaucluse and follow an ancient silk route to Cabrières d’Avignon for lunch. We return along rocky hillsides to Gordes where, in this village of centuries-old dwellings and vaulted passageways, we enjoy our Farewell Dinner.

Overnight: Gordes

Saturday

The Wayfarers take you back to Avignon TGV station and see you safely on your way.

This itinerary represents a typical Walk. We prepare itineraries well in advance of the trip and therefore we reserve the right to make changes due to weather, local events or other circumstances - but always to improve the experience of our guests.

Hotels

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La Bastide de Capelongue - Tuesday & Wednesday

84480 Bonnieux en Provence

T: + 33 (0)4-9075-8978
F: + 33 (0)4-9075-9303
E: reservation@capelongue.com
W: www.capelongue.com

Located in Bonnieux, La Bastide de Capelongue (the Country house of Capelongue) was once a country house perched on the hill. The spacious rooms each have either a balcony or a terrace, are air conditioned with modern facilities including satellite TV, and have exceptional views over the countryside and the village. All are individually decorated in Provençal style, with locally-produced wooden furniture and personal touches.
The hotel also has its own swimming pool. A light and refined cuisine is served in the very elegnt hotel restaurant, taking its ingredients directly from the garden and reflecting the changing seasons.

Hotel les Bories - Thursday & Friday

Route de l’Abbaye de Sénanque
84220 Gordes

T: +33 (0)4-9072-0051
F: +33 (0)4-9072-0122
E: lesbories@wanadoo.fr
W: www.hotellesbories.com

Located in 20 acres of fragrant gardens, hidden amongst olives, green oak and Cyprus trees, this hotel brings together the past and present in perfect harmony. Bedrooms look out across the stunning Luberon landscape and each features an en-suite bathroom with hair dryer, mini-bar, Satellite TV and video, phone and personal safe.
Whether dining in the old house or outside on the dry stone terraces, the cuisine is enriched with typical Provence flavours. As well as an outdoor swimming pool with sun terraces, there is an indoor heated swimming pool as part of the hotel's luxury health spa, La Maison d'Ennea, including sauna and fitness room. A variety of spa treatments may be booked in advance - direct with the hotel.

This hotel list is a provided as an example. We may use different hotels of the same quality and style on specific trips. The Wayfarers will notify confirmed travelers of any changes to the hotels.

Photo Gallery

Walking up to the Chateau of the Marquis de Sade, Lacoste in Provence

Travel Information

Before & After

Start off in stunning Avignon in pursuit of the splendors of the Rhone Valley or soak up the sun on the French or Italian Rivera.
Extend your time to visit Aix en Provence - Cézanne's home

Weather:

Spring and Autumn are mild in Provence. Average daily temperatures are 70°F (21°C) in May, 77°F (25°C) in September and 72°F (22°C) in October but sometimes temperatures can be significantly higher at the peak of the day. Short sleeves will be fine in the daytime but you may need a light sweater or jacket in the evenings. There is unlikely to be much rain in May, September and October but short, very heavy, rain showers can occur at any time during the year so bring good quality, lightweight rain protection.

To see more Travel Information and a list of our recommended tips please register or sign in. Once you confirm a booking for this walk, as a registered website member, you will be able to access detailed Joining Instructions including exact arrival and departure points and times as part of the Travel Information.

FAQs

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Are there any hidden costs?
Our Vacations do not include the cost of air or rail fares to and from the destination or tips for your walk leader and manager.
How large are the Groups?
Our maximum group size is 16, but groups average between 8-12 people.
Will I feel welcome as a single traveler?
Yes! Our walks are the perfect environment of comfortable camaraderie for the single traveler.
Can you accomodate special diets?
Yes!
How physically fit do I have to be to do a Wayfarers Walk?
If you are in good health and reasonably fit you will be comfortable participating in a walk.

Ask a question

Please do not hesitate to ask us a question about this walk.

Reading List

A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France By: Betsy Draine

Buy book: A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France

This superb collection of 175 recipes will make readers feel as comfortable in their kitchens as its accomplished author is at Chanteduc, her 18th-century farmhouse in northern Provence. Wells is not the first to underscore the appeal of simple, fresh food, but she coaxes new tiers of flavor from many of the dishes here by her creative arrangements of basic ingredients. Wells is sensible in her use of oils and fats, calling, for example, for whole milk and cream in judicious amounts. The diner's delight flows from the wisely prepared ingredients; the cook gets the added pleasure of reading Wells's warm, intelligent prose and serving up excellence.

