Lavender Fields Forever

One of the local trips around Montpellier we’d been planning was a visit to the lavender fields in Provence, a couple of hours north and east of where we live.  However, our return from Italy had us passing right by that area, so we thought we'd stop there for the night  and cut a couple of hours off the day’s drive. 

As usual, Paula surveyed potential lodgings in the area before we left (via the Internet, of course). Seems that the small towns, with their promise of seclusion and endless cuteness, were both very expensive, or not available (or both!) Same with the town of Valensole, which is definitely Lavender Central. What to do?

The town square in Manosque.

 

As we studied the map, Google pointed out that the fastest route to Valensole looped west towards Montpellier before turning back east to Valensole. The shortest, most direct route was along the back roads. France’s départemental routes can be a real joy to drive, winding through the countryside at a relaxed pace. But we figured that after five hours through tunnels and work zones we’d be anxious just to get there. So we’d skip the meandering and take Google’s suggested fast route, which lead through the town of Manosque.  As a place to spend the night Manozque seemed like second best, but lodging was plentiful and the hotels were inexpensive.

Church in the Manosque town square, with an interesting pentagram pebble mosaic.

Our room in Manosque, and Van Gogh's in Arles; that could be the same chair! (almost). After all, Arles is only about an hour and a half from Manosque.

Our initial disappointment gave way to delight once we’d checked in. We had a cute, very pleasant hotel in the middle of the (quite small) old town, with a good selection of restaurants within walking distance. We had an excellent meal, cooked and served by a woman who was very pleased to have us as customers. (Significant difference between American and French restaurants: in France, the main focus is on serving the customer by providing an excellent dining experience, and making some money. In America, the priorities are reversed.)

 

Sunflowers! We saw sunflowers, too!

The next morning we headed out, the GPS programmed with lavender fields recommended on several websites we’d researched earlier. While there was a bit of confusion at first (we had to readjust our thinking: this was no longer the "return from Italy trip"; now it was the lavender field trip!), soon enough we were in the thick of it. Sunflowers, endless fields of lavender, distant mountain peaks (the Alps?), and—surprise—pink lavender! (I think…). Well, just look at the photos!

A seemingly endless field of sunflowers...

...next to an endless field of lavender!

One of Paula's photos; she was quite taken by the sunflowers! (And they seem so attentive to her.)

Paula photographed the flowers; I liked the bees!

Along with the lavender lavender, we also found this pink lavender.

Mixing the two colors made some beautiful combinations.

The distant mountains set off the fields.

Sunflowers can really make you feel like the center of attention!

The fields aren't endless, they only seem that way.

We did eventually make it to the town of Valensole. It was, perhaps, marginally cuter than Manosque, much steeper, and certainly more crowded (Manosque definitely had a better choice of restaurants!). We stopped there for a late lunch, and slowly wound our way back home to Montpellier.

Arriving at the center of town in Valensole after climbing down a long, narrow, steep street.

Like all over Provence, plane trees keep the town center cool and shady.

And so ends our trip to Italy. We are planning a visit to la Bretagne, Brittany, in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

And, whoops, rising COVID numbers in Brittany means we put the kibosh on that idea; instead next week we'll take advantage of the dearth of tourists and take the train to Paris...