Baux de Provence

Oh boy, it's been many weeks now since my last post here. But the good news is it's all good. The last weeks of December 2012 have been very busy and got me involved in a lot of things up to the last minute. It ended on a good note with a visit to Montreal for family gathering. That was long time due and extremely exciting. That said, now is 2013 and I want to offer my best wishes to all of you. May this New Year bring you lots of opportunities, health, wealth, and whatever you've been waiting for until now. I personally wish I can visit more places, see more things and meet with more people. Travel, travel, travel!

And I might as well get that this year because it's already a good start with a visit to Baux de Provence earlier this month. That and much more coming soon.

This trip involved quite a bit of driving because we had no fixed itinerary and we wanted to spend two nights in Couvent des Minimes, located in village of Mane. You owe yourself a stay there, it's amazing. Fantastic host service, bucolic place and rooms, and great spa. It's a very quiet place and perfect for disconnecting from reality. Highly recommended!

But Couvent des Minimes is far from Baux de Provence, so we had to drive there and decided to do that early in the morning. This is back country and every curve has something for the eyes.. and the lens. Which makes the drive a little longer, but so interesting. When we got to Baux de Provence we realized how busy this place must be in the high season. Crazy. Fortunately, in the winter it's much better, very quiet, but still lots of visitors. I always think it's best to visit places during low season. It's colder, many things are closed, but you truly see what the place is all about. Local people are more relax, they have time to talk and laugh.

The site is really beautiful and packed with lots of history. I love that. When I visit places I always want to know what it is all about, what happened, who was involved, etc. Info panel (and audio guide if you wish) are there to tell you the story. But It's fascinating to find yourself in the middle of this fortress, ruins, battlefield, windmill structure, etc. And I still can't believe how strong the wind was when we got to the fortress. It made it very difficult to reach to the top. But we did!! What did you expect from a reckless photographer?

Good Light!

Norm

© Normand Primeau