Navigating the streets of Uzès on a market day is not for the faint of heart, add some road construction to the mix, and it gets a bit spicier, but I was determined. On the agenda, was a hands-on cooking class at le Pistou Cookery School, and the promise of …

Travel Guides for Provence Remember when we carried around hefty paperbacks to guide our travels? In the 1980s, long before smartphones, tourists faithfully checked these guidebooks for reviews on hotels, restaurants and must-see sights. Backpackers conscious of space and weight often discarded the pages for a city or region once …

You’ve got Mail Who doesn’t like getting a beautiful package in the mail? Some gift boxes provide clues about their contents. There is the telltale cardboard shape of a book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. At Tiffany & Co, their packages in Tiffany Blue – Pantone 1837 (trademarked) tied …

Culinary Holiday in France Occasionally magic happens in the kitchen, but the odds are better if you have some training. In the case of Chef Francois de Mélogue and his wife Lisa, they have a collective 30+ years in the hospitality industry, and both enjoy entertaining – a winning combination. …

Joy of Cooking in Provence True confession: I am a committed foodie (although the grammar checker doesn’t seem to like the word). Maybe that admission will get me off the hook for being unable to delete thousands of photos of markets objectively. Over the years, we have taken many (did …

Soaring in the Alpilles In the idyllic playground of the Alpilles, my husband (aka M. Avion) stumbled upon utopia for those who like (or wish to try) soaring. In the heart of the Bouches du Rhone, is a location where the confluence of meteorological elements and geology create near perfect …

Unlike the abundant shopping in the heart of Saint Remy de Provence, the village of Eygalieres has only a handful of boutiques. However, what this town lacks in retail opportunities it makes up for in the options for places to eat and drink. The following list of cafés and restaurants …

For many, Peter Mayle’s best-selling novel A Year in Provence was their introduction to the Provencal countryside. Images of the Côte d’Azur have long covered the pages of travel magazines. Still, it was Mayle’s descriptions of bumbling through a home renovation in the arrière-pays (translation: backcountry or hinterland) that shifted our …

Le Musée de Savon de Marseille MuSaMa opened in mid-March (2018) near the Vieux Port. This museum, boutique and workshop are dedicated to safeguarding the reputation of Savon de Marseille. The vision of the museum’s founders is to educate visitors about the vrai (real) Savon de Marseille, its eco-friendly ingredients, …

Josette’s Provence Published in September 2018, La Petite Josette en Provence is a beautifully illustrated children’s book based in Provence. The book is the result of a mother-daughter collaboration that took  3 and ½ years to complete. This children’s story is written primarily in English, but with plenty of French phrases …