Continental Shift
Think you’ve been there, done Europe? Here, six inspiring ways to experience the Old World anew
Tof a bucket list goes sort of like this for me: Rather than experiencing something once before crossing it off a list, my goal is to return incessantly to the south of France. Here’s why:
Lavender, roses and poppies You may want to develop a green thumb after seeing rows upon rows of purple lavender with rose bushes at the end of each row. And the oh-so-French tissue-paper blossoms of poppies growing like weeds – but not like mine at home! (Seriously, weeds. French farmers may use herbicides to get rid of Papaver rhoeas – the Flanders Field poppy – but there are still banks of them along the roadways.)
Les Baux-de-Provence One of the smallest hamlets in my travels, Les Baux-de-Provence has a population of 22 – down from the 3,000 who lived within the ramparts in the 13th century. Legend has it that the House of Baux was descended from Balthazar, one of the Three Wise Men who followed the star of Bethlehem, which is featured on its coat of arms. But with the death of the last member of the House of Baux in the 15th century, the castle was demolished and only partially rebuilt until King Louis XIII of France gave the lordship to the Grimaldi princes in appreciation of them driving the Spanish from Monaco in 1641. As the Marquis of Baux, Prince Albert of Monaco was given the keys to the city during his visit with his mother, the legendary Princess Grace, in 1982. He returned to the castle in July 2012 for a tribute to Princess Grace by Paris-Match magazine.
Roussillon On the edge of a red cliff, Roussillon has more restaurants than I’ve ever seen in a village with a population of less than 1,300. It’s a visual feast, too. The buildings on its spiralling streets glow in every shade of ochre imaginable – yellow, red, brown purple, sienna and umber – found in the clay deposits surrounding the town. The surrounding quarries are said to be the world’s biggest vein of ochre, which, aside from the clarity of the light, was a major attraction for European painters. The natural pigment is the basis of the paints they