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An ancient room to sleep in
The wood visible over the window is original 400 year old oak! Lourmarin is indeed a plus beau village and that is why we chose to stay here. We looked up the offical list of the ten most beautiful French villages and checked them all out - but Lourmarin's location in Provence, and the fact that it is fairly flat and not clinging to the side of a mountain won us over. We were also to discover that it has an extraordinary number of galleries and artists for a tiny place. So that was it and the rest of our trip developed from that decision.
After our big journey from Paris on Saturday, it was like coming home when we drove into La Luberonne chambre d’hôtes. There are villas and a pool at the front, but this cottage is the old farmhouse, situated at the back of the property and has the privacy we yearned while being close to what we need. We have exchanged emails in broken French with Loïc, the owner and it is lovely to meet him at last. He has been in Lourmarin over twenty years and in Aix before that. This is a fairly casual arrangement and there are no written instructions and no paperwork or ID
exchanged. He just took us round explaining how it all works (or doesn’t work)!
What a place! The date 1611 is carved over the door from the bedroom. The stones have been freshly rendered but there is original oak visible over the window. The bedroom is like a vault with an amazing curved roof - presumably the stones were constructed on the arch method and after 400 years they are not likely to fall down on us! Wooden furniture and a Provençal quilted bedspread complete the charm. The blue shutters and welcoming outdoor furniture give it a postcard look, the whole place framed by an olive and apricot tree. Parfait!
After we had emptied our suitcases at last and had a scratch meal of leftover railway sandwiches and a cup of soup, Peter suggested a 'little' walk into the village on our first evening. It is light until around 9pm and a very pleasant temperature, so we walked down the road - the bell tower on the church is framed perfectly in the glowing light from our street. Our first exploration! It did not disappoint. The village curls around and from the air looks like an ear. If
you start walking into the centre it is like getting lost in a Fibonacci spiral, as the couple of streets wide enough for cars are joined by dozens of lanes and alleys that take you further into the alluring stonework maze. No map would help - you just wander. In the glowing evening light, every turn reveals a picture perfect tableau of stone buildings, blue shutters, huge wooden doors, climbing roses, flowers in planters and more often than not, an ancient fountain. Add a few families out walking, some stray cats and a gallery around every bend and we are delighted and also lost in no time.
To give an idea of the size of the village, we measured out the size of the it on maps and found that the length of Lourmarin is about three times the length of our property at home in Bittern, Australia and there are about 1300 people living in there, all so close together. All roads lead to the centre square, which has about three cafes spilling out into the balmy night and a cluster of other shops, including the one boulangerie - our baker. People are laughing and talking loudly over
their late dinner, and we note that our decision not to stay in an apartment over the square was a good call - it is noisy! Our cottage is a few hundred metres from the centre. Then we saw the sign to the eglise, the church. It was a steep climb up to the highest point in the village and by this time our little walk had turned into a big walk - and we explored the locked up church precinct with only a stray cat for company. I don’t really relate to cats but I always seem to attract them, much to Peter's amusement.
The light was fading, but Peter was enjoying opening up the aperture of the SLR camera. We have learnt to take photos when we arrive somewhere while the impact is fresh, and because we can never find the same sights again! I could barely make one foot go in front of the other by then, and we still had to get home, which was all uphill! Some experiences are worth the effort, and our first taste of Lourmarin told us that there would be more to come. We were also drawn to the history
of the place. Lourmarin has been a centre of Protestant rebellion over the centuries, and as a result has a huge Protestant temple on the outskirts, as well as the traditional Catholic Church in the centre. Throw in a castle and the shadow of the Luberon mountains and this little village has it all. Our dream of being immersed in a French village is happening. We are even trying out a little of our Duolingo app acquired French.
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