Theme Week Provence – Aubagne

22 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Kremtak/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Kremtak/cc-by-sa-3.0

Aubagne is a French commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Aubagnais or Aubagnaises.   read more…

Theme Week Provence – Orange

21 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

© theatre-antique.com - Culturespaces/Les chorégies/cc-by-sa-3.0

© theatre-antique.com – Culturespaces/Les chorégies/cc-by-sa-3.0

Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. It is located about 21 kilometres (13 miles) north of Avignon. It has a primarily agricultural economy.   read more…

Theme Week Provence

20 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  14 minutes

Moustiers Sainte Marie © Nepomuk

Moustiers Sainte Marie © Nepomuk

Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône River on the west to the Italian border on the east, and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the south. It largely corresponds with the modern administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and includes the départements of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse. The Romans made the region into the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana, which evolved into the present name. It was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence until 1481, when it became a province of the Kings of France. While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, particularly in the interior of the region. The original Roman province was called Gallia Transalpina, then Gallia Narbonensis, or simply Provincia Nostra (‘Our Province’) or Provincia. It extended from the Alps to the Pyrenees and north to the Vaucluse, with its capital in Narbo Martius (present-day Narbonne). In the 1940s, Provence underwent a cultural renewal, with the founding of the Avignon Festival of theatre (1947), the reopening of the Cannes Film Festival (begun in 1939), and many other major events. With the building of new highways, particularly the Paris Marseille autoroute which opened in 1970, Provence became destination for mass tourism from all over Europe. Many Europeans, particularly from Britain, bought summer houses in Provence. The arrival of the TGV high-speed trains shortened the trip from Paris to Marseille to less than four hours. Most of Provence has a Mediterranean climate, characterised by hot, dry summers, mild winters, little snow, and abundant sunshine. Within Provence there are micro-climates and local variations, ranging from the Alpine climate inland from Nice to the continental climate in the northern Vaucluse. The winds of Provence are an important feature of the climate, particularly the mistral, a cold, dry wind which, especially in the winter, blows down the Rhône Valley to the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Var Departments, and often reaches over one hundred kilometres an hour.   read more…

Hyères in Southern France

11 September 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

La Tour des Templiers © RudolfSimon/cc-by-sa-3.0

La Tour des Templiers © RudolfSimon/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hyères is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. Its position facing the Mediterranean to the south makes it a popular location for tourism in the winter, and facilitates the cultivation of palm trees; about 100,000 trees are exported from the area each year. As a result, the town is frequently referred to as Hyères-les-Palmiers (palmiers meaning palm trees).   read more…

Le Castellet in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region

29 April 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  5 minutes

Town Hall © Pierre Bona/cc-by-sa-3.0

Town Hall © Pierre Bona/cc-by-sa-3.0

Le Castellet is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. It is mostly a small feudal village perched on a cliff edge.   read more…

Cavalaire-sur-Mer on the Côte d’Azur

6 February 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  4 minutes

Bay of Cavalaire © Starus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bay of Cavalaire © Starus/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cavalaire-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. Cavalaire has a marina with 1200 berths.   read more…

Sanary-sur-Mer on the southern French Mediterranean coast

13 December 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Patrick Verdier

© Patrick Verdier

Sanary-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southeastern France. It is located in coastal Provence on the Mediterranean Sea 13 km (8.1 mi) from Toulon and 49 km (30 mi) from Marseille. It can be reached from Paris by TGV train in less than 4 hours. In high season there are direct flights to nearby Toulon from London, Oslo, Brussels and Rotterdam.   read more…

Cassis in southern France

29 November 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  7 minutes

Cassis seen from the cliffs © Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner

Cassis seen from the cliffs © Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner

Cassis is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region in southern France. It is a popular tourist destination, famous for its cliffs (falaises) and the sheltered inlets called calanques. The wines of Cassis are white and rosé, and not to be confused with crème de cassis, a specialty of Burgundy which takes its name from blackcurrants (cassis), not the commune.   read more…

Moustiers-Sainte-Marie in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

15 October 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Nepomuk

© Nepomuk

Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, or simply Moustiers, is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France, a part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.   read more…

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