A couple weeks ago Joey and I flew to France to spend five glorious days in Provence soaking up some sunshine. Ireland is not exactly at it's finest in the summer (think warm rain and clouds, gross) so I was craving a proper summer climate fit for swimming, tanning and lazing about.
I've wanted to go to Provence ever since I was a child watching Beauty & the Beast on repeat. Fast forward to recent years of browsing countless pictures on Instagram of beautiful towns and lavender fields and boom - flights were booked. What possibly sounds better than 5 days of running through lavender fields and stuffing one's face with croissants? NOTHING.
We didn't have much of an agenda for this trip as I knew most of our schedule would consist of sitting by the pool. However, I did make a list of places I wanted to see so that if the mood struck we could go where we wanted, when we felt like it!
Gourdes
This photo was taken from a viewpoint in Gordes, the beautiful city featured in the first photo. Gourdes is one of the few places I've seen that really took my breath away. A quintessential fairytale town in all aspects of its physicality - located on a hill high above green fields with quaint streets filled with beautiful old buildings. It's small but bustling, with an incredible provincial market and lots of lovely spots to shop and grab treats. And the views - oh my god, the views. Views of the city and from the city are spectacular. I am in love, and if I ever return to Provence this beauty is definitely where I will stay!
Bonnieux
Bonnieux is a beautiful, albeit sleepy town, chock full of charm. I found from all the towns we visited, this one was the least touristy, which I very much enjoyed (even though speaking to the locals made me realize how poor my French has become!) We stayed in the countryside just outside Bonnieux, and every night we were treated to the most magnificent sunsets over the hills.
Speaking of where we stayed, our Airbnb I'm Bonnieux was definitely interesting...
It's a limestone cave, redesigned and modernized to accommodate living space. We had a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, lounging space and even a little cinema! The best part however, was the pool:
In my experience, sharing is not caring when it comes to pools. My dream for this holiday was to have a pool alllll to myself and as you can see, I made it a reality. I've decided that one day when I make my fortune I require a private pool at my house. Consider this a manifestation to the universe ✨
It was such a cool experience and a solid find. You can check it out here!
Valensole
Now, I was very aware of the lavender fields in the South of France (one of the big reasons I wanted to go in July was to see them in all their glory), however, I did NOT know that sunflowers were also a staple of the countryside. When a fellow tourist told us about a spot where lavender meets sunflowers, I knew I needed to frolic through it. I had never seen a sunflower field before, and as someone who is obsessed with flowers I was very keen to change that fact.
We drove an hour out of our way to see this beauty and let me tell you, it was pure magic. I loved it. Joey enjoyed it as well even though it's not really his bag. We went at the end of the day so it was a little cooler with less tourists, and let me tell you - it smelled DIVINE. Walking through the field was like taking a bath filled with lavender oil. So dreamy.
Roussillon
Roussillon was probably the most tourist-y of all the towns we visited but was also by far the most fun. There was tons of cute restaurants and shops (my favorite being Maison Brémond, I am obsessed) as well as a lovely views and a quick nature walk you can take to view the ochre deposits the city is perched on (the city is painted shades of pink and red to match the ochre!)
We feasted on crepes and ice cream and I cooled down with a lavender slushie. It was the French village of my dreams.
Overall a lovely trip, even though it was hot aaaaand I may have slammed our rental car into the side of a wall and chopped the passenger side mirror off (and had to pay a LOT of money to fix it.) A reminder that even though the pictures look beautiful, no matter where I travel there are always moments that are not picture perfect!
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