A Francois in his natural habitat

Saturday morning bright and early, Francois picked us up for our tour of the Luberon, an area south east of  Avignon considered some of the most picturesque territory in Provence.  If you think of a picture of Provence, this is it.  No secret why after Peter Mayle published "A Year in Provence", property prices sky-rocketed and the celebrities of the world(Ridley Scott, Pierre Cardin, etc) flocked to this amazing place.

Domaine de la Citadelle

We began our day at a splendid winery in Menerbes, Domaine de la Citadelle.  As usual Francois instructed our guests as to how properly taste wines with humor and information.  The wines were amazing, although Im willing to bet tasting in the renovated 17th century under croft had something to do with it...

 

We even visited a small, but fascinating museum dedicated to the history of the corkscrew.  No really, a museum of cork screws, including some that were personal possessions of Marie Antoinette.  No way should it have been that interesting, but god help me it was.  (sorry, no pics allowed)

From Domaine de la Citadelle, we headed up to the 13th century hill town just above the winery to visit Domaine de Marie ou la Maison de la Truffe et du vin.(Professionally translated by me as "big ass house with enough truffles and wine to put all your kids through colledge...twice)

Again, the wines were good but we got so captivated by the vistas from the city walls we lost track of time.  On the down side, with the sun in our face I could not shoot good pictures of the town itself, but I did get some shots of both valleys from the town itself.

Following a brilliant lunch at a small bistro in Bonnieux, we headed off for a drive through the countryside for an hour.  This area is so different and breathtaking compared to around Avignon, its hard to put into words.  Pics don't do it much justice, but we tried.  I shot over 600 pics that day.

Lourmarin

We ended up in Lourmarin for coffee and shopping.  This may be the quintessential Provencal village.  Small, scenic, tiny streets and alleys, we expected a quiet cup of espresso and some relaxing in the sun.

Nope, sorry!

In the town square, which was heaving with people, we watched a loud argument between a loud Spanish tourist and a local grumpy old man who just wanted to doze in the sun and not listed to the tourists extremely loud cell phone conversations.  The argument was priceless, with much shouting, hand waving, bread throwing and general grins and laughs from the other locals.  It was pretty damn funny at the time.

After coffee, it should have been a quiet stroll through town to the car and off to our next winery.

NOPE! 

We blundered into a Easter Carnivalle right through the middle of town!  Loud music, kids and adults all dressed up, the local winery tractors all fancied up.

 

Franncois looked pretty damn chagrined, but quietly leaned over and assured me, "No extra charge"  On the down side we spent so much time caught in the village we missed our appointment at the next winery, so we headed off to the village of Cucuron for photos and more sightseeing.  It was well worth it!

 

Cucuron Church Yard

Cucuron Town Square

 From Cucuron we drove to a lovely winery located in an 19th century laboratory glass factory.  Chateau la Verrerie Puget-sur-Durance produced some of the best wines we had this trip, we ended up stocking on their excellent whites and roses.

All in all, this was a tremendous day for us.  Best scenery by far of any of the areas we have toured, and by far the most interesting day.  How often do you walk into a parade while on vacation?

A very good day.