Provence 3: Marseilles and the Calanques

Finally, to Marseilles, the dirty maritime metropolis of Southern France.  Big, dirty, dangerous Marseilles: there's nothing to love about you, but you give so much to those who care to look, even if just for a moment.  Merely a big city, a collection of a million lost souls, you welcome with open arms those who only want a place to belong...

Provence 2: Avignon to Arles

...Onto the beautiful countryside of Vaucluse, the walled town of Avignon...


The mighty walls of Pont du Gard...


The strange stone buildings of Les Baux du Provence, indistinguishable from the surrounding moon-like landscape...



Past vineyards...

lonely Roman ruins through olive groves...

And majestic churches and abbeys seen from miles away.


Arles, a sleepy little town containing treasures from the Romans who once made a mighty city out of this Ligurian, Gallic, and later Phonecian trading port.

Provence 1: Aix-en-Provence to Avignon

Late winter/early spring called for a road trip through Provence, and there was no other choice but to get on a car and go.  Sure, it was far too early for lavender season, but Provence definitely does not and did not disappoint.  First was a drive through countryside roads lined with plane trees and dotted with castle ruins to the elegant and chic city of Aix-en-Provence...