With spring around the corner and warm temperatures to follow, the market in Aix-en-Provence is at the very top of my list of 10 favorite markets. The city’s famous flower market will soon be an irresistible cacophony of color, scent, and variety, a veritable garden in the midst of the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville. It is the place to be on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings.   We usually start our market expedition here in the flower market although we always park south of Cours Mirabeau in the Mignet parking lot (so we can stop off at Les Deux Garçons to fortify ourselves with…

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 A February 1, 2012 ruling in France has left sensible people scratching their heads: Google has been ordered by a French commercial court to pay over 500,000 euros because it gives away web mapping services. Only in France! The precise ruling, according to The Economic Times, is that the Paris court found “Google guilty of abusing the dominant position of its Google Maps application and ordered it to pay a fine and damages to a French mapping company.” That mapping company, Bottin Cartographes, charges businesses for the same services. Their clients—hotel and restaurant chains, banks, automobile rental companies and retail chains such as Louis Vuitton…

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Paris’ famous Cathedral of Notre-Dame is about to celebrate its 850th anniversary. In anticipation of this major event, and amidst some controversy, the four bells located at the top of the North Tower—christened, as is the custom for all sacred objects, Angélique-Françoise, Antoinette-Charlotte, Hyacinthe-Jeanne, and Denise-David—will soon be removed, melted down and replaced. These four bells were cast in 1856, per the request of Napoleon III who wanted them to mark the occasion of his son’s baptism, and have rung every 15 minutes since then. As part of a $3.5 million project (that will also renovate the cathedral’s vast lighting system and famous organ), the…

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Ah, two weeks in Provence.  Heavenly.  I arrived in Marseille, feeling bushy-tailed if not quite bright-eyed.  My delightful seat mates, two long-time female friends on their way to Moscow, included me in their constant flow of mini-bottles of wine across the Atlantic—of course I didn’t decline—and that camaraderie, coupled with the usual sleeplessness of such a flight, led to a noticeable red-eye effect when I landed. But nothing could dampen my enthusiasm about the adventures in store for me in la belle Provence. October is a wonderful time to visit Provence.  The fall weather may require a sweater—even a coat if the Mistral really blows…

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Mondays are the best day to visit Cadenet. Okay, some people will say that Monday is the only day to visit Cadenet. Oh heck, some people will wonder why Cadenet is even on our list of “Ten Markets We Always Visit in Provence.” If you are a tourist planning your trip to Provence with the usual laundry list of places to go and things to see in a nano-second, neither Cadenet nor its market should be near the top—or even in the middle—of your list. But, if Monday has rolled around after a busy weekend and you forgot to plan for dinner or if you…

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Sometimes I wonder what draws people to Lourmarin. I have visited many villages now, some completely devoid of appeal—even in Provence, such villages do exist—and others with loads of appeal—things tourist books like to mention such as breathtaking views, perfectly manicured window boxes, picturesque squares, streets lined with high-end boutiques, a river running through the center of town, or a perched locale—but, when I return to Lourmarin, a humble village whose charm does not gush out all over but rather seeps, gently, into your heart, I smile broadly and oh-so happily. For generations, its draw has been immensely strong for many people. Lourmarin’s appeal was…

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Naïf art is that which takes inspiration from the soul. The artists who produce this style of work are generally self-taught or at least not academically trained. Their work is therefore free from any prescribed convention. Their work is usually characterized by very bright and bold colors, distortions in perspective and size, and a seemingly childlike or simplistic style (although a closer examination reveals that the work is neither although it certainly appeals to the child in each of us!). If you are a fan of Naïf–naive–artwork or if you are at all curious about it, Lourmarin is the place to be now through November…

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The heart of Apt, where the market unfolds every Saturday, is a labyrinth of narrow streets dating back to its Roman period. Julius Caesar is said to have christened the town Apta Julia in 125 BCE. Then, it was an important town on the Via Domitia, the main passage between Italy and Spain. Later, in the Middle Ages, Apt was a principal religious center. Little evidence of Apt’s Roman days remain but the lovely 11th/12th century Sainte Anne Cathedral–actually, it was relegated to a basilica in the early 19th century–dedicated to the mother of the Virgin Mary, is testimony to Apt’s importance as a religious…

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Note: This is not an experience for everyone–those with an aversion to narrow winding roads, a preference for vegetarian meals, and disinclination to dining with farm animals would want to skip this excursion. Fans of David Sedaris’ most recent book, “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary,” will no doubt be inspired. Tired of white linens, sommeliers, and Michelin stars? Consider lunch at Le Castelas, a working goat farm, for another kind of Provençal dining experience. Susan and David From Lourmarin, where La Bonbonnière, our apartment, is located, the drive is just 22 kilometers (a little over 12 miles), but—up the hill, through the woods, into…

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This post is the third in a series that will feature each of the ten markets that The Modern Trobadors always visit when in Provence. The markets were selected primarily on the basis of the quality of the offerings of the vendors and the ambiance of the venue although practicality was also considered to some extent (e.g., distance from our home in Lourmarin, market options on that day of the week, convenience of parking, etc.). Bottom line is that these are the markets we visit when we are in Provence. Again and again…and again. The Sunday Market at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a cornucopia of the usual fruits,…

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