Bienvenue mes amis!
Welcome to the The Modern Trobadors. Every Sunday (er, well … okay, as close to “Sunday” and to “every” as we are able), we will strive to feature a pithy piece about something Provençal, one that we hope will remind you of trips past (as if you would ever forget!) or give rise to making plans to travel to this magical area.
Hemingway wrote that, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” This is true, but it is truer for Provence.
Having traveled to Provence for over a decade now, including a six-month sojourn in the tiny Luberon village of Lourmarin — where Albert Camus chose to live and to be buried and where Peter Mayle has more recently chosen to live and write — we have no shortage of material about this inspiring region.
While our daughter went to the village school and played on the local all-male soccer team, my husband and I shopped in all the nearby markets, visited every major wine Châteaux (as well as quite a few minor ones), explored the Roman ruins, walked in the footsteps of van Gogh, hiked in the Luberon, swam in the Mediterranean, sat in cafés, and, in retrospect, gathered a lot of material for this project.
We had so much fun and, really, fell in love with the area….so much so that we bought a petite maison de village in the heart of this charming town. Owning property in Provence has given us a window into the kinds of questions, concerns, and aspirations our readers have about traveling in Provence.
We feel privileged to have the opportunity to get to know many of our readers through our correspondence (and sometimes even over a little wine and cheese!). They are drawn to Provence for many reasons; but, like the Romans who settled there some two thousand years ago, their reasons for returning are all similar: they are enchanted. Much of our material here is a result of these exchanges with our readers.
“We” are a family of three — two parents and a daughter — but, The Modern Trobadors also includes a staff of people who work with us to produce the material you will read in our posts. A time goes by, we will introduce ourselves in more detail; but, for now, let me just say that it is our common love for France that has brought us together.
We’ve sat ’round many a table, sorting through our ideas for topics we’d like to cover, madly transcribing them (often on to soggy cocktail napkins), and later endeavoring to decipher our scribblings (penmanship often compromised by Pastis). The result is a long list of ideas that, in no particular order, will provide the fodder for our posts.
We would love to hear from you, too. Please add your comments under each post.
Amitiés!
Susan