CURATED BY Roberto Girotti
The eternal magic of France and the allure of beautiful Provence
Last year, I fulfilled my dream of spending time with my French Parisian friends, but instead of my classical stays in and around Paris, this time I flew directly to meet them in Marseille for a quick stay at the beautiful Hotel InterContinental Marseille Dieu for a few nights. This was my first time in the oldest city in France, which was founded 2600 years ago.
Marseille, situated in the Provence region, is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Rhone River. My friends picked me up here, and this was the beginning of two glorious weeks exploring the charming must-see villages of Provence.
It was late May when my friends and I settled into a stone house in Ménerbes for a weeklong discovery of Provence. The village, perched gracefully on a Luberon hilltop, seemed carved from sunlight — its shutters faded blue, its cobbled lanes quiet except for the hum of bees drifting over nearby lavender fields. Each morning, we lingered over croissants and café crème on the terrace, watching the gentle rise of mist above the vineyards before setting off on daily adventures.
Gordes greeted us first with its stunning panorama of cascading houses bathed in amber light. In Roussillon, we walked through trails of deep red ochre, a vivid contrast to the purple promise of lavender beginning to bloom across the hills. Lacoste, with its ancient château ruins, whispered of poets and rebels, while Lourmarin charmed us with its shaded squares, colorful market stalls, and the scent of herbs and ripe melons filling the air.
We spent one day in Aix-en-Provence, wandering elegant boulevards where fountains murmured softly under plane trees and Cézanne’s spirit seemed to linger in the afternoon light. Another excursion took us to Avignon, where history and theater merged beneath the imposing Palais des Papes and the joyful rhythms of street performers.
Every evening, we returned to our home in Ménerbes, sharing wine and laughter as the sun melted into violet hills and the cicadas began their chorus. Provence in late spring offered more than beauty; it invited stillness — a rare harmony of color, taste, and friendship. It was a week that felt both timeless and tender, like the wonderful descriptions that we read in the best-selling memoir “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle.
Don’t have French friends to help you customize a trip like this?
Now you do!
Please contact your friend Andy Swann at Andy Swann Voyage to help you customize this and any other trip in France!
