TMQE Travels are travelling again! This time it’s Provence, the first of our videos in the South of France, where we visit Avignon, Arles, Marseille, Sisteron, the Gorges du Verdon and Grasse.
Jérémy and Ben here again! We love to travel and to satisfy our wanderlust, we are on a European roadtrip exploring the best places for a city break on the continent. We love to escape Britain to experience the best culture, cuisine and attractions that Europe has to offer. If you’re a tourist like us and just need a good itinerary for what to do and how to do it when you’re in Provence, we will show you the best things to put on your itinerary.
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Provence is a region in Southern France, known for its swathing lavender fields in summer and the soap and perfume they make from it.
Avignon is a medieval city that holds the unique title of being the only place outside Rome ever to have housed a Pope. For 68 years in the fourteenth century, the Popes decided this little French city was a much better place to live.
Arles is a picturesque Roman town, which centres around its impressive coliseum.
Marseille is France’s second biggest city. Sitting on the southern coast, it is also the biggest port in the country and one of the biggest on the Mediterranean Sea. Sitting on the highest point in the city, Notre Dame de la Garde is an imposing structure, built in the nineteenth century. Annoyingly, we trekked all the way to the top to find it shut because it was a Sunday. Which was great.
One of the biggest attractions is Mucem, a large museum that charts the history of Marseille as well as other Mediterranean cities. It explores how this sea led to great wealth in the past, but how today it is synonymous with migration and feats of great heroism. And then up on the roof, take a look at these spectacular views. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, so we were unable to take the boat to Marseille’s famed prison Chateau d’If, which sits on an island in the bay.
Sisteron is a remarkable little town that straddles the River Durance a short drive north into the Southern Alps. In a gorge between two peaks, you have this spectacular geological formation on one side and a castle sitting on top of the other. The citadel sits high above the river and is one of the most vertically challenging castles we’ve been to. Honestly, it just keeps going up level after level, until you end up on walkways high in the sky. It’s spectacular.
Driving through the mountains, we head to one of France’s most popular tourist spots. Except most people go in the summer and not in the pouring rain… The Gorge is known for its beautiful pale blue water, which obviously we didn’t see as the rain had brought mud into what should have been a crystal clear river. However, the gorge goes back for miles and the drive through it is really something special. Even if the roads are the bendiest I’ve ever driven.
Heading south again, we came down from the mountains to see this spectacular view, out towards Nice and the Cote d’Azure. Our final stop before we hit the French Riviera, Grasse is a town centred around the perfume industry. Housing numerous perfume factories that go back centuries, this beautiful town sits surrounded by thousands of acres of flowers, which are harvested and used in the creation of these beautiful scents. Grasse is known as the perfume capital of the world, producing 60% of France’s scents and housing the famous “noses”, or “les nez”, whose job it is to compose the beautiful perfumes. No trip to Grasse would be complete without a trip to a perfume factory and we chose Fragonnard, right in the centre of the town. There, a guide will take you through the process of making perfume, from the collection of its ingredients right until it arrives in the store. It’s fascinating, completely free of charge and there is absolutely no way you’ll walk out of that shop without purchasing one of their spectacular creations.
While we didn’t get to see the famed lavender fields in bloom, there’s so much more to Provence than just that. A beautiful region of ancient towns, rustic landscape and stunning scents, this is a little slice of heaven only two hours from the UK.