PROVENCE - Gordes

I’ve been to Gordes before on a trip to the Alpes Maritime and it was beautiful, so I was keen to go back again on this visit to Provence.



The village itself is very Provençal in flavour and has a huge imposing castle at the centre, but the mistake most visitors make is to think that that’s it. Wrong! For me, the most interesting parts are tucked away behind the chateau where is a beautiful little ‘piazza’ with a fountain and a few restaurants.



We’d managed to find a typical Provençal style hotel which – perhaps rather unsurprisingly – was called ‘Le Provençal’. Won’t forget that one!! The room was fairly simple but scrupulously clean with a few nice extra touches like the miniature bath/shower gels and body lotions.



As well as being superbly situated at the very heart of the village with a restaurant, the other big advantage of this hotel is the view over the castle which dates back to 1031. These days, it is home to the Pol Para museum (Flemish contemporary painter), but we were more interested in the natural works of art such as the stunning panoramic view over valley and mountains of Luberon.



Sadly, the pathway around the edge of the village dips and climbs quite alarmingly for someone wearing flipflops and the wind was amazingly strong so I was slightly concerned that I might get blown over the edge, but fortunately I had eaten enough at dinner to weight me down even during a force 10 gale!



The afternoon had been a bit cloudy which was slightly disappointing as I know how beautiful Gordes is when the sun shines, but as night fell, we were treated to a beautiful sight as the castle was lit up below, which gave us a only a tiny insight into how imposing it must have been in times gone by.



We didn’t have time to visit the ‘Village des Bories’ which is a collection of small dwellings constructed in drystone walls of limestone. The village is fascinating, and worthy of half a day, but as we had so much else to see and do, we just couldn’t spare the time…