Post-impressionist artist Paul Cézanne, born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839, spent most of his sixty-six years in his beloved Aix and he died there in 1906. He grew up there, studied law at the university, took art classes at the city’s Musée Granet—even won a second-place prize for his painting at that museum—and famously painted nearby Mont Sainte-Victoire some five dozen times. Cézanne is generally regarded as the most famous painter to emerge from Aix-en-Provence and is certainly regarded as one of the most significant artists of his time, credited with laying the foundation for 20th-century Cubism and described as “the father of us all” by…

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Regular readers of The Modern Trobadors know that thirteen desserts—Les Treize Desserts de Noël—are traditionally served on Christmas Eve in Provence, after the big supper—Le Gros Souper—which, actually, is more lean than “big” with its emphasis on herb-laced broths, seafood, and vegetables rather than meat. Ah, dear TMT reader, you can probably recite to your clueless friends what the thirteen desserts consist of and why there are thirteen. You know that they might not be set out until after Midnight Mass, but that they will be served all at once, on three layers of white table cloth. (Okay, tell your friends why there are three.)But,…

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It’s Christmastime in Provence and there is an unmistakable flurry of activité de Noël throughout the region. In homes, the wheat grains has been planted in shallow bowls in hopes that it will grow straight and tall, foretelling an abundant harvest and prosperous year; the Santons have been arranged in the crèche; three white table cloths have been ironed in anticipation of le Gros Souper; and preparations are in process for les Treize Deserts. White lights bedeck tiny villages and large cities alike—okay, bien entendu, I’ve seen some pretty kitsch decorations too—and marchés de Noël  and fêtes de Noël are in full swing. Packages of…

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As the days move closer to Thanksgiving, I am thinking of the year we were in Provence—in the charming village of Lourmarin—on that quintessential American holiday. Like most people who are drawn to travel abroad, we love to learn about the traditions of other cultures and are eager to embrace them when we are in those countries. Some, we may even take home with us and celebrate as our own. I’m thinking of the Santon village that will soon grace a corner of our living room and the wheat that, with a little luck, will grow tall in the sunny kitchen window (and bring us…

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The quarries in Les Baux-de-Provence were once renowned for their abundant supply of limestone. Over 2000 years ago, the Romans made use of this limestone for rebuilding the Celto-Liguirian town of Glanum and for building the Municipal Arch and Mausoleum that still stand across from Glanum. The Roman city of Arles was built with limestone from these quarries.  Over a thousand years later, in the 11th century, the infamous Lords of Les Baux built their formidable citadel from the limestone in these neighboring quarries and, three hundred years after that, in the 14th century, the ramparts of Aigues-Mortes rose up from the ground with limestone…

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It’s not a short walk from Charles de Gaulle’s Terminal 2E, where Air France parks its planes from Boston, to Terminal 2F where one connects with another Air France flight departing to Marseille. The jumble of people waiting to board AF flight 7664 from Paris to Marseille on June 12th is  more civilized than it used to be—at least, there is some semblance of a line compared to the free-for-all that characterized the boarding process years ago (before CDG was renovated and boarding areas were ever so slightly enlarged). Photo by WT Manfull Having just arriving from Boston, where I would still have been sound…

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The long lazy days of summer in this part of the world officially come to an end this weekend. Already the days are abbreviated. After all the summers I’ve visited Provence, I have never lost my amazement at how long the days linger in the months of June, July, and August and how soon night begins to fall when September arrives! By now, the last of the summer transplants has battened down the hatches of their country homes and returned north to places like Paris and Brussels. In their place are vacationers—probably more like you and me—striving to be satisfied with just a week or…

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I recently visited Château de Brigue, one of largest estates owned by a single family in Provence. Located in Le Luc en Provence, with vineyards and olive groves scattered among four villages along the famous Nationale 7 road in the Var, it is a now operated by four brothers who comprise the third generation of Brun family members to sit at the helm of this estate. Two generations of winemakers – Father and son, Fernand and Olivier Brun. Photo by Pamela O’Neill Photographer Pamela O’Neill and I had the pleasure of meeting with one of the brothers, Olivier Brun, and with his father Fernand Brun…

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Conversations in Provence inevitably turn to local markets (and food and wine, of course). Did you see the plump figs at the small stand at the far end of the bassin? Who is your favorite cheese man? Which Tuesday market do you favor? Where can I get a good head of lettuce? Which market has the best espadrilles? Where do you park at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue?This summer, markets still dominated many of my exchanges, but a question surfaced that I had never been asked: have you ever been to the market in Pertuis?   Pertuis Market    Photo by Susan Manfull Now, for me, there were only four…

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There is no shortage of places to go, people to see, or things to do in Provence, especially in August when festivals of every sort abound. But many of these events, understandably, are not geared to include children.Let’s agree that children typically sit too much nine months out of the year, generally don’t like to sit, and are better off reaping the benefits of moving about in the fresh air and sunshine, particularly on vacation. (Ahem, perhaps this rings even more true for adults.) Our daughter traveled everywhere with us—from the time she was four months and came along to Buenos Aires to now, when…

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