Villages ~ L' Isle Sur la Sorgue...St. Remy...Ansouis

Lovely green glass vintage bottles...

sadly a wee bit too big for the carry on.

Water wheels...

canals...

Many streets with oodles of shops

I purchased a fabulous linen tea towel in this shop.

Cheryl found some crystal champagne glasses.

I could have bought a LOT of things in this shop!

The champagne flutes are at the bottom left hand corner of the window display.

We enjoyed lunch at the Cafe de France.

French Onion Soup and toast for the Hostess.

Lots of ducks in the water.

Fountains

St. Remy is a charming spot for a stroll or a bite to eat.

We were not there on Market Day 

but we heard it is one of the best villages to buy antiques. 

Love the periwinkle blue shutters and doors.

Old old buildings...

everywhere there are beautiful heritage homes.

We don't see these here in Canada

 we are a much "younger" country than France.

I was gobsmacked by the architecture...

the patina of the stone structures

the colourful doors

fountains

 sculptures 

the tall stands of Plane Trees.

The agave's and greenery

established wisteria

gnarled old vines.

We drove to and explored Villages in close proximity to each other.

We ate in small cafes and enjoyed seeing the different style of each Village.

All the Village we went to had churches...

some were vast and other small

all open to the public

with candles that could be purchased and lit for a small fee.

I've got loads more to share so please pop back soon.

 (I am trying to be quick about uploading all the images!)

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~

Villa in Pelissanne, and soap from Provence

We rented a  3 bedroom, 3 bathroom Villa in Pelissanne Provence
for our week long stay and to use as our "home base."

We knew that we would be driving to other villages during the daytime and wanted a comfy spot where we could make our dinners and sleep in a quiet authentic Provencal village.

For the first two days it was just two of us until my friend Cheryl, who lives in Auvillar France, flew in to Marseille to join us on the adventure.

Very well appointed accommodations...

art and fine furniture

cozy beds.

a harpsicord

a very large kitchen with room for 3 of us to prepare food, cook and clean up!

It had several areas for relaxing and dining.

Narrow streets in the medieval village

meant that cars were not allowed long term parking so

 we dropped off our things and parked in another area close to the Villa.

We had fun buying food at the Local Pelissanne Market Day! 

Roast Chicken with potatoes cooked below the rotisserie...

juicy drippings from the chicken roasted and flavoured the spuds.

A fabulous local grocery shop was well stocked...

Plane Trees are very common in Provence.

We saw many roads lined with them...

They look particularly attractive when their bark peels.

We drove to the village of Salon de Provence which had several soap factories.

Marius Fabre had a museum and a lovely gift shop.

We all purchased quite a few bars of soap!

Next stop was the Soapworks of Rampal Latour

I purchased more soap and a soap "purse" to use in my toiletry bag.

Soaps make great Hostess Gifts!

We'll be looking at some pretty quaint villages in the next few posts.

Hope that you can pop back and see them.

~ Be Well and Be Kind ~