CIRCUIT 14 – VAUCLUSE

L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

Over the past forty years, the flea market has forged the identity of the city. It is the third European hub for the antiques trade (more than 350 antique and second-hand dealers spread over 7 villages) after Saint-Ouen (Paris) and London. The city is also nicknamed “the Comtadine Venice” because the river Sorgue and its canals cross and criss-cross the city. Superb colourful market on Sunday morning. In addition to the antique dealers, Isle Sur Sorgues is worth a visit for its dawn wheels, its tiny waterfalls, its restaurants and bars on the river banks, its galleries and art centre, its characterful shops, its lush vegetation along the river.

Gordes

One of the most beautiful villages in France and one of the most visited in the region. Clinging to a rocky promontory, Gordes overlooks the plain and the valley offering a breathtaking view of the Luberon mountain. The village grew from the 11th century around the fortified castle to become a real fortress protected by ramparts in the troubled times of the Middle Ages. During the renaissance the castle was redesigned and enlarged. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the population declines following great upheavals: Earthquakes, diseases , a weakening of agriculture, the war of 14-18. It is only from the 1950’s that the village is revitalized, helped by a multitude of artists who settle there seduced by the beauty of the place. In addition to strolling through the small cobbled streets with donkeysteps (low and long steps that made it easier for the donkeys to walk) to admire the buildings and the panorama. 

– Near Gordes, the Abbey of Sénanque, a Cistercian monastery since 1148, still inhabited by a community of monks. Lavender has been cultivated here since the end of the 1960s. (paying and guided visit)

– 4 km from Gordes, Le village des Bories (entrance fee). Restored towards the end of the 60s and classified as a historical monument in 1977.  The village was built at the beginning of the 17th century by piling up loose stones (without cement, lime or earth) extracted from the ground during the conquest of new land to cultivate in order to compensate for population growth and avoid famine. As a result, thousands of tons of limestone were used to build multiple constructions such as walls, terraces, enclosures, etc… and these houses (the bories) were used as temporary housing: as a refuge for shepherds and shelters for peasants. All these constructions contributed to the identity of the landscape of the region.