Oh Provence. You are beautiful. Tu es belle. Nous t’aimons. 

We started off on Wednesday at Pont du Gard, which is about half an hour from where we’re staying. By this point J was getting used to driving, we were all getting used to being language-impaired and we could really use an outdoor adventure. Pont du Gard provided it.

Pont du Gard is a pretty well preserved Roman acqueduct. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has an impressive museum for us culture vulture types (J and I), and also has a lovely swimming spot on the river for us active types (the kids). It may have been the perfect place for our family to spend the day.

We came back to our Gite for a mid-afternoon swim and then headed to Chateneuf-du-Pape for dinner on top of a hill with a view of the Rhone valley.

After dinner we hiked up to the top of the hill and watched birds fly out of the castle ruins at sunset. Was this the perfect Provençal day? We think so.

UNESCO World Heritage sites are everywhere you turn down here, so on our next day we headed to another one in Les Baux-de-Provence.

Les Baux is a castle ruin that you can explore. Ther’es a guided audio tour, signs and some demonstration areas, but it’s pretty rustic. It’s also gorgeous and was really fun to explore and imagine knights and royalty from the Middle Ages living there.

We headed out when the heat got to us. Of course we stopped for ice cream on the way down and finished the day in the pool. As one does when they are in Provence.