Summer in Provence: Villages, Fine Dining and Lavender Fields of Valensole | SIMPLY SLOW TRAVELERAro

Welcome to a new video from my birthday week in Provence. Today I will start by showing you around the hotel I stayed in, La Bastide de Marie. Once an 18th century farmhouse, this beautiful small hotel near Manero is fully isolated, surrounded by nothing but vineyards and complete with its own winery, making it the perfect place for a quintessential Provençal and relaxing escape in the heart of the Louvre. The whole decoration in the common areas and the rooms is in perfect harmony with the history and heritage of the building, creating a homey and serene atmosphere throughout. The dining area, with views to the gardens, the vineyards and the hills, can be enjoyed by both internal and external guests on lunches and dinners. If the weather is nice, the meals are served on the outside terrace, with this incredible unobstructed views of the countryside landscape. The bedrooms and suites are scattered across the different parts of the ancient buildings, and when transforming them into the hotel, they had to be adapted to the existing structure. As such, each of them has a unique and singular character, with its own decoration and layout, but all feeling very welcoming and warm. The hotel also has a small boutique, selling clothing, accessories and decorative pieces, all with a very light and Provençal aesthetic. There are two swimming pools that you can choose from, one is heated and enclosed in between the buildings, and this one, split into two levels and surrounded by a pergola and cypress trees, perfect for refreshing yourself in a hot Provençal summer afternoon. After this tour around the hotel, we went visiting the nearby hilltop village of Gult. This is a very quiet and quaint village, not many people stop by this one, so it does retain a lot of its authenticity and its local life and activities, with a few cafes and restaurants, a couple of stores selling home goods, cheeses and everyday groceries and an art gallery. The village is not very big, but you can still spend a good hour or so leisurely walking in between the bare stone or ochre painted houses, with their pale blue shutters and with the facades adorned with ivies and potted flowers by the doorsteps or windowsills. From the very top of the village, where stands the old local windmill, you can have panoramic views of the valley down below, with its patchwork of dark green woods, brighter vivid green vineyards and the vibrant purple lavender fields. The whole town is filled with picturesque alleys and corners, and I definitely recommend checking it out if you are visiting the Luberon area. After getting back to the hotel and freshening up, we went for lunch near Bunho, at the Capulong Hotel. The hotel is located on a hillside, with views to Bunho, but isolated from the village, so everything feels so very quiet and relaxed. The interior decoration revolves around the reddish and ochre tones, making it feel like an extension of the landscape outside. We had lunch at Labastit, a Michelin-starred restaurant, with a cuisine that heroes local strong and rich flavors, perfectly cooked and beautifully plated. We sat outside, on the terrace under the shade of the trees, and with views to the garden and the church tower of Bunho, in the distance. We had a three-course menu, and for me, the roasted pigeon with beetroot gnocchi, was the star of the meal, so incredibly rich and flavorful it was. We finished off with a delicious and light dessert, that was also a delight to the sight. After a good couple of hours, enjoying this delicious meal, and the beautiful setting around us, we headed out to another beautiful Provençal hilltop village. This time, we stopped at Sinho, another small and very quiet little village, where not much goes on through the day, and that is precisely what gives it this calm and recharging atmosphere. The picturesque fountain square is the ex-libris of Sinho, with its fountain covered in moss, the sound of running water ripping the absolute quietness of its surroundings, the cobbled pavement, and the pale pink shutters peeking through the ivies that cover the facades of the surrounding buildings. Higher up in the town, another remarkable area must be visited, and on the way there, we passed through a few other very beautiful streets and alleys. With an important history that goes back many centuries and even millennia, the Rock of Sinho has served as an important lookout point for various people that occupied this region. Today, from the top, you can have 360 views of the Luberron Valley, to the east and to the west, as well as picturesque views of the rooftops of the village down below. For the second part of our afternoon, we went further east toward the Valonçol Plateau, where you can find some of the largest lavender fields in the whole of Provence. I always love coming back here in late June or early July, when the fields are in full bloom, and especially in the late afternoon, when the whole landscape turns golden and brings up the purple tones of the flowers. This is a very dynamic landscape, and from year to year, the flowering fields can change. I always give myself some time to drive around and explore the area, and I share my up-to-date favorite fields on my guide to Provence. Before evening started to set, we came back to La Bastide de Marie to get ready to go out for dinner. The colors at sunset were absolutely beautiful, and I could have stayed here the whole time until dark, just admiring this beautiful show. We decided, however, to go for dinner in Lourmarin, another absolute favorite town of mine in Provence. Lourmarin, unlike most other Provencal towns, is located on a flatter area and not on a hilltop. The whole town is so lively and has a beautiful summer energy to it, especially at early evening time, when many restaurants have their terraces bustling with diners, and the air is filled with the light and vivid chatter and laughter of people having a drink or dinner. We sat at Café Gaby, watching as the shadows started creeping up the facades and pushing away the dimming sunset stones. We had a cocktail and a light meal to finish another hot but very relaxed day in Provence. Thank you for joining me once again on my trip around Provence. I hope you have liked discovering a few more beautiful Luberon villages, and I hope to see you on my next video.