This Saturday was an interesting day. We had nothing planned and were expecting to spend a lazy day at home. But we ended up having a full afternoon and early evening. We went to an outdoor party with a living crib and provencal music at the Pigeonnier behind our house. It was chilly with the wind blowing but a very sociable village event, made warmer by the mulled wine and the roasted chestnuts....
After that we went to a concert that filled the eleventh century church in Vaugines with a soprano, baritone and pianist, which was very good with a varied repertoire from Handel to Copland. The church at Vaugines is beautiful in its simplicity and is well worth visiting in its own right.
The (JUST!!!) is because of one of the most difficult things in the Luberon - to find out what is going on. This requires sensitive antennae and a great deal of luck. There is no effective website or local newspaper to provides information on activities in the several villages in our area.
We found out about the village party, because we heard the music from behind our house. We found out about the concert in Vaugines from a very small poster on a tree! Maybe making an informational website is a future project!!
The end of November marks the beginning of the season for the Marché de Noel. It seems that every city, town, village, hamlet, school and vineyard has its own. They range from the very small and amateur, as in our local one.......
..... to the large, elaborate and more expensive, as in Aix-en-Provence with its wooden chalets....
One of the more extraordinary ones is that held every year in Sénas. What makes it different is that it combines stands from local organizations with a significant number of stands from Alsace, some six hundred kilometers away. There was even a pizza van that had made the journey. There are all the trappings of Alsace - sauerkraut, sausage, beer, gewürztraminer and traditional costumes.
At the Christmas Fairs there are all sorts of potential holiday gifts. Above all there are usually one or more sellers of Provencal Santons. These are little figures that are made in clay, baked and then painted in bright colours. They became widespread after the
French revolution and the usual Christmas cribs held in the churches were suppressed. The Provençaux made their own cribs to have in their homes. Little by little these expanded beyond being the traditional Xmas characters and started including figures of all the inhabitants of the village, often apparently, recognizable!
Autumn not only brings incredible colours to the Luberon, but there is an interesting variety of striking shapes.
When I first saw strange fields full of sticks growing in rows, I could not think what exotic plant they were.......
......only to discover they were fields of decapitated sunflowers!
Autumn is the season for violently trimming the characteristic plane trees found throughout Provence. They provide cooling shade in summer, only to be completely cut back in Autumn...and grow back in full force in Spring.
Equally striking are the weird shadows cast by the emasculated trees in the strong afternoon sun....
When walking, the ground is often covered with large numbers of acorns - which were an important part of the diet of early inhabitants of the area.
The typical three-legged ladder also makes its appearance in autumn, as it is used to pick the higher branches of the olive trees and, as here, the pomegranate tree.
The setting sun brings into sharp relief the ironwork used on top of civic and ecclesiastical buildings. (This is used to provide the height of a bigger tower but with less likelihood of it being blown down by the infamous Provencal mistral). The smoke from buring leaves only adds to this autumnal scene.
Perhaps you can understand why we find autumn to be a wonderful time to be in Provence!!
The Chateau at Lacoste is notorious because of two famous owners, the Marquis de Sade ("In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice".) and Pierre Cardin ("We undress men and women, we don't dress them any more").
Both of them engaged in cultural activities at the Chateau; the Marquis de Sade with his notorious theatrical performances; Pierre Cardin with the Lacoste festival with music, opera and theatrical performances in July/August.
This blog is about another Chateau de LaCoste, 36 kilometres away on the other side of the river Durance near Puy-Sainte-Réparade, and its owner a very private Irishman by the name of Paddy McKillen. Mr. McKillen comes from humble Northern Irish origins but has made a fortune largely through investing in hotel properties including a major stake in London hotels such as Claridge's. Unlike the publicity seeking of the owner of the Chateau at Lacoste in the Vaucluse, Mr Mckillen is definitely low key - except when it comes to his commitment to the arts. His Chateau La Coste is not a carryover from the eleventh century, but a more recent vineyard property that he acquired in 2002.
Since then there have been many changes at the Chateau La Coste. There has been a major effort to upgrade the wines (much needed!) whose success will be judged over the next few years. But the most amazing are the changes that are making this into one of the most "must visit" places in Europe for those whose interests are in modern art and architecture. It is a splendid place to visit for an afternoon walk through the vineyards to discover the works of major artists and architects.
The overall project is under the direction of Tadao Ando, the amazing self-taught architect and artist who had previously been a truck driver and a professional boxer. He designed the Art Centre and several other features that fit into the landscape as though they were meant to be there.
Dominating the approach to the Art Centre is one of the late Louise Bourgeois' giant spiders that is perfectly sited here.
As one walks through the vineyards and surrounding woods one is constantly surprised by yet more works of art that, in general fit well into the enviroment.
The Chateau de La Coste is open every day of the week and on a sunny day is a magnificent way to spend two or three hours.
Returning from Switzerland to the Luberon, one has two real choices. The first is to take the autoroutes from Geneva to Valence and then down the A7 (the Autoroute du Soleil - so named, presumably, because one can spend many hours baking under the sun in endless bouchons (traffic jams).
The alternative is to go to Grenoble and to continue on the A51 south until it dies a lingering death, descending from two lanes each side down to one and then finally expiring at Monestier-de-Clermont. It is then 100 kms to Sisteron, where one again finds a living A51. That 100 kms has been (and will undoubtedly continue to be) both a wonderfully beautiful winding road through magnificent mountain scenery, and, at the same time a source of endless debate between Provence and Paris, between economists, environmentalists and engineers. There is no agreement on what the (potential) autoroute is supposed to do - to free the city of Gap from its enslavement in the Alps - or to provide another north-south road to enable Northern Europeans to go to the Cote d'Azur and Italy. Long may the debates continue because we love this sinuous road with its dramatic mountains (but fortunately less tortuous than the Route Napoleon from Grenoble to Gap).
In comparing the two photos above, the choice of road is somewhat evident.
However in this 100 km stretch, there are not many towns of interest and few restaurants besides roadside "frites". Even those restaurants that exist chose to close whenever one wants to eat. We have however discovered a most unexpected source of good food in a very unlikely spot - Aspres-sur-Buesch. This town of less than 800 inhabitants has had a chequered past with a Roman camp and a camp for assembling undesirables under the Vichy regime during the second world war before they were sent onwards in accordance with the instructions of their masters. It also has several giant sequoias (Redwoods) for those Californians who are homesick. But the Epicerie of Agnes and Bruno is definitely worth a detour. Bruno, a native of Pertuis (the gateway to the Luberon!) is only too pleased to have you sample the local cheeses and mountain hams as well as share his philosophical thoughts. Count on 20-30 minutes to choose supplies for a couple of days!
Back on the resurrected A51, the road becomes ecclesiastical as it passes the Penitents of Mees.
These are the monks of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Lure who were turned into stone by Saint Donat to prevent them from being tempted by some Moorish female prisoners who the monks, descending from from their monastery, had hoped to see as they were taken to from Mees to Arles. The other ecclesiastical site is the Abbey of Gangobie - but that will keep for another day!
