Carrières de Lumiéres

 

On our last few trips to Provence we've gone to see "Carrières de Lumiéres", a multimedia show which sets music to images displayed on the walls of an old quarry near the ancient village of Les Baux-de-Provence.

This year's first show was based on the works of Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian.

For a few seconds the quarry walls were restored to normal.

And then the main show featured the works of a range of Dutch painters including Vermeer, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

Cucuron and Ansouis

 We went to Cucuron and discovered it was market day.

The Feast of Saint Tulle is held on the first Saturday after May 21. A poplar tree is transported through the village and tied-up to the front of the church. This commemorates the occasion of the "intervention of the saint" which reportedly put an end to the plague of 1720/1. This year's tree is still there until August.

The names of all 1,000 residents who died in the 1720/1 plague are listed near the dungeon at the other end of town.

Then we went to Ansouis which has a private castle and a 12th century church.

Dinner at La Flambee in Bonnieux again as the sun set.

Visitors, Château La Canorgue

Jo Crabb and Stephen Allwood popped in for lunch on their way from Tuscany back to their home in Montjaux.

Earlier Matthew walked to Bonnieux with John via a slightly different route to take a peek at a villa where we stayed in 2010. We'd hired it from Charlie Chaplin's grandson. It had belonged to Chaplin's son-in-law, a French actor/director named Maurice Ronet who is buried in the cemetery nearby. 

Then we lunched in the villa with Jo and Stephen.

In the afternoon some of us visited nearby Château La Canorgue to do some tasting and buying. Owned by UK director/producer Ridley Scott it featured in his 2006 movie "A Good Year" - based on Peter Mayle's book and starring Russell Crowe. We had Château La Canorgue red wine at our wedding here in 2005.