GORDES

Acropolis-village, dominated by a Renaissance castle raised in its centre. Cliffside arranged houses, sloping narrow streets with paved stones, steps, small places with their own fountains, private hotels, there is a special mineral atmosphere with the local stone.

MUST-SEE:

• The Castel

Rebuilt in 1525, dated in 1031.

• The Bories Village

A group of small buildings with round shapes for local farming.

• The Cistercian Abbey of Sénanque

Monastory still living and founded in 1148.

• The Saint-Firmin Palace and its troglodyte rooms

• Le moulin des bouillons

Gallo-Roman site explaining the history of the olive oil and the local Marseille’s soap

• The Summer Festival

• The History Museum of the glass and stained-glass

• The amazing view over Gordes from the parking « Rocher Bel Air » (leaving Coustellet on the right)

• Many arts and pottery galleries to discover

• Weekly market in Gordes on Tuesdays from 8.00am to 1.00pm and in August, the wine Festival (Wine of the Ventoux)

• Evening parties during the Summer Festival in Gordes from the 3rd to 13th of August

Hiking in Gordes

The Gorges of the Véroncle : old water-mill vestiges using water from the Véroncle before the earthquake in 1909.

Memoral paths of the Maquis from Gordes 1942-1944. www.cheminsdeparc.pnrpaca.org

TO DISCOVER AROUND GORDES

MERINDOL

• The Muse – centre relating the history of the Luberon.
• At the top of the old castle, gorgeous view over the valley of the Durance gorgeous view over the Valley of the Durance and the South side of the “petit Lubéron”
• July/August: local market on Mondays from 4.00pm to 11.00pm and a weekly market on Saturdays from 8.00am to 1.00pm
• Ornithological post
• Walk by the edge of the Durance, bird post and walk in the heart of the guarrigue (heath)

On Thursdays in July/August: a free concert and an aperitive offered in the village

LES BAUMETTES

• Botanical walk on Tuesdays morning
• Somptuous view over Oppede le Vieux and Ménerbes.

CAVAILLON

• Saint Veran cathedral and its cloister
• Cathedral with a roman style: during many centuries, it was the episcopal siege of the diocese from Cavaillon. To be visited with its charming and small cloister.
• Synagogue and Jewish museum (eighteenth century)
• Archaeological museum of the Hotel Dieu (from the prehistory to the modern period, through the Antiquity and Middle Age)
• Hotel of Agar
• Temporary exhibitions during the year.
• Weekly market on Monday morning from 8.00am to 1.00pm – Local farmer markets from 5.00pm to 7.00pm from April to October.
• July 11/12: Melon festival
• Evening market and jazz party every Thursdays from 8.00pm to 11.00pm from July the 14^th to August the 15^th.
• Film-making meetings from September 24^th to 27^th.

COUSTELLET / MAUBEC

• July & August: Local farmer foods – from April to November and each Sunday and Wednesday evenings
• End of August: Book party with works, second-hand book seller, theaters, poems
• Museum of lavender: importance of the lavender in the country

CABRIERES D’AVIGNON

• The wall of the plague – more than 2,5 Milles walking
• Parish church names St Vincent, roman original
• Castle (eighteenth century) rebuilt at the end of the sixteenth century
• Discovery parcours “the cedar forest”
• Saint Eusèbe’s chapel
• Oratory of the Virgin

ROUSSILLON

• Ochre conservatory and pigment applied
• The ochre’s path

MENERBES

• Saint Hilaire’s Abbey
• Saint Blaise’s chapel
• The house of the truffle and wines from the Luberon
• Corkscrew’s museum
• The Pitchouno’s dolmen
• Jane Eikin 1919-2002 (American painter): Her paintings were seen in several exhibitions during her 30 years in Provence, but she especially liked to receive friends and collectors in her studio. She continued to paint and she retained her enthusiasm for the arts, even in her last moments, painting in her bedroom, near her bed, where she was constrained by her illness to stay.

ISLE SUR LA SORGUE

• The collegial
• The Silver’s Tower
• Campreddon hotel – art centre
• Granary
• Blade wheels
• Fairground and agricultural market on Thursdays and Sundays from 6.00am to 2.00pm
• Local market from Mai to September (5.30pm to 7.30pm)
• The 1^st Sunday of August: Floating market
• Handicraft market every 1^st Saturdays from April to September (10.00am to 7.00pm)
• Garage sale every Sundays
• Fair of the second-hand trade, antiques, and the night-market from the Easter weekend to August 15th

FONTAINE DE VAUCLUSE

• The abyss of the fountain – Spring of La Sorgues
• Ruins of the bishops- Castle of Cavaillon (XVIII)
• Roman church “Notre Dame de Saint-Veran) – (XV)
• Ruins of a roman Channel on La Sorgues
• Christmas crib figure museum
• History museum - Call of freedom
• Eco museum of the abyss
• Crystal glass-making of the popes
• Petrarque’s library museum
• Paper mill

Other attractions not to be missed….

• Le Thor

• The church “Notre dame du lac” (XII)
• The Douzabas’ door and its campanile
• The caves of Thouzon

• Oppede le Vieux

• Beautiful small village built on a rocky outcrop where you can discover ruins of the feudal castle, its church (XII)

• Bonnieux

• Very nice little village where you can wander in its narrow streets and ramparts (XIII)

• Lacoste

• Very nice village located in front of Bonnieux: the remains of the Marquis de Sade, its church (XII), as well its streets with cobblestones

• Murs

• Located next to our hotel: you can discover this charming small village as well the Plague Wall, a surprising long wall of dry masonry of 25 km which was built to protect the “Comtat Venaissin” from the epidemic plague (XVIII).

• Joucas

• Charming village located in front of Roussillon, similar like Gordes with streets with cobblestones, where you can wander and discover its church St Jean Baptiste (XVIII)

OUR FAVORITES

• Firstly, the fabulous castle of Gordes with two styles: medieval and renaissance styles
• On Sunday morning, the market in Isle sur la Sorgue
• A tour of the typical villages around Gordes (Bonnieux, Lacoste, Joucas)
• The ochre in Roussillon
• Cavaillon’s cathedral and synagogue
• The source in Fontaine de Vaucluse