4 DECEMBER STARTS CHRISTMAS SEASON IN PROVENCE: PLANT YOUR WHEAT SEEDS AND GET OUT YOUR SANTONS!

Posted on December 5, 2011November 27, 2015 by Susan Manfull

Department stores in the United States ring in the Christmas season the day after Halloween—with the possible exception of those states that mark the Day of the Dead—and the rest of us fall into place when we toss out the turkey carcass at the end of November, depending on where Thanksgiving lands.In Provence, December 4th marks the start of the Christmas season. It’s a long season—we all know the French like their holidays and I say that in the most commendable even covetous manner. ...

DON’T FORGET PROVENCE IN THE WINTER

Posted on November 8, 2010December 23, 2015 by Susan Manfull

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...