A spring trip to Southern France delivered wonderful adventures in a beautiful part of the world. My sister and I have enjoyed walking trips in Scotland, England, Italy, Spain, Croatia, and Africa. For this trip, we opted to travel by car, which offered the opportunity to cover much more territory. We both have spent treasured time in Southern France through the years with friends and family. I fondly remember a group bicycle tour with my husband exploring Provence many years ago. Touring by bicycle, we were able to spend time in many of the picturesque small towns of Provence.
My sister, the master planner and lover of maps, painstakingly planned each day. We traveled with carefully highlighted maps and guidebooks. Before the trip, we poured over listings for Airbnbs along our planned routes. Our final selections included stops in Bergerac, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, and Cotignac. We spend three or four days at each stop. Our choices gave us unique experiences and a comforts-of-home environment.
The first stop was Nice, a great start to our two-week adventure. The city is captivating with its Mediterranean charm. The view from our hotel room (the same hotel where we stayed as young women in 1968) looked down the Promenade des Anglais. The famous seafront walkway stretches along the Bay of Angels with dramatic views of the Mediterranean, and we were only steps away from Nice’s old town, Vieux Nice. A highlight was the morning market. Blocks and blocks of stalls offer artful displays of fruit, vegetables, flowers, spices, cheese stalls, and local artisan offerings.
A highlight of our many experiences has to be our meals, which were always beautifully presented with the freshest locally grown produce. There is nothing like a freshly baked croissant to start each day before setting out. Our dinners and lunches were simple but delicious—locally produced meats, fruits, and cheeses on a mixture of lettuce. One especially memorable meal was a generous serving of mussels eaten at a harborside restaurant in Villefrance-sur-Mer.
Bordeaux, our second stop, is a city that neither of us had visited. We explored the historic city center, which dates back to the Middle Ages. A self-guided walking tour led us through beautiful squares and past various historic sights.
Our next few days were spent exploring the Dordogne and Lot Valleys, where we saw one medieval village after another clinging to the hillsides. We stopped and explored several towns, including St. Emillion, Sarlat-la-Canéda, and Dome. Each stop delivered an authentic experience. We appreciated the convenient parking and immaculate preservation of each historic town.
We spent one day exploring the prehistoric caves at Perche Merle, one of France’s few prehistoric cave painting sites open to the general public. The walls of seven of the chambers have recent-looking, lifelike images of animals and some human figures. We entered the well-lit caves and followed a path that allowed us to inspect the cave paintings, which date back to 25,000 B.C.
We especially enjoyed our time in Provence. We both remembered visiting towns like Gordes, Arles, Avignon, Vaison la Romaine, and my favorite on the coast, Cassis. As we passed through the lush countryside and famed historic towns dotting southern France, we were reminded why Provence inspired so many artists and writers, including Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. We enjoyed having another chance to immerse ourselves in the history and beauty of the area.
We also explored two unique places off the beaten trail. Bordering the Mediterranean, Camargue Natural Park is an area of vast, wild, and flat expanses known for its wild horses, miniature black bulls, and flamingos. Another day took us to the Gorge du Verdon, a river canyon named for its turquoise-green water and considered the Grand Canyon of France.
During our two-week trip, we covered a lot of territory. The May weather was perfect, and we avoided the crush of tourists who come later in the year. Everywhere we visited was neat, clean, and friendly. Traveling always offers a potpourri of experiences and exposure to another world and its people. We were treated to the best of southern France.