Provence (French pronunciation: [pʁɔvɑ̃s]; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The traditional region of Provence comprises the départements of Var, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes and parts of Hautes-Alpes. The Romans, who conquered it in the 2nd Century B.C., named it Provincia Nostra ("our province") or simply Provincia ("the province"), and the name in French thus became Provence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provence
My last day was made up of a bit of traveling I woke up in early in Marseille...this time checking the bus times from Marseille to Aix-en-Provence. I enjoyed the morning/early afternoon in Aix and then decided to make my way back down to the coast to see La Ciotat, another cute little coastal town.
Aix-en-Provence is beautiful. It has an equal balance between city feel and small town feel. It kind of has an eclectic/indie feel to it.
There were cute little markets selling local handmade jewelry, soaps, clothing, house products, etc...
I then stumbled upon a farmer's market with fabulous edible products...
Including beautiful peaches
Glowing tomatoes...
And incredible figs. How did I know they were incredible?! Well there was a swarm of bees around them taking advantage of the succulent sugars bursting out of the bums of the fruits.
Cute little stores...
Neat little streets...
Beautiful squares...
Simple yet elegant window sills....
Cozy little patios...
All in all... it was well worth the visit... I will definitely stay longer next time. I hopped on the bus and was off to the coast...
La Ciotat...another fabulous coastal Mediterranean town.
With beautiful beaches...
La Ciotat was the setting of one the very first projected motion pictures, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat filmed by the The Lumière brothers in 1895. After several private showings, the fifty-second long film was given a public screening on December 28, 1895, in Paris, the first recorded commercial public showing of a motion picture. According to the Institut Lumière, before its Paris premiere, the film was shown to invited audiences in several French cities, including La Ciotat. It was screened at the Eden Theater in September 1896, making that theater one of the first motion picture theaters.[1]
There was an exposition going on while I was there... during a period of 30 days they opened the doors to show a bit of the history of the theater and had a film playing behind the glass. Neat... and glad I could be there for that!
Most of the day was spent on the beach or on the rocks overlooking the Mediterranean Sea... oh how I love that body of water...
In case you were wondering.... the bees had good taste. This was the best fig I have ever eaten.
A fabulous weekend in a beautiful place in the world... Provence, France.
No comments:
Post a Comment