Villelaure
Beautiful mornings at our apartment in Villelaure
Beautiful mornings at our apartment in Villelaure
Villelaure was the town where we rented an apartment to tour the area. It was well positioned to visit other towns in the area.
Next to the town was Le Chateau de la Reine-Laurance. This was a historic fortified rural estate from the 17th or 18th Century. It was built for a noble agricultural seat who managed the vineyards and orchards. It is now privately owned with no public access to the grounds.
Known as the "Porte du Luberon". A pleasant Provence Village to explore. There is a large car-park below the town that even has an elevator to take you up to the town. The town dates back to 981. I concluded that I did not spend enough time in the town as will go back and see more if we return to this area. On one of our days we visited a medical clinical. We were still suffering from coughs from the colds we caught in Paris. A long wait to see the doctor. Long enough that we were able to leave, visit a bar, enjoy an Aperol Spritz, monitor the waiting from on our phone app and return to see the doctor. She was great.
It is written up as a hidden gem. I must say, the architecture in the old centre was interesting and the church has an atomospher you will not quickly forget. I have visited many villages with the designation of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, and this is one that owns that designation.
Park in the lot below the town and a staircase takes you to the road that takes you to the centre of the historic centre. I enjoyed a coffee, walked many of the streets. Walked to the gates of the chateau (they were locked. The walls and gate are massive. It was built as a military fortress. Now it is a private residence.
The church has painted walls in some areas and the sense of age seaps out of every stone.
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This town was one of the highlights of this segment. The town was very pleasant. Interesting streets to walk and a very authentic feel. I arrived very early in the morning. There was a massive heat wave in France so my morning drives were early as by 10 or so it would already be in the 30s. I arrived before the market was set up selling mainting food items. Croisants were excellent.
The 12th C Romanesque church and graveyard was interesting, sitting off to the side of the town in a quite walled area. Unfortunately, tourist is not big in this town and the church was locked.
We visited Curcuron last year and enjoyed the town. It is located neare Villelaure and I thought a second visit would be good. It was.
I arrived quite early in the morning (heat wave) so there was not much activity around its massive water basin. The restaurants and bars would open up later in the day. I explore a different area inside the walled historic centre. The streets were interesting and the people were residents rather than tourists. I even climbed to the top of the hill were a few towers are all that remain of the old castle.
On this day I was just driving through the area. When I arrived at Jouques in the Bouches-du-Rhône Department. The village dates to the 10thC, the walls built in the 16th C. After the French Revolution the ramparts were removed. When you enter the town on the main road there are stors and restaurants, with tables across the street. There are some great scenes, but to see the town, you have to take the stairs of a number of alley ways to access the innter streets.
This is another authentic town. It does not explode in the summer and die down in the off-season. Walk the streets and enjoy the look of the town and take in the experience of a real town of Vaucluse.
I noted in my Travel Journal that I was not overly impressed with the town at first. But, as I walked about I started to appreciate the little scene after scene that found.