Van Gogh in Provence

Vincent Van Gogh spent a couple of years (1888 - 1890) living in Provence and was treated for 53 weeks at the St. Paul Monastery and Hospital in St. Rémy de Provence.  The city of Arles and the town of St. Rémy have erected panels of many of the scenes he painted in situ.  We did a walking tour in both places to look at the scenes that Van Gogh painted, and we visited the Monastery and Psychiatric Hospital in St. Rémy. This psychiatric facility uses art therapy as part of its treatment program. We thought the setting alone would have a curative effect.

Cafe at Night in Arles

Trinquetaille Bridge in Arles

Espace Van Gogh in Arles

Olive grove at St. Paul Hospital

St Paul Hospital lavender garden

Irises at St. Paul Hospital

In the Towns

Cities in Provence are not car-friendly, mainly due to lack of parking space, and since we had a car we mainly toured the countryside and the smaller cities.  We enjoyed Arles and Nimes on day trips, and we spent one night in Orange.  Those three cities have notable Roman ruins. The other places we stayed at were in small villages.

Our B&B in Paradou, about half an hour from Arles. This lavender colour is the most common one used for painting shutters.  Maybe there is a tax break for using this colour...?

Inside the Roman Arena in Arles

St. Trophime Cloisters in Arles

Cloisters in Espace Van Gogh in Arles

Enjoying some Gelato in Arles

Appetiser of Eggplant and Chèvre at a restaurant specializing in Provencal dishes

Evanna with the village of Les Baux in the background

Kathy with the castle ruins of Les Baux in the background

Castle ruins at Les Baux at night

The Roman Arena in Nimes

The Roman Theatre in Orange, the only Roman Theatre in Europe with its acoustic wall still standing 

At a riverside cafe in Nyons with the Roman bridge in the background. We needed a drink after stomping around the large and lively market.

Around Provence

Provence covers an area about 300 kilometres by 150 kilometres, along the Mediterranean coast and inland along the Rhone River to the French Alps.  The Rhone River forms a delta at its mouth known as the Camargue.  The Camargue is a marshy wetland that is home to a variety of birds, including the flamingo.  Salt and rice are produced there, and Black bulls and white horses are raised.  The horses are used for herding and the bulls are raised for bullfights and also for their meat.  We saw hundreds of flamingos and there were yellow wild irises in bloom in many of the ditches and canals.  Luckily it was a bit early (and cool) for the mosquitos for which the Camargue is also renowned.

Flamingos

We saw many people in motor homes in Provence and there are lots of campgrounds.  The motorhomes are mainly small, since they have to navigate the winding roads and the narrow village streets.  VW Westfalia vans are common and there are many campers built on a van chassis similar to our Mercedes Sprinter.

Wild Irises

The spring flowers were in full bloom and we saw fields with thousands of red poppies all over Provence. Vineyards were beginning to leaf and many of the fruit trees were already finished blooming and were beginning to set fruit.  We were able to buy early cherries at a roadside stand near one orchard toward the end of our trip.

The grape vines beginning to leaf

Olive groves are common in Provence and many farmers who grow grapes for wine also have olive trees for oil.  The lavender was just beginning to grow and in a few places was starting to make flower heads.  We hope to return to see it in blossom some time.

View of vineyards and olive groves

We did a drive along the Ardeche Gorge on one of the cloudy and rainy days we had during our trip.

Ardeche Gorges

We also had some hot weather and hiked in the Dentelles de Montmirail on one of the hot days.

Dentelles de Montmirail

Kathy on the hike of the Dentelles

Evanna at the highest point on the trail

One of the most beautiful things in Provence is the rows of plane trees lining many of the small highways.  The trees are very old and very large.  They make a beautiful alley to drive through.

Plane trees through the car window

Vaison la Romaine, a medieval town, with irises and cypress trees which are common throughout Provence

Marvellous Markets

Every day there is a market within driving distance from wherever you are in Provence.  We went to the market in 6 different communities during our three weeks of travel.  Here are some scenes from the markets where we shopped.

Herbes de Provence includes a large selection of more exotic spices to cater to the large immigrant populations.

Sausage is a big seller in the markets.

 Macarons in many flavours in the market in Arles

Huge pans of freshly cooked Paella were sold in most markets

The chèvre was very tasty and sold everywhere.

Evanna enjoyed the olives, Kathy - not so much.

Local strawberries were available though not cheap.

The ribbed tomatoes are called coeur de boeuf.

Dried lavender - the lavender blooms in late June so we were too early to see it in blossom.

Nougat is made everywhere in Provence since its ingredients-honey, eggs and nuts are abundant - we ate a lot of very good nougat. We did not lose weight in France!