Saint Remy en Provence and Château des Baux-de-Provence (8 October 2024)

 

Chateau des Baux-de-Provence
As predicted rain arrived.  Bev took the opportunity to have her hair cut in Coustellet, the appointment having been arranged by our host Natalene.  Bev said despite the language barrier she was able to convey what she wanted done and enjoyed the experience and company of some lovely French women. 

After picking her up we drove to Saint Remy en Provence, another pretty village known for the plenitude of its plane trees.  It certainly did have many large trees providing, no doubt, much needed shade during the summer where temperatures can get up to 40ºC.




Some photos of Saint Remy en Provence

It was lunchtime and we found a nice little creperie for lunch to enjoy a galette and then had a wander around the village. 

We had been recommended to go to Lumiere de Carriere, a light show in a quarry at Les Baux. It was a rather scenic road to Les Baux through some hills to a ruined hilltop chateau and just below it was the Lumiere de Carriere.  There was only time to do one thing and I thought scrambling around a château was much more fun than going into a quarry to watch a lightshow and hear music relating to the Roman and Bohemian era.  Bev and Graham opted for the Lumiere Carriere experience which they reported was very worthwhile seeing. 

The château was  built around the 11th century and added to over the succeeding centuries. It was a small town at one stage.  There is still a medieval village just below the castle.  In the 16th or 17th century a French King ordered the Château’s destruction and that is what we can see today.  It was a beautiful afternoon to wander around the ruins and contemplate what life would have been like in middle ages. 


The village below the Château
I found out that bauxite takes its name from this area as this was where a large deposit was found and mined which is probably why there is a large quarry.  The rocks had been quarried in the past well before the castle was built.  







View from the remparts of the Château

 

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