With Eric and Tina here for one week, I planned to cover some of the Lubéron and Provence villages. No Avignon, since we’re already staying in Arles, which is a smaller version of Avignon.

Before this trip, we have read Peter Mayle‘s A Year in Provence, which is about his first year living in a Luberon village in 1987. His book inspired lots of Brits to relocate to the Luberon looking for the rural idyll that the book describes, to leave their old impatient selves behind and live in the moment. Peter Mayle bought a farmhouse and spent 4 seasons renovating it. We are here as visitors/tourists, condensed his 365 days into a few hours, and could only imagine his Provencal life.

Given what we had, we visited Gordes, Roussillon, Lourmarin while driving around the Luberon. All in one day.

Roussillon – Le Village Rouge with its red, orange, and yellow ochre cliffs could be seen as we left Gordes.

And Lourmarin? It’s where Albert Camus lived and was buried (1913-1960). Camus moved here after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. We took a break at Cafe Gaby where he used to hang out maybe to contemplate the absurdity of life. We walked through the Rue Albert Camus trying to guess which one was his.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”