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Provence : tourism in the villages of the Luberon and the Vaucluse

The intimate Provence,

between the Luberon and the Vaucluse, put under a spell by the colours of its land and light, but also by those of its fruit and its wines. A series of hilltop villages full of charm, it has cultivated for ages the art of eating well in the sun.

A mirage ? A "technicolor" film ? Emotions in any case. For kilometers, right in the heart of Provence, unfold the gold and blood-red clifs of the Provencal Colorado. Quarries that look like canyons, a series of earth pillars and valleys of surprising contours.

Under the brazen blue sky of the Vaucluse, it is above all the palette of coulours that will  impress you : from bright yellow to blood red, including all the orangeish hues, sometimes veined with blue or green .

Hugged by the Luberon mountain to the south and the Monts de Vaucluse to the north, this astounding spot is nicknamed the "Colorado Provençal". Between the villages of Rustrel and Gignac, on the banks of the Dôa river, the colours of the earth, due to the presence of ochre in the subsoil, offer the visitor a staggering show.

Legend recounts that Sermonde, wife of the fearsome lord of the village of Roussillon, loved a troubadour. Jealous, the feudal lord killed her lover with a stroke of his dagger and served his heart to his wife after having cooked it. She found the dish delicious, but after learning the truth, she threw herself to her death. At that moment, the earth was tinted with her blood.

Reality is, of course, something else. In the beginning there was the sea. A hundred million years ago, at the foot of the Alps, the sea bottoms collected thick deposits of sands, some full of iron silicate of a greenish tint. At the end of the Cretaceous period, the climate changed and became tropical. The emerging sands solidified and their mineral load transformed into pure clay and iron hydroxide. Their colour went from green to red. The natural ochre of the Vaucluse was born. Specialists count, according to the zones, between 17 and 25 different tints.

"Provence conceals her mysteries behind their evidence. »
Jean Giono

Copyright Photos José Nicolas
Copyright texts Anne Sophie PRUSAK - Phone : +33(0)6 83 07 34 41 or +33(0)4 96 14 02 91

A Food-lover's Excursion on the Ochre Trail


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