Les Baux

We arrived at Les Baux after we left Cassis, though we did stop at Aix de Provence for about two hours. Les Baux is magical to me. There is nothing like it. It is a tiny town carved out of the mountainside with origins and ruins dating back to the 12th century.

Clouds had started to gather by the time we arrived; around six. After checking into our B&B, we ate dinner and wandered the now nearly vacant town (all the day trippers had left). The cobbled streets are very narrow and wind upward toasted the ruins of an old chateau that housed the barons or lords that were in power. The town was attacked several times in it's history due to it's excellent location atop a high hill as well as for limestone, bauxite and fertile green valleys it controlled.

We brought our tiny car into town after seven when it is allowed, and brought our bags in as you do not want to risk ruining them by bumping them along the uneven stones. James is very intrigued by how people built and modernized such medieval buildings.

A huge storm rolled in our first night and we were awakened by monstrously loud claps of thunder and blinding flashes of lightening. It went on and off for several hours making it hard to sleep. We could hear the deluge and saw the damage it made the next day when we visited nearby St Remy to try to do laundry. Many stores were mopping out and closed, including the one laundromat. We decided to try again the next day.

I will write more about Les Baux again when I have more time, but I will tease you by saying we didn't get much sleep the next night either.