FRANCE
Prestige
golf & hotel in Provence's hearth
 -
What
to see
Provence is a God blessed country for its natural
beauties, products and year long mild sunny climate. It has
also a long history since Phoenician created the city of Marseille
around the bay and Roman invaded the country for a few centennials
leaving a lot of monuments, some being still in good shape
to host festivals or corridas.
In the North, Orange is world-renowned Roman
theatre. In summer time, concerts and operas are performed
in the antique amphitheatre which contains about 5000 people.
Its immense stage makes great works greater: Aïda, Carmina
Burana, Nabuchodonosor, Turandot in the last years. A good
advice: take a cushion (the antique genuine stones are hard)
and a binocular to watch the details.
The city of Avignon is renowned for an old
half broken bridge - where a counting rhyme says that it was
a place to dance in round – and the Pope’s Palace
where a yearly theatre festival takes place for a month in
July. Have also a look on the belt of old stone walls which
protected the city against the past (and present) flooding
of the Rhône river.
Aix-en-Provence is the capital of the province.
It is the best example of the local architecture. Simply walk
through the narrow streets, look at houses and doors, take
a drink at a terrace of a café at the daylong crowded
Cours Mirabeau. In the surroundings of the city, one understands
why so many painters have been attracted by the natural scenery.
East and West from Avigon-Aix, the massifs of Luberon
and Alpilles are the two ventricles of the
hearth of Provence. There are seating a number of smaller
cities of stones and sun with typical provençal architecture
like Gordes, Saint-Rémy or the ochre quarries and factories
at Roussillon or a lot of Roman ruins like Vaison-la-Romaine
Arles or Pont du Gard and ist famous aquaduct. And many of
those places have the recollection of their most famous hosts:
- the astrologist
Nostradamus at St Rémy de Provence,
- Petrarch the poet who fall in love of Laura at Fontaine
de Vaucluse
- Van Gogh who produced 200 paintings in Arles
- Daudet who wrote his letters in his mill near les Baux
de Provence
- the 101 fountains in remembrance of Cézanne, Darius
Milhaud, St-John Perse, Vasarely, Zola… in Aix-en-Provence…
South,
never forget the splendour of the sightseeing of Marseille
and his bay to see from the top of the hill where a cathedral
has been erected to Mary, mother of Jesus, and here called
the "Bonne Mère". Around Marseille, go to
the west throughout the natural reserve of Camargue
where typical horsedrivers guardians cattle wild white horses
and toros manaderias.
To the east, go from one crick to another along the Mediterranean
coast and have a seafood meal (like the bouillabaisse) on
a terrace of a restaurant at Cassis with a fresh good local
white wine. Further, Toulon is the great
harbour of the French Marine and the coast has famous seaside
resorts, Bandol, Saint-Tropez, Sainte-Maxime, Saint-Raphaël
(“All the Saints”). In the hinterland, Saint-Maximin
is known for its ancient cathedral which can be seen from
the highway et cities and villages are settled like a snail
around the church on rocky peaks. And from there to square
towers called “sarracen” have been erected to
watch the invadors.And everywhere there are pines trees and
in the summertime cicadas sing all day long and even at night
when it is very hot.
|
|
Orange amphitheatre
Pope's palace in Avignon
Aix en Provence fountain
Gordes
Daudet's mill near les Baux
The port of Cassis
|
REPORTS | GOLFNOTES | ARCHIVES | E-MAIL 
