Since Provence is heavily associated with lavender, I thought lavender fields would be everywhere in Provence. Nope! The easiest way to see lots and lots of lavender fields is to head to the Valensole plateau, an hour north-east of Aix-en-Provence. These fields are manicured and not covered with weeds, but are drying out so not as beautiful as when blooming the bright purple color.
Lots and lots of lavender!
I begin each day trip with a 2-mile bus ride to the parking lot where our car is (Hauts de Brunet parking lot). Not today though. Today is Sunday so most places are closed - including the buses! One of the routes to the parking lot doesn't even run on Sunday. The other route runs one bus each hour between 10am-6pm. So today started with a 2-mile uphill walk. I expected the parking lot to be closed when I arrived, but did not realize it would be sealed with a gate! Now what?!
Hauts de Brunet is locked up tight on Sundays
I went through the motions anyway - might as well give it a try! Fortunately the big green gate opens when you put in your parking ticket!
We actually didn't see a lavender field until just outside of Valensole, at the junction to St. Gregoire. Out of curiosity, we turned off to St. Gregoire. It is a tiny cluster of houses that looks like someone's big front yard.
A good name for a town!
Driver pulled over at the empty lavender field so I could hop out for pictures.
We found some sunflowers that are still in bloom!
Everyone stops at the first lavender field. Six cars had pulled over during our brief stop!
Don't stop at the first field but turn the bend to an even better one (with less people)!
Outside of Valensole we could not continue on the main road. It was closed (due to the festival) and we were forced to a side road.
We had to park 1.3 km outside of Valensole
The free shuttle wasn't running yet so we walked to Valensole
Walking through the residential outskirts of Valensole
Valensole's pretty town square
Full bladders meant we had to follow the signs to the WC. Here is a picture of Valensole's public restroom:
"Ewwww. What is that?! Seriously??" --Kate
Luckily they open up the town cinema restrooms for the festival!
The Valensole Lavender Festival is held annually on the third Sunday of July. As I wanted to go to the lavender fields anyway, it seemed like a good idea to time it with the festival. The festival has about ~90 vendors selling lavender products, a parade, helicopter rides over the fields (38 euro), and open distilleries.
English version of the Valensole Festival pdf flyer
"Good mood provided throughout the day"
The festival is split onto two levels on the town. The upper level has the town square, cafes, and a street lined with some booths. I preferred the lower level, "marche 2", where most of the festival seems to be set up. It also has a huge parking area that you can only access if you are coming in from the east (because from the west all roads are closed).
Valensole marche 1
Valensole marche 2
We sampled lavender breads and pate
If you can figure out how to get to this lot, this is where you want to park
The folk group getting ready to "parade" through the town
We had our share of the lavender festival, and then returned back to Aix. As our Aix-en-Provence parking lot is closed on Sundays, returning to it was not an option. Instead we found cheaper, closer parking on the street.
