It might be Dante's idea of hell but it is not ours!

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Another day, another ruin up a hill - we will be super fit at the end of all this. The weather has been good every day so far and today was properly hot!

After a windy (as in winding road not blowing wind) drive through the mountains we arrived in Les Baux de Provence, one of the most beautiful villages in France, according to the signs on the way in. Parking was an issue as it is very popular, given it was actually reasonably quiet we can only imagine the horror of trying to get a spot in August.

We walked up to the castle that sits on top of the hill, the village really is pretty, like a Disney interpretation of a medieval village but real! We walked past lots of nice looking shops selling sweets (including big piles of candied whole fruits) and biscuits for Laura and olives, tapenades and wine for Tim!

The castle itself is mostly ruined but was a huge site in it's heyday. It is now used for medieval battle reconstructions a few times a year, one of which was due to start the day after we visited. They therefore had some games and demonstrations set up and I knocked over some skittles, got put in stocks and saw some sword fighting demonstrations.

The valleys around the castle are famous for amongst other things being the inspiration for hell in Dante's inferno (the multi-million euro mansions that now occupy it say that it has improved since his visit) and being painted a lot for Van Gogh and friends.

We then headed out for lunch and found a nice restaurant to have a steak (beef for me, bull for Tim) and frites for lunch. It was very nice and had lots of Provençal herbs on it. The only thing we noticed is how quickly we've got used to smoking being banned in England. In France almost every table has a smoker on it (outside, it is banned inside) and they think nothing of lighting up immediately after the meal.

After lunch we drove on to St Remy de Provence, a very pretty town with lots of nice narrow lanes full of shops selling bits and pieces of arty stuff and lavender. It is the birthplace of Nostradamus (you predicted I'd say that) and where Van Gogh painted most of his famous works, he was in the asylum here which is still open today. We had an ice cream and a wander to round off another nice day.

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