France is poised to implement its controversial yet very popular law that bans the full Islamic veil in all public places. On April 11th, it will take effect. At the same time, Muslim leaders in Marseille, with the support of local and national politicians, are overseeing the construction of the nation’s largest mosque. Perhaps ironically, work began the day after the French government put its stamp of approval on the burqa ban bill, back in May 2010. On the very north side of Marseille’s famous...
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Lourmarin
MONTE DOLACK: RETRACING FAMOUS ARTISTS’ FOOTSTEPS IN PROVENCE
If world-famous artists like Paul Cezanne and Vincent Van Gogh fell in love with Provence, Montana wildlife painter Monte Dolack says it's got something to do with the luminous landscape and the culture he too found so captivating during recent trips there.
“There's a sense of wildness, but almost no natural forest. It's shaped because of people planting things, so it has a different look that's kind of intriguing,” said Dolack (who has stayed twice in our rental apartment in Lourmarin). “The...
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DON’T FORGET PROVENCE IN THE WINTER
Chapelle St-Sixte
As one drives toward Les Alpilles, along the D24 between the tiny villages of Orgon and Eygalières, about 30 minutes from Lourmarin, there’s a very tiny chapel. Framed by lovely cypress trees van Gogh surely would have painted had he ventured a little further from the hospital in St Remy, the 12th century chapel stands atop a stony knoll now dotted with olive and almond trees and an occasional patch of grass. Chapelle St-Sixte was erected on the s...
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ALBERT CAMUS– A LOURMARIN ICON OF STILL-EMERGING IDENTITIES
One of Lourmarin's most celebrated residents was French writer-philosopher Albert Camus. But 50 years after his tragic death in a car crash at only 46, questions linger about his still-emerging multiple identities as doomed Resistance hero, compulsive womanizer and consumptive Algiers slum boy turned advocate for the underdog.
Born in French Algeria in 1913, Camus first came to Lourmarin in the wake of his philosophy mentor Jean Grenier, a writer who had taught Camus in Algeria and whose ties...
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HERBES DE PROVENCE REVEALED
“What are Herbes de Provence?” I was asked.
Lori, who has had the unenviable task of cleaning chez Manfull for nearly twenty years, raised the bag of herbs to her nose again, waved it back and forth, and inhaled deeply. The small bag of fragrant herbs that we had just purchased a few days earlier from the Lourmarin market reminded Lori that she really wanted to know which herbs defined herbes de Provence. She also wondered why she had never heard of them until we gave her a similar bag about te...
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THE ART OF MAKING ICE CREAM IS ALIVE AND EXCEEDINGLY WELL (DONE) IN ANSOUIS
Over the hill, past the Château d’Ansouis, and through the vineyards and sunflower fields, you will find not the house of Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, but the home of La Famille Perrière, where over sixty flavors of ice cream and sorbet are regularly offered to their very happy patrons.
Nestled into the Luberon hillside, about 5 km past Ansouis (and about 20 minutes from La Bonbonnière in Lourmarin), is L’Art Glacier. Customers who make the trek to this most unlikely location for an ...
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FÊTE VOTIVE ROLLS INTO LOURMARIN
The annual Fête Votive rolled into Lourmarin last week, completely consuming this tiny Luberon village, as it does every year on the last weekend in August. Unfortunately, the mistral blew into town around the same time; but nothing could dampen the palpable excitement that fills the hearts of the inhabitants of Lourmarin and their guests during this festival. Every village in Provence has a fête votive, each slated for a particular weekend every year. These fêtes or festivals pro...
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JE SUIS DANS LE PASTIS!
Ahhhh, Pastis….The sweet scent of anise wafts from the tall heavy-bottomed glasses on our tiny table in Café Gaby. Memories of a subtle licorice flavor laced with fragrant herbs are called forth. Our thirsts on this very warm late August day will soon be quenched.
We arrived in Lourmarin yesterday afternoon and are now sitting in our favorite café, in the heart of this Luberon village, where we will mark the start of our vacation with—what else? —a little pastis. We sit, nestled among loca...
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PROVENCE TO COMMEMORATE “THE FORGOTTEN D-DAY”
Twenty six years ago today, August 15, 1944, Allied troops landed in Provence to help liberate Europe from the Nazis and end World War II.
The Allied invasion of Provence, code-named Operation Dragoon, got overshadowed by the better-known D-Day invasion in Normandy two months before (June 6, 1944). So much so that it got dubbed “The forgotten D-Day.” Yet 66 years later, Provence is strewn with memorials to the Provence landings. And this August 15, at least one community will devote the whole...
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ESCAPE PARIS TO PROVENCE ON THE TGV
Perhaps you’d like to escape the sticky heat of Paris this August by traveling to Provence. You can do so in just a little over three hours in the quiet comfort aboard the high-speed train-- le Train a Grande Vitesse, or TGV, as the French call it. (Conversely, you can add a quick Paris TGV trip to your Provence agenda….although we don’t recommend doing so in August!)
Powered by electric motors, the French TGV was originally conceived in the 1960s right after Japan launched its foray into hig...
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