Our day excursion to Luberon covered 4 hilltop villages. Just when I dropped my trainers, and donned my wedge espadrilles, our day tour included many uphill climbs on uneven paths. Not the best decision. In Ménerbes, we walked around winding roads in this rocky outcrop named after the Roman goddess Minerva. Home to only 1,000 inhabitants, this village retained its exceptional old world charm with its architecture and character.

La Vie Est Belle. Life is Beautiful.
Ménerbes is a walled village atop a hill in Luberon.

La vie est belle. Life is beautiful. Many of the windows of these stone houses look out to a panorama of green meadows and pastures. Driving along the winding roads can be a chore, more so the parking, because of the narrow and steep inclines. We spotted the huge stone building acquired by Picasso and given as a gift to one of his (many) mistresses Dora Maar, who is an artist herself, but more popular as Picasso’s muse in many of his weeping lady paintings. She died at a very old age and was reportedly so invested in the Provençal lifestyle when still alive. After her death, the property transferred ownership and is now used as a retreat house for artists, poets and novelists.

These houses can do with some scrubbing but I’m not sure if the charm rests on its worn-out look.
In Menerbes, we saw the huge building Picasso gifted his mistress, Dora Maar.

Roussillon is just as sparsely populated but as the guide promised, it is so different from Ménerbes. It sits atop one of the largest ochre deposits in the world and these deposits give the village its natural reddish brown appeal much like how Colorado in USA is. Unfortunately, my nieto suffered a vertigo spell here so after viewing the cliff side views, we sat it out by the pharmacie waiting for the meds to run its course. Besides, the heat was really getting to us. Tropical babes that we are, it was just so hard to walk uphill with the sun shining fiercely and sweating profusely as the walks generated heat against this onset of summer temps.

The ochre cliffs of Roussillon
Roussillon Pharmacie

Tourism is alive in the Luberon area. There were many groups who came in vans good for 8 pax. No big buses , perhaps because of the narrow roads in the area. It’s always a good idea to visit Provence. Though Provence has been a part of France for well over 400 years, it has retained its cultural identity much like the Catalans and the Basques in Spain have. Same, Same but different. And I wouldn’t even venture to clearly define the dividing line here. La vie est belle . 😊 Smile!