TRAVEL DIARY BETWEEN PROVENCE AND THE FRENCH RIVIERA

Notes about one of the most beautiful areas of the South of France. The idea of Chiara Travels’ was born here

Driving along the road, bordered by the Rhône River, starting from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, reaching Aix-en-Provence, and finding oneself in the sea of Saint-Tropez, in the heart of the French Riviera.

Two weeks of summer, among family and friends, to visit Provence: my travel notes are guided by colours and emotions that have always accompanied me and helped me see the world from another perspective. Places, knowledge, experiences…

Week 1. From madness to beauty, across art

The first week has passed: a dive into colours, scents, flavours, lights, in a culture that blends perfectly with history, in an art that balances with the landscape, in that “slow living” marked by the rhythm created by very pleasant discoveries.

An immense blue expanse… violet, or indigo? A deep field of lavender, stretching to the horizon, just outside Saint Rémy.

We stay at Villa La Bergerie, comfortable and eclectic at the same time. The time to feel at ease and we arrive in the centre of Saint Rémy. Staying in a villa, especially in this one but more generally in private homes, can lead to “sweet idleness”, but we – me, my family, and my friends, we want to explore the places and the culture that this magnificent French land offers us. This evening, letting ourselves be caressed by the Provençal breeze, we will have time – on the patio of Villa La Bergerie – to exchange opinions and curiosities about France. But now it’s time to go…

Villa La Bergerie

Pastel-coloured cottages, plane trees, cafes, restaurants, market stalls: “a little taste” of the Wednesday market that occupies the three main squares of the city. We could have continued to explore Saint Rémy for longer, weeks, even months but there is a place that we are very curious to visit, to get to know. A place that over a century ago, also awaited Vincent Van Gogh: the monastery of Saint Paul de Mausole, still today – but also at that time – home to a psychiatric hospital.

The Dutch painter chose to come here spontaneously, combining his passion for painting with the need for care, and in just one year, he created over 150 paintings, including Starry Night.