In 2003, Clément Demontis first arrived in Avignon; to attend l’Université d’Avignon. Clément followed his undergraduate studies (history and geography) with a Master’s degree in history, so he is well qualified to share the city’s historical facts. Avignon Authentic Stories, Clément’s tour company, launched in 2014 (first tours in 2015). …

As France’s second-largest city after Paris, Marseille appears overwhelming with well over 1 million people in the greater metropolitan area (1,831,500 January 2011 census). Marseille has been a port city since 600BC when the Greeks established a trading base in this location. Positioned on the Mediterranean Marseille has long been …

After several centuries, cascades of turquoise water carved a 20km limestone canyon known as the Gorges du Verdon, which became part of the protected Parc Naturel Régional du Verdon in 1997. The Verdon River flows 166km from its source in the Alps to Lac St Croix engraving the sheer rock …

Jessica and Elodie are celebrating an anniversary. These tourism graduates launched their travel agency Provence Authentic one year ago, in January 2015. Originally from Lyon, Jessica has lived in Provence for a decade, and Elodie is local. She was born in Carpentras, only 15kms away from their headquarters in Vacqueyras. …

French by birth, a traveller by nature, Martine Bertin-Peterson is a Marketing and Management Professor at the College of New Jersey. However, once classes wind down for the summer, Martine begins her bespoke Goût et Voyage tours in Provence.  “What more can a man ask of heaven? If I should happen to die …

Take a stroll along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and you can be almost guaranteed of a couple things all year long: sun and plenty of people watching. The song Nissa la Bella (Nice the Beautiful) makes lots of sense for this coastal city on the Mediterranean where the …

Trailing her degrees from Yale and the University of New York, former actress Heather Robinson changed careers to become a travel writer. She has been living in France for over 14 years with her photographer companion. You can read more about Heather’s favourite spots in Arles and her “Lost in …

Contributor blog post by Aixcentric: Context Travel, already operating across Europe, Asia and the Americas, have just added Provence to their list of city-tours. Their difference is that their guides are scholars or specialists: architects, art historians, environmentalists, classicists for instance, thus bringing an academic perspective to the tour. The …

Much like her decision to follow a good looking French photographer to his native land. The couple were struck by a coup de coeur (love struck) when they spent one fateful night in Arles in 2003. You can read the full story in Heather’s blog post here. Whether you are …

Almost anywhere in Provence a casual glance around oneself will reveal a proliferation of Roman ruins, medieval hilltop fortresses, Renaissance châteaux and Romanesque cathedrals, for this is a  region steeped in history (not to mention myth, legend and folklore). Yet much of that history remains maddeningly elusive for the Anglo-Saxon …