Bonnieux, La Coste, & Manerbes: Exploring the Villages in the Luberon Hills

During my last full day in Provence, I decided to visit the three small Luberon Hill villages that Jim and Hazel liked so much. The quaint town of Bonnieux was my first stop. Although the Tourism Office was closed, the artist who shares his studio with the Tourism Office was nice enough to give me an English map of the village. It didn’t take long to walk up and down the narrow cobblestone roads, visiting the current church at the bottom of the hill, then making my way up to the 12th century church at the top of the hill (that is no longer in use). The views overlooking the new church and the vast Luberon landscape were reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside. Although Bonnieux is quite a sleepy town, the fact that it was a Monday (a day where many businesses close during the week), made it even more of a ghost town. I still was able to find a decent restaurant where I had a perfect final Provencal lunch. As I was finishing my meal, an English-speaking family of 5 sat down next to me and overheard me talking to the waitress in English. The mother ended up introducing herself and inviting me to join their table. Unfortunately, I had already finished my meal, but we did talk long enough for me to find out that she and her husband lived in North Carolina and her son and daughter-in-law were from San Diego, CA. They were halfway into their month long stay in Provence. They were a really friendly family, and lucky for them the mom spoke fluent French.
After I said goodbye, I headed to the even smaller village of La Coste. Although there was far less to see and do in that town, I actually quite liked it. A charming village complete with arched entrances that led to even more narrow cobblestone roads, La Coste was unlike any of the previous villages I have visited. Apparently, Pierre Cardin (the clothing designer) has invested quite a bit of money into this tiny village, and at the top where the old chateau ruins are located, there was a display of odd and indescribable white sculptures the somehow tied back to Pierre Cardin (but I’m not quite sure how…I just noticed his name on one of the French notices posted at the entrance). Strangely enough, I did notice quite a bit more English speaking people in the village, and I later learned that La Coste is home to the sister school of a well-known Art Institute in Savannah, Georgia. That may explain the dyed pieces of cloth hanging from clotheslines throughout the village.
The final village I drove to was Manerbes. Like the previous two Luberon Hill towns, Manerbes was also very small and easy to explore. The old abandoned church, which sat at the top of the hill, offered beautiful views of the countryside down below. I didn’t stay in Manerbes very long and I returned to Les Carmes by about 5pm. I gave myself a few hours to relax, repack, and catch up with everyone back home. I met all of the other guests downstairs at 8pm for our usual aperitif prior to dinner. There were quite a few outside visitors, mainly James’s chef friends from the restaurant I ate at last night, Auberge de Lagnes. The Belgium couple, Bert & Lieve with the two kids Willam and Margot were still at Les Carmes, but a new family from Florida/Georgia recently arrived and I chatted with them for a while. Jeff and Cindy are the parents (who live in Georgia) and they were there with their 26-year old daughter Laura. Although they had been staying at Les Carmes for a couple of nights already, this was going to be their first night eating dinner at Les Carmes. They were nice enough to invite me to eat dinner with them, and it was great getting to know them.
The reason why I chose to stay at Les Carmes, and all of the other previous B&Bs for that matter, was due to the more family-like atmosphere compared to what a hotel typically offers. I have been lucky enough to be “adopted” by various families during the Les Carmes dinners each night. Although I don’t mind eating alone, I definitely prefer company and good conversation. It was interesting to meet families from all over the world: Northern Ireland, India, France, Belgium, California, Florida, and Georgia during my stay at Les Carmes. I did however find it funny whenever I told people that I live in Hawaii, many of them couldn’t imagine wanting to take a vacation from a place that is so synonymous with the “ultimate getaway destination”.
My last dinner at Les Carmes was amazing as usual. It was also fun talking to Jeff, Cindy, and Laura during the meal. I’ve found that there’s a different type of camaraderie, a similar sense of knowing where each other comes from, when meeting fellow Americans in a foreign country, despite coming from various hometowns or ethnicities. The wine freely flowed and we didn’t leave the dinner table until after midnight. By the time I actually went to bed, I only had two hours of shuteye before the alarm was set to wake me up to start my day traveling to my final destination.

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