I'm starting to get ready (at least mentally) for my upcoming trip to Provence (10 days based in St. Remy) and the Cote D'Azur (3 days) -- leaving April 15 -- and want to start collecting information about things to be sure to see and do. I've posted a few other messages, but this one is directed more toward shopping in these regions for pottery, ceramics, fabric, local art, etc. I would love to get recommendations as to specific shops, markets, etc. that have made a wonderful impression. Thanks!

--Nicole

The entire walled town of Aigues-Mortes is a great place to shop for local art, ceramics, and all kinds of other things. It's very small and concentrated, and IMO it's got one of the most beautiful town squares in all of Europe.

There's a wonderful shop in Aigues -Mortes that carries lots of knives like the Opinel, some carved with designs. In St Remy, I love the shop "Ebene," lots of decorative and practical house wares.
'There's a potter in Maussane, forgwet his name. A Morroccan shop and B&B called "The angel and the Elephant," andan ex-pat and her shop "Une Allure
tré Nature."
In Tarascon is the Soleido shop for fabric but you can buy copies at the markets. To me , the great buys are those tablecloths that you can leave outdoors and wipe clean. The Sunday markwt in Isle -sur-Sorgue, pottery in Poet-Laval and Moustiers shout you be in the areas.

We spent two weeks on the area last fall. I enjoyed shopping at the various markets. However, everything at the Cours Salyea (sp.?) in Nice is really overpriced. They seem to know it is in all of the guide books. I bought bags of sea salt from the Camargue at the local super market for practically nothing. Some of the vendors had also and marked them up about 4 times. It is a great place to sit, have a drink and people watch. I think people watching in Nice is about as good as it gets. Have a great time. CJ

The Souleaido and Les Olivades fabrics are truly lovely; they are expensive, but the cotton is so nice that you don't really have to iron it if you remove it from dryer immediately. Olivades is a bit less expensive than Souleiado (Pierre Deux in USA).

In Bonnieux on the main street there is a woman who hand knits beautiful woolen sweaters; the name of the shop is Les Doigts des Fées. I bought a sweater there several years ago and recently was able to Google the name, and it seems as though it still exists.

A friend of mine bought one of those sweaters from the woman in Bonnieux, and it was simply gorgeous. I was so envious!

For fabrics at reasonable prices, check out the markets; often you will find a good selection. Besides the two big names, there's a nice little shop in St-Rémy that has all sorts of placemats, tablecloths, napkins, and decorative fabrics, along with an assortment of gifts. I think it was on the street two over from the cathedral, down past the supermarket and on the left.

Over in Fontvielle, not far from St-Rémy, is a small shop that has wonderful pottery and such. It's more or less across from the crêperie, along the main street. The shop carries the beautiful yellow pottery from the Dieulefit area, as well as other fine selections.

There's a small Les Olivades outlet on the outskirts of St. Remy. I was amazed at the bolts of beautiful fabric in stacks outside the warehouse as garbage.

We enjoyed the brocante markets - especially the Sunday one in Cannes.

Am so glad I picked up a Provencal tablecloth. They are everywhere and not expensive. It makes me small everytime I see the dining room table.

<<It makes me small everytime I see the dining room table>>

AH, the ultimate Provençal diet

In Bonnieux, there's also a woman who makes things of Linen. She mailed me a linen shoulder bag with my monogram that she made for me on order. It arrived with a small linen bag of lavender. I also bought napkins that had the name of local villages.

Now for the Côte d'Azur. First off, the old village of Mougins is an artistic paradise--galleries for paintings and sculpture, shops with lovely artisinal ceramics.

In Nice, one of my favorite shops in right on the Cours Saléya; it's called the Perle d'Azur. All kinds of merchandise, including a good selection of fabric things.

Over in the winding streets of Vieux Nice are several good fabric shops, both for finished items (including very pretty handbags, toiletry bags, and so on). The one name I know, because I took a business card this time around, is Le Chandelier: small but cherce. It's right across from a restaurant we like very much, L'Ecurie.

Cannes offers a very large covered market filled with all sorts of wonderful food and other items. It's not well known to tourists--you see a lot of locals out getting their produce and flowers. We were taken by French friends and thoroughly enjoyed pushing through the crowds to see everything on display. There's a parking garage about half a block away.

In St-Paul-de-Vence you will find a good selection of art galleries. Valbonne has an interesting shop with olive-wood products and still more art galleries. If art glass appeals to you, in Biot you can watch glass-blowers at work and buy from a large selection in the gift shop.

Underhill, that has to be the market in Cannes we visited. Most of the week it is a food and flower market. The white aspargus and the whole fish being chopped into steaks were amazing to see.

On Sunday, those vendors are gone and the antique/junk/brocante vendors set up shop. The (formerly) fish corner still smells fishy, but both market experiences were some of my favorite meemories on France.

I bought my tablecloth in one of the narrow alleys of St. Paul de Vence. I also bought the neatest set of cheese knives/servers all tied up in a neat bow.

Hanging out and enjoying a beer while watching the men (and 1 women) play serious boule was another great way to spend the time in St. Paul.

Anything lavendar is great to obring back. Lavendar sachets were easy to bring back for gifts.

The outlet shop for Les Olivades in in St Etienne du Gres, just off the road from St Remy to Tarascon. They have beautiful fabrics and home furnishings at quite good prices.

Patricia

Thanks so much, everyone, for all the wonderful suggestions. I can't wait to get there -- and I'm looking forward to picking up some special mementos to remind me of what I am sure will be a delightful trip.

--Nicole

All this talk about shopping in Provence makes me wish I were going there instead of Normandy. Interesting to note that a lot of us have done the same things, such as Olivades outlet, etc.

Still think we should organize a Fodors shopping trip to Paris and Provence!

The Olivades outlet is on the road that is in direction of Arles. It is less than ten minutes outside St. Remy. Not a big selection but worth a look. One year we were there they opened the whole factory and drew huge crowds of the provencaux themselves.

The outdoor market in St. Remy is on Wednesday mornings is not to be missed. You can buy cloth, clothes, ceramics, cutlery in a great setting. Market goes from 8 to 1 p.m

Have a great trip.

Anthony

That's a great idea, Grandmère!

>>The outlet shop for Les Olivades in in St Etienne du Gres, just off the road from St Remy to Tarascon. They have beautiful fabrics and home furnishings at quite good prices.<<

And there is a very nice bench on the lawn next to the outlet, where the men sit & chat while the ladies shop.

I think Patricia is correct in that the outlet is on the road to Tarascon (D99), and not on the road to Arles (D32). There is a campground close by.

Stu Dudley

It's a bit hard to find. We missed it on our way out of Avignon, but had better luck finding it as we were coming back from Arles. The great side effect of the search is that one of my best photos of the trip was a picture of a mas that I only saw because I slowed down so much looking for the turn.

If I remember there are two turns off the main road - and we wern't sure we were at the right place when we got there. It's a tiny outlet shop attached to a warehouse. We drove around the warehouse and literally were in a farmyard with donkeys hanging their heads over the fence. What a "factory outlet"! We turned around behind the warehouse - and that's where we saw hundreds of bolts of cloths stacked up inside a chain link fence!

I'll check my guidebook to see if I can find the specific directions. The ones we were using that day was really vague.

Shopping itinerary for Provence/ Paris -

I was looking for directions to the factory outlet and google brought this link up - http://www.teagardentravel.com/europe.htm

Very interesting itinerary with emphasis on shopping!

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