Sylvie's Travels Home

October 2, 2023

Today we discovered a few hill towns around the Luberon region. we first drove through Apt to arrive at our first destination:

Saignon

This was definitely our favorite village to visit. We also had the best breakfast there at Café Christine.

“This tiny little village is built into, and around, a monolithic rock formation resembling a towering stone castle, accessible by an iron-age pathway. At the top, expect to be blown away by the panoramic views of the Luberon.”

Caseneuve

It was a quiet and very small village.

“Caseneuve is an attractive little village in the heart the Luberon nature Park, between the “monts du Vaucluse” and the Luberon mountain.
The village sits peacefully on a small hill surrounded by beautiful countryside.”

Bonnieux

We parked at the bottom of the village and we climbed a lot of stairs and steep streets. We had a great lunch half way up to the top.

“Perhaps the most well known of the Luberon’s hilltop villages, thanks in part to Ridley Scott’s truly awful film A Good Year, Bonnieux is also one of the most picturesque in France. A spiral of cobbled streets wind their way up to the medieval church that sits at the highest point in the village, rewarding those who make the arduous climb with fantastic views of the valley below. On a clear day you can expect great views of Mont Ventoux, the infamous chalk topped mountain feared and revered by cyclists and followers of the Tour de France.”

Lacoste

We basically walked the steep cobblestone hill all the way to the chateau to find out it was closed but found a parking lot so Pogo and Bob went back down to get the car. I was really happy not to have to walk down those uneven steps. I realized after driving for a few minutes that my hat was missing so we turned around and Heather spotted it in the grass.

“Over the plain from Bonnieux, perched atop a similarly sized hill, lies Lacoste. This is a village steeped in history, both old and contemporary. In the 18th century the Château de Lacoste, the castle that dominates the village, was home to one of the most notorious figures in French history: the Marquis de Sade. It was here in Lacoste that de Sade carried out his debauched acts which led to his writing of The 120 Days of Sodom, bringing the word ‘sadist’ into our dictionaries.

The designer Pierre Cardin bought Château de Lacoste in 2001. The castle is now a site of an art walk, cultural festivals, theater performances, and concerts. Cardin died Dec 2020 at 98 years old.”

We came back to the hotel at 4:30pm and rested until 6pm then had another great bottle of wine on our patio, provided by Bob and Heather, with the remainder of our cheeses and olives. We went back to Roussillon at 7pm to have dinner at a restaurant called L’Escalier and, you guessed it, we have to climb more stairs. We had a good dinner, went back to the hotel, played cards and went to bed at 10pm.