Les Baux de Provence

The town of around 400 people is beautifully situated on a hill above the surrounding country. From above you have an impressive panorama over rolling hills with numerous vineyards, olive groves and orchards. It is a fortified town and a labyrinth with small streets and alleys full of little (souvenirs) shops now mainly focused on tourists.

It may be better to be here in the autumn then now because in the summer you seem not be able to walk normal here because of the crowds. The town is known for its location in the Alpilles where the Baux lords built a castle, Château des Baux, on top of a bare limestone rock, 900 meters long and 200 meters wide, from which they controlled some eighty villages. Some of those lords became even Prince of Orange or Viscount of Marseille. Not so strange because the city of Orange is not so far from here. This castle complex would date from the 10th century and was largely destroyed during the reign of Louis XIII in 1633. 

We buy a crepe on the street for lunch and think back to what the employee said in his car towards here. Biggest attraction of Les Baux is the famous and very exclusive hotel-restaurant L'Oustau de Baumanière which in its heyday got three stars from Michelin. Unfortunately, our budget does not go that far and we are preparing for a decent walk through the heat in search of a place to sleep for tonight.

We must first walk down this hill before we can walk to the next one. Before we walk further we fill our waterbags with water from an ancient watertap in Les Baux. Then we walk away from the crowds, tourists and shops. We pass a few houses and then follow a goat path into the bushes. There we climb up again which is not easy with those heavy bags on our necks.

On the other hand, it is still early enough and we do not have to worry. Here too we come back on a plateau and because of the steep walls and the walk we do not have to worry about other people coming here - in principle we have this whole plateau for ourselves. Unfortunately there is a fair wind. We walk around a bit and see the plateau of Les Baux very well from here; sitting on a rock and enjoying the view of this famous rock we can very well understand that "Van Gogh" wanted to capture this picture.

I can not remember that I have ever seen this drawing or painting. Half of this plateau is open with some rocks and bushes, the other hand – the further part is full with trees and there we will put up our tents later on. First we sit down, make ourselves a cup of tea and enjoy the view of “Lex Baux’ but also the rest of the surroundings. When the sun sets and it gets a bit colder we walk to the tree line where we put up our tents. Nobody will come here now again we believe. Because of the wind we can not make a fire, but we do prepare some hot food.

Enjoying the beautiful view now on the illuminated rock of Les Baux. Unaffordable! Maybe this is one of our most beautiful spots of wild camping ever.