A Year in Provence in 8 days: Provence tours

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A year in Provence in 8 days & 7 nights-A week in Provence

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The Historical Hill top Villages of the Luberon

Those who have read Peter Mayle's books, especially his best selling "A Year in Provence", dream of visiting the famous hill top villages of the Luberon and the surrounding vineyards and lavender fields. We can tell you the fantasy is actually real and still there. Indeed Peter Mayle had a hand in bringing tourism to the area along with the rich and famous who can hide out in the countryside and still visit the local village markets, bars and restaurants.

More important Peter Mayle's Provence is inside the Parc naturel régional du Luberon, a protected area, which is recognized as having "Les Plus beaux Villages du France." These Most Beautiful Villages of France that qualify are Gordes, Lourmarin, Menerbes, Roussillon, Séguret and Les Baux-de-Provence. We would certainly include the Villages of Goult, Bonnieux, La Coste and Fontaine de Vaucluse in that list.   All of these villages are historical monuments in their own right. They are born and carved in stone with medieval ramparts topped off with castles and 11th and 12 th century churches. These Villages, virtually within site of each other, are only separated by wonderful wineries, vineyards, lavender and poppy fields.

Our exclusive 8-day 7-nights guided tour of Provence France is led by Anne-Marie Hampton, a French Ph.D., native of Provence. We have been doing our small group Provence tours for 17 years now. Our newly built home is next to the village of Roussillon. We can say with certainty Peter Mayle's experiences are true and he was indeed quite gentle and tactful with the local contractors. He no doubt brought them a lot of work over the last 20 some years, increased tourism and rightfully helped put the Luberon region on the map so who is to complain . . . certainly not us. Historically the villages were very poor and abandoned by the young. One could buy a house for the price of the roof tiles, but those days have long since passed.

Please review our 2012 Day by Day itinerary and join us for an exclusive guided tour of Peter Mayle's Provence. After our Saturday evening dinner, our tour begins with a Sunday (Market Day) visit of the village of Isle Sur la Sorge which has the largest and most diverse market in the area and second to largest market in France for antiques. After the market you will have champagne and lunch with us at our house and then visit of the Village of Roussillon before taking you back to your lodging in the village of Gordes.

Suggested readings: Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence", "Toujours Provence" and "Encore Provence" and other stories.

Phone: 602-953-3173 - Fax: 602-953-3283 - email: fvv@qwest.net