Double Welcome to Provence

Sunday, 12 May 2019, first full day of the Luberon Experience welcomed me with two very
Provençal experiences. First was the Mistral’s fierce welcome to the Luberon. This strong, cold, northwesterly wind discouraged many Isle-sur-la-Sorgue vendors from setting up at the traditional Sunday market, as their wares and perhaps their entire booths might well have blown away. Today booths were set up only on a few blocks on one side of the river, which seemed more manageable to me than the full market had been in 2006. I did not see any antiques dealers; typically, people come from as far away as Paris to buy antiques here. Tent flaps and colorful
Provençal cloths slapped and billowed in wind gusts. Savory steam rising from cooking foods warmed chilly air.

As a gentleman in our group relaxed in a sidewalk café, the Mistral blew the foam right off his cappuccino and his hat off his head. When he stood up to chase his hat, some lady’s flying scarf fluttered into his hand.

A tall stool by the window of Café de France was Charley’s post. Kathy was on a mission to buy fresh produce, cheeses, and sausages for our picnic lunch back at Hotel Le Clos du Buis. Every so often she would pop in to the café to deposit some bags at Charley’s feet; then she’d dash out the door to continue her shopping mission. A number of us joined Charley in Café de France to warm ourselves with hot beverages and use the toilettes.

Besides the Mistral, the buffet lunch in our hotel’s “ballroom,” basically a cave in the basement by the door to the garden, was also notable. Wish I had taken a photo of the most beautiful bowl of tomatoes ever. Rough-chopped red, orange, yellow, and purple tomatoes glistened like large jewels. Olives, sausage, cheeses, juicy rotisserie chicken, fresh apricots, cherries, strawberries, and breads were all purchased by Kathy at Isle-sur-la-Sorgue market this morning. Best apricot ever! This would be the first of many meals on this trip when I marveled that food in France tastes like what it is supposed to taste like.

After lunch, when Kathy and Charley’s two vans finished steep-switch-backing and deposited us at the top of Bonnieux’s hill by the old church and walked us around for history and vistas, photo ops abounded. The Knights Templar built the hexagonal part of the old church. On the other side off the old church stones vertically zigzag from the earthquake of 1909.

The Mistral howled in trees with a ripping, roaring sound. Everyone’s hair seemed about to take flight. I felt a bit scared to be so high up and so severely buffeted. Whenever I got poised to take a photo, the wind bumped my arm. Seemed best to keep my arms close to my torso and my person away from the edges of the hill. Four-hundred-twenty-five meters altitude is only about fourteen-hundred feet, but the drop-offs were sheer. And that wind was powerful and unpredictable.

Although I have spent time in Provence before, I had not experienced the famous Mistral, so now I have. Vibrant food tastes are among my favorite highlights of previous trips. And they both welcomed me on the first day of the Luberon Experience.