Dodging the heat waves that plagued France this summer, my husband and I day-tripped through Provence for 5 days in late July after meeting up with our daughter following her study abroad program (she did not manage to dodge the heat waves). In my last post I shared the glories of Provençal lavender fields and rosy-stuccoed Roussillon, which was our home base. Today let’s climb steep lanes in the hill towns of the Luberon, charter a boat to view the calanques of Cassis, and watch famous paintings come to life at Carrières de Lumières.

Gorgeous Gordes

The hill town of Gordes presents a scenic, hillside profile of sand-colored homes, capped by a church and old castle (fortress).

Cobblestone lanes plunge steeply between the buff buildings, where cafes and boutiques and the odd pharmacy attract well-heeled locals and oodles of tourists.

Along one steep entrance to a private home, I spotted this bronze sculpture of a be-ringed hand gripping the stair rail. The owner’s hand or the artist’s, I wonder?

Brass cicadas for sale at a local shop. The French embrace the summer-buzzing bug as their national mascot.

Below the town, olive groves and lavender fields stretch toward blue hills.

Calanques of Cassis

We didn’t make it to the French Riviera cities of Saint-Tropez, Cannes, or Nice. But we did drive to nearby Cassis, “a prettier, poor man’s St-Tropez,” according to travel writer Rick Steves. Popular with French tourists, the seaside town of gelato-hued buildings wraps around a small harbor filled with fishing and tour boats and small yachts.

We ate a lovely lunch at a sidewalk cafe, poked around in a few shops…

…admired the view at a popular beach, and watched men playing petanque in a sandy square.

Curious to see the area’s famous calanques, we boarded a tour boat and motored out of the harbor and around crumbling limestone cliffs into narrow fjords — the calanques. Within each sheltered inlet, rugged cliffs drop down to clear, turquoise water and perhaps a quiet sandy beach. The third calanque on our boat tour, En Vau, was the most scenic, with a lost-world quality.

The calanques stretch 20 miles from Cassis to Marseille and are protected as a French national park, Parc national des Calanques. You can hike rugged trails to explore the calanques and visit the beaches at wetter, cooler times of year. But during the hot, dry summer, the risk of wildfire is high and trails close, so boating is the way to go.

Les Baux de Provence castle

A ruined citadel dating to the 11th century perches atop a rocky hill in Les Baux. Actually, much of the fortress is carved out of the rock itself, and you can climb all the way to the top.

It’s pretty high and windy up there…

…with an incredible view of surrounding farmland and olive orchards.

Medieval siege weapons are displayed just below the fortress, with costumed docents explaining how war was waged with catapults and battering rams. No actual demonstrations though, which is probably for the best.

Below the fortress, a town contains shops and cafes. The surrounding Alpilles mountains make a scenic backdrop.

At a nearby overlook, with the buzzing of cicadas filling my ears, I spotted one of the big-eyed bugs on a tree and took its photo — my own cicada souvenir.

Art brought to life at Carrières de Lumières

Just down the hill from Les Baux, a popular attraction called Carrières de Lumières (Quarries of Light) attracts throngs of visitors to an old limestone mine. We joined the long line and eventually made our way into a cavernous room of smooth, vertical blocks of limestone.

When the lights went out, the magic began: a projection of works of art that completely transforms the cavern interior — walls, floor, and ceiling — into a painted canvas come to life, all set to evocative music.

We were immersed in a two-part exhibit of the works of Van Gogh (Van Gogh, Starry Night) and Japanese artists (Dreamed Japan, Images of a Floating World).

The Van Gogh show was lovely but fairly static, with supersized projections of his portraits and landscapes glowing on the walls, slowly changing from homely faces to flowery orchards to purple irises and starry nights.

But the Dreamed Japan show blew us away. The projected artworks were transformed into film-like moving images. In one section, cascading waves crashed through the room, accompanied by swelling music. The video above is a little dark but gives you an idea.

For a while you float through an ocean of fish, whales, and octopuses. Then the ocean falls away and gridded shoji screens appear, sliding open to reveal the hidden world of geisha. It’s all an illusion of light and projected images, but it feels like you’ve stepped into the paintings themselves.

Another meditative sequence shows a few glowing paper lanterns floating against a dark sky. Soon hundreds, even thousands, are floating around you. It’s a magical experience.

Lovely Lourmarin

We happened upon Lourmarin late one afternoon. We strolled its picturesque streets…

…explored a few shops…

…and admired its mossy fountains.

Water in a dry land at L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

We visited charming L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue — “Venice of Provence,” so named for its many canals — on market day.

We saw a few people wading and swimming in the canals to cool off.

As we explored the town’s busy and extensive open-air market, buying picnic supplies for later (crusty bread, cheese, cherries, apricots), we admired gargoyle-encrusted churches…

…and enjoyed an accordion tune or two. We had a fine time in Provence filling our days with good food, magnificent views, and cicada song.

Up next: Roman ruins at Pont du Gard and the Arena of Nîmes. For a look back at Provence lavender fields and rosy Roussillon, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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