Provence (Part I) — RachiePie

One country has been on our wish list to “travel back to” since international travel was placed on hold due to the pandemic. Once things felt safe again, we started planning a trip to France! We still speak fondly of our Paris trip in 2017 and all the beautiful sights we saw and delicious food we ate. We flew from New York to Paris and arrived around noon their time. Thankfully, we were both able to sleep pretty well on the flight and after dropping our belongings off at the hotel, we set out to see the sights!

In just three days, we walked 35-miles! We lucked out with absolutely gorgeous weather (the first time we’ve been to Paris without rain!) and made the most of our time by packing in a ton. Neither Alex nor I took many pictures in Paris, which I’m marking as a sign of a great trip!

Monday morning, we took the train to the South of France where we spent time in Provence. We picked up our rental car in Aix-en-Provence and then drove about thirty minutes north to the small hilltop village of Ansouis. Once voted the most beautiful village in France, it still retains its quiet and sleepy charm! There were very few people wandering around when we got there around lunchtime. It did not take long to walk around the town and we stopped at one of the outdoor cafes to grab a quick lunch.

On our first full day in Provence, we woke early and headed to the town of Ménerbes. Since we arrived so early in the morning, we were pretty much the only two people wandering around the town. Ménerbes was home to many artists and writers including Picasso! It’s not hard to see why! The surrounding landscape oozes beauty and we spent a lot of time enjoying the views.

The concierge at our hotel recommended we visit Lacoste which was not originally on my list, but it is only a 10-minute drive from Menerbes and ended up being one of my favorite places in Provence. We parked at the bottom of the hill and made our way up through the winding medieval village. While wandering the town, we kept seeing signs for SCAD which is the Savannah College of Art and Design. After some quick googling, we realized SCAD has a study abroad program with the town of Lacoste. The Château de Lacoste even has large outdoor art sculptures surrounding the ruins. So funny how things around the world intersect. We’ve actually been to the SCAD gift shop in Savannah, GA!

The last town we stopped at before heading back to our hotel was Bonnieux. It was bigger than Menerbes and Lacoste and there were more people and tourists exploring the village. We didn’t spend too much time here, but made sure to climb to the top to enjoy the surrounding area (known as the Luberon area of France)

We stayed in the village of Gordes and loved the golden stone houses that wound their way up the hilltop. The hotel’s terrace bar overlooked the village and it was the perfect place to grab a glass of Provenciale wine and enjoy the sunset over the village!