Mid-week in the Luberon – September 23-25

Tuesday was company day again for us. After a morning picking up of lunch provisions in Apt, we had Peter & Margaret for lunch. This is not an area they know well, so they were quite happy to do a bit of exploring.
So, after lunch, we headed up to Saignon past the Abbaye d’Eusebe, which is now a reception hall.

Saignon – pronounced sang-known – still wins for perched villages in this area. Both interior and exterior views of the village are remarkable. We took the walk up the Rocher again and the light was totally different from the evening we were last here.



From Saignon, we took the canyon drive to Lourmarin. Talk about switch-backs! This is another Plus Beaux Villages site and although it is very different from Gordes and Roussillon, it does have a unique charm. Shirley Plasky would call this place shi-shi. It


is loaded with shops and artists that cater to the very wealthy. Most of the works of art I actually found a little bizarre, but I guess they wouldn’t be in business if there wasn’t a market for it.


When we returned from Lourmarin, we had the dessert we’d skipped at lunch with a nice 2001 red Chateauneuf – interesting combo. Peter and Margaret then headed back to Cairanne for their hour and a half drive, most impressed with this area of the Luberon. This is the end of our company.

New things to discover today (Wednesday)! Since we’ve now been to all the places that we’ve seen before this trip, it was time to branch out. So, we headed to other side of the Luberon valley and into the Vaucluse hills and the town of St. Saturnin-les-Apt. We knew nothing about this town, but it ended up being a real treat.

We drove up through its narrow streets and at one point passed through a stone arched gate that was almost pull-in-the-mirrors narrow. We then took a walk up to the chapel at the top of town above extensive castle ruins. The views here were once again quite

remarkable. Of course, in most parts of France, here included, everything looks very ancient, but in fact, there has been serious restoration work done everywhere so that most ruins are actually fairly newly restored ruins. Are you losing me here? This definitely makes it a lot safer for everybody – tourists and locals alike– but most importantly, it’s really good for tourism. For the camera bug, this is heaven!

We headed back to the mas for lunch and after some wine, a slow afternoon. In fact the rest of the day was pretty slow. We are really trying to suck up the local ambience. After dinner, we did get together with Sheila & Cole for more cards and popcorn, but that was about it for the day.