France Once Again: Chapter 5ive: Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

We left the Mediterranean, the most wondrous of seas, and headed north for a few weeks to our next destination: Aix-en-Provence, one of our very favourite cities in France.

Aix-en-Provence is a university town where young people are on the streets, day and night. This is such a pleasure to see after visiting so many small towns and cities, and medieval piles where the youth have left, and the mood is somber.

What makes Aix so special for us? Impossible to answer fully in the context of a blog, but we find that Aix is culturally, historically, artistically, academically, and geographically unique.

It offers much to the curious French, and the foreign traveller, alike.

Aix is a place bustling with energy, a people- watching oasis.

And if the visitor is attracted to France for its history, architecture, monuments and creative talent, then this is the place to satisfy those interests too.

19th Century social critic, writer Emile Zola, and his lifelong friend, post impressionistic painter Paul Cézanne are among the most famous sons of Aix. I highly recommend the film, Cézanne et Moi (2016). I think it is a must for anyone planning to visit Aix. I watched it on our Air France flight to Paris.

It is nice and warm when we arrive in the city an hour or so before the Tuesday street market closes.

Joanne is on a mission to find the Moroccan vendor of cheap, comfortable leather slippers. She had worn out her pair that she bought from him in 2009.

Voila! We find him right away. He is the same guy. He is not wearing his kaftan. He looks more like a Frenchman now in his western clothes. Joanne bought a brilliant red; I, camel colour.

So far, this has been one of our best buys in France, to keep our feet warm on the cold stone floors of much of our accommodation.

We stayed for two nights at le Ferme, a terrific Gites, about a ten minute drive from the city. Our host, Jean, was welcoming, friendly, very articulate in English, informative about the area, and most interesting for us, an engaging commentator on global affairs and the French election. We were like sponges for information, having been away from world news during our trip.

Does the reader know what time the sundial, below, is showing?

--- 000O000 ---

I was desperate to stretch my legs after so much driving, and was in need of a nature walk, and some landscape photography time. Jean pointed me to the trail that led from his house through the forest, to one of the benches where Cézanne set up his easel to paint Mont Sainte Victoire in the late 1800's.

Alone, I followed an unwell-marked path through a late spring cedar and oak forest. Spooky though it was, I did not get lost.

Soon enough, post-impressionistic tree markings appeared. Anyone could decipher these, right?

The late afternoon sun lit up the trail. With only my tripod to fend off truffle hunters and wild boars, I ambled on,

up ankle-breaking dry stream beds and rocky steps ...