A Farmhouse in Provence: An American Finds Old Stones, New Wine and Love Among the French By: Mary Roblee Henry

Buy book: A Farmhouse in Provence: An American Finds Old Stones, New Wine and Love Among the French

All roads led to Provence after Mary Roblee and her French husband, Paul-Marc Henry, found a forsaken ruin on a hilltop near Avignon. In one afternoon they bought all twelve acres, launching into the pitfalls and pleasures of restoring their pile of stones and gnarled landscape into a farmhouse and a vineyard. Five years passed before they drank a goblet of their own wine, their orchards flowered, and their monastic white-walled rooms were filled with ProvenÃ§al anitques. In discovering the fun and fascination of local customs, cuisine and history, Mary Henry learned, as an American woman, to glean the secret art of cross-cultural living and above all, to cope with the care and feeding of a Frenchman.

A House in the Sunflowers: Living the Dream in the South of France By: Ruth Silvestre

Buy book: A House in the Sunflowers: Living the Dream in the South of France

In 1976, in the Lot-et-Garonne region of southwest France, Ruth Silvestre and her family found and fell in love with, Bel-Air de Grezelongue, a house that had been left, deserted and uninhabited for ten years. "A House in the Sunflowers" provides rare glimpses of French family life in the region that is considered the gastronomic center of France, complete with mouth-watering descriptions of meals in the sun and fascinating insights into the history and customs of this area.

A Year in Provence By: Peter Mayle

Buy book: A Year in Provence

An account of the author's first frustrating but enlightening year in Provence opens on New Year's Day with a divine luncheon in a quaint restaurant, Mayle sets the scene and pits his British sensibilities against it. "We had talked about it during the long gray winters and the damp green summers," he writes, "looked with an addict's longing at photographs of village markets and vineyards, dreamed of being woken up by the sun slanting through the bedroom window." He describes in loving detail the charming, 200-year-old farmhouse at the base of the Lubéron Mountains, its thick stone walls and well-tended vines, its wine cave and wells, its shade trees and swimming pool--its lack of central heating.

Blackberry Wine By: Joanne Harris

Buy book: Blackberry Wine

Harris's latest outing unfolds around the arrival of an outsider in a tiny French town. This time wine replaces chocolate as Harris's magic elixir, and the newcomer to the village of Lansquenet sur Tannes is Jay Mackintosh, a 37-year-old has-been writer from London. Fourteen years have passed since Jay's debut novel, Jackapple Joe, won the Prix Goncourt. Since then, he has been churning out B-novels under a pseudonym; he currently lives with his girlfriend, Kerry, an aggressively successful 25-year-old celebrity journalist. Flashbacks reveal that Jay's only recollections of happiness are the golden summers he spent as a youth with old Joseph "Jackapple Joe" Cox in the small English town of Kirby Monckton. Joe, a colorful character who made wines from fruits and berries, inspired Joe's successful first novel. But one day he disappeared. When Jay stumbles across an advertisement for an 18th-century "chateau" in wine-growing country, the spell of his misery is broken. After downing a bottle of Joe's '75 Special, which he has been hoarding for 24 years, Jay decides to buy the house sight unseen. Leaving Kerry in London, Jay moves to Lansquenet and starts a new rural life, beginning to write under his own name again. He is bewildered by his reclusive neighbor, Marise d'Api, who apparently coveted his derelict house and land, and is ostracized by the townspeople. Jay's quest to discover why everyone, including Marise's former mother-in-law, blames Marise for her husband's suicide keeps the plot moving at a steady clip.

Death in Provence: Detective Lauriant Mysteries By: Graham R. Wood

Buy book: Death in Provence: Detective Lauriant Mysteries

Detective Lauriant, a cynical, yet compassionate, investigator who always gets his man, is back with two murder mysteries rolled into one volume. Lauriant's search for the truth behind the motives of the general's murder places him in danger-danger that can only be overcome if he can break away from the sinister world of bitter rivalries, treachery, and deceit, and pursue the investigation on his own terms. For fans of Maigret and Inspector Imanishi, these two new Detective Lauriant mysteries will leave fans anxiously awaiting more stories of rural France, murder, and intrigue from Graham R. Wood.

I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere By: Anna Gavalda

Buy book: I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere

Unabashed materialism is tempered by dry wit in this collection of 12 jaunty short stories about heartache and love by a young prize-winning French writer. The collection's shorter stories are slight; nothing much happens, or problems raised are shrugged off without any attempt at resolution. The book's gems, on the other hand, delight by adding action to the mix. In "Junior," two boys borrow dad's Jaguar, with disastrous results; in "Clic-Clac" two sisters help their brother jump-start a love affair with a delectable colleague. If love is one recurring theme, another is class, particularly the distinction between middle and upper classes in French society. In "This Man and This Woman," a couple's loveless marriage is equated with their predictable taste in clothing and furnishings: It's all kind of nouveau riche, but fortunately they don't realize it.

