Help with Provence / Luberon plans
 

Hello!!
My family and I are leaving for a short trip to Provence on Thursday, and have found place to stay in the Luberon area. My plans currently are as follows -

(1) Thursday: Drive from home to hotel (about 4.5 hrs). Arrival in hotel around mid-day. Afternoon at Les Baux and then St Remy, dinner at St Remy.

(2) Friday: Stu Dudley's (Thank You!!!) Luberon driving trip to see the perched villages. I am hoping to see the lavender fields as we drive around.

(3) Saturday: Morning at Aix-en-Provence in time for the market. Afternoon trip to Marseille. Dinner at Marseille.

(4) Sunday: What to do? We need to leave the region at about 1:30 or 2 to get back home in time for a rest so that my good man can get back to work the next day. But we have the morning hours.' My options :
- Sunday market at L'Isle sur la Sorgue. But my man will not be willing to spend the whole morning in a market. What after that?
- Avignon - we have visited before but did not have time to see inside the Palais des Papes. Keep us entertained for a few hours??
- Leave early and do Stu's drive through the Valensole Plateau and see more lavender fields. But the towns will be shut on Sunday
- Drive to the Verdon Gorges. That's a 2 hr drive from our hotel. So we may have 1 hr to do a drive up the North Rim maybe before we take a much longer drive back home (Switzerland). We have been to the Grand Canyon...Is the long drive worth it?

All suggestions are welcome But I have only a short while to plan..we leave the day after tomorrow !!
Thanks

I'll top for you so people see this

The market at L'Isle sur la Sorgue is so wonderful that I hope you will go. Perhaps your husband can find a cafe or a shady spot by the "river" or basin and just people watch. It's a very large market with lots of vendors and is reported to be the second largest market in France after the flea markets in Paris. I love it!!!!

If you leave the market early, why not drive to Roussillon. It is one of the most gorgeous spots on this earth!!

Enjoy!

joy/luvparee

I'd vote for the market at L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. You could shop for picnic supplies at the market and then stop at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, have your picnic next to the river, and do the little hike back to the source of the spring.

http://www.beyond.fr/villages/fontvaucluse.html

That's what we did last year, and really enjoyed it. The town of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is touristy, with lots of little tacky shops, but it really is a pretty place, and amazing the way the river seems to start out of nowhere between the tall cliffs.

Thank you Suzie for topping this :)

Thanks you Joy and Marcy, L'isle sur la sorgue seems to win hands down!! As I plan to visit Rousillon on Friday, I shall look up Fontaine de Vaucluse and the source of the Sorgue. Your help is much appreciated :)

Suja,
For your trip to Roussillon, if you're going to go hiking in the valley to see the rock formations, make sure you take old shoes and jeans or non-stainable pants, because the orange ochre dust gets everywhere.

It's great, though, and you shoudn't miss it!

Another vote for the Sunday market as well as a picnic at the river at Fontaine du Vaucluse.

We had lunch there a few years ago and next to us were two elderly French couples who put up their table and covered it with a beautiful table table cloth. After that they took out their lovely glasses and plates and lunched on cheese, fruit and baguette! O yes, and wine. It is still one of my fondest memories - the cool spot under the trees with the sound of water and this real movie scene next to us.