Joy of Man's Desiring By: Jean Giono, Katherine Allen Clarke (Translator)

Buy book: Joy of Man's Desiring

A true forebear of magical realism, Giono creates men and women rooted in the folklore of provincial France. With a poet's grace and imagination, he weaves a grand story of the earth and of passion, of animals and weather, of the miracles we now call the laws of nature.

Love in Provence: Romantic Adventures in the South of France By: Yvone Lenard

Buy book: Love in Provence: Romantic Adventures in the South of France

Love is something quite different in Provence, as Yvone Lenard discovers when she chaperones 50 red-blooded American college students for a year at California State University's study abroad program in Aix-en-Provence. Proclaiming themselves on their applications to the program to be "ambassadors of culture," their thoughts and senses turn to romance and sex upon arrival. As Resident Director of the program Lenard soon has her hands full, but her sense of humor prevails and she stays to form affectionate relationships with the students and a love affair with Provence. When not counseling her charges, Lenard finds a "safe" escort in the charming and eccentric Bill Hope, an American expatriate with whom she probes ancient villages and ruins and dines at sunset on the terraces of elegant restaurants. The ten stories in this collection are set in some of the region's most romantic locales. Each story concludes with advice on where to go to experience romance and a menu for a dinner for two with simple recipes to recreate the sensual flavors of Provence.

New Gardens in Provence: 30 Contemporary Creations By: Louisa Jones

Buy book: New Gardens in Provence: 30 Contemporary Creations

A versatile author and journalist, Jones is also a recognized expert on the gardening disciplines and design styles associated with the verdant and iconic region of Provence. Inspired by a diverse Mediterranean garden palette, professional and amateur gardeners are attracted to the region's endless mountaintop vistas of vineyards, olive groves, and intricate stone terraces that hide nooks teeming with herbs and flowers. From the Cote d'Azur to the Luberon hills, this exquisitely produced and informative guide exhibits 30 gardens that best interpret this new design approach. Hundreds of arresting photographs capture Provence's seductive allure, making this an intoxicating treat for armchair travelers as well as an enchanting resource for garden enthusiasts.

Provence: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination) By: Martin Garrett

Buy book: Provence: A Cultural History (Landscapes of the Imagination)

Celebrated by writers from Petrach to Peter Mayle, Provence's rugged mountains, wild maquis, and lavender-filled meadows are world-famous. Martin Garrett explores a region littered with ancient monuments and medieval castles. Looking at the vibrant dockside atmosphere of Luberon, he considers how writers like Mistral and Daudet have captured the character of a place and its people. He traces the development of Provence as a Roman outpost, medieval kingdom, and modern region of France, revealing through its landmarks the people and events that have shaped its often tumultuous history. Through its architecture, literature, and popular culture, this book analyzes and celebrates the identity of a region famous for its pastis and petanque. Linking the past to the present, it also evokes the intense light and sun-baked stones that have attracted generations of painters and writers.

The Man Who Planted Trees By: Jean Giono

Buy book: The Man Who Planted Trees

A touching story of Elzéard Bouffier, who devoted his entire life to reforesting a desolate portion of Provence, in southern France. He single-handedly planted 100 acorns each day before, through, and after two world wars, and transformed a sorrowful place into one full of life and joy. Jean Giono's words offer a tribute to how much good one person can accomplish in a lifetime and advise on how to live life with deep meaning.

The Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales By: Marquis de Sade

Buy book: The Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales

Revered by Enlightenment and Victorian thinkers, de Sade was recognized as a founding father by the Surrealists, and holds a prominent place in the history of modernism and post-modernism. This selection of his early writings, some appearing in English translation for the first time, reveals the full range of his sobering moods and considerable talents.

Toujours Provence By: Peter Mayle

Buy book: Toujours Provence

Amusing tales of "la vie en rose" in the south of France. Writing with affectionate humor, Mayle recounts such adventures as sneaking through British customs with a suitcase full of expensive truffles and digging for gold coins in his backyard with his wily and greedy neighbor. He encounters truly French eccentrics like Regis, the athlete gourmet who wears a track suit to enjoy his meals, and the ambitious Monsieur Salques, the choirmaster of the singing toads of St. Panteleon who plans to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution with an amphibian rendition of the "Marseillaise”.

What's Next?

At this point we would like to thank you for looking at our website, we hope you will have seen a little of the places we walk to, hotels we stay in and that we have answered some of your questions.

For more information contact our team who are waiting for your questions. Alternatively we suggest you choose one of the following:

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