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We spent 3 days touring the Lavender Fields of Provence, passing through the lavender areas of Pay de Digne, Valensole, Forcalquier, and Apt. The photo here is from the Pays de Valensole, near the villages of Valensole and Puimoisson.
Apart from the vast fields of lavender around the Valensole Plateau, we saw many smaller fields tucked away here and there. Near Apt, the lavender fields include bories. Near Gordes, the Senanque Abbey has its own picturesque lavender field.
The 12th-century Senanque Abbey is in the Vaucluse, in a narrow valley north of the clifftop village of Gordes. We've had Senanque online in Beyond for a few years but, following a recent visit, we've added 18 new photos and updated the text.
We're heading up there again this weekend, to see if the lavender fields in front of the Abbey are in bloom yet.
Beyond's page for the Cistercian Abbey de Thoronet is vastly improve (not the abbey itself). We've expanded the text with a lot of new information, and replaced the original 4 medium-sized photos with 18 larger and improved photos.
Some of our photos are from previous trips to the abbey, in 1995 and 2003, but most are from our visit there last Saturday.
We also visited the Senanque Abbey in the Vaucluse a couple of weeks ago, and will be updating that page soon with new photos and text. We're going to try to make another trip there soon to see if the lavender fields in front of the abbey are in bloom yet.
Another Var village, Sainte Anastasie-sur-Issole, has been added to Beyond. This is a small village in a very attractive setting.
Flassans-sur-Issole is a village in the central Var department southeast of Brignoles and northwest of Saint Tropez. It's positioned on the Issole river and has the ruins of a castle and the old village on the adjacent hilltop.
The picturesque 16th-century Chateau of Javon has been added to Beyond. Sitting beside the road, the Javon Chateau makes a wonderful accidental discovery while driving up the road through the forest from Cavaillon or Gordes to Sault.
St Jean-de-Sault is a wee hamlet in the commune of Sault, within site of Mont Ventoux. Not much in the hamlet, but it's a great place for hiking.
We've just added the Vaucluse village of Aurel to Beyond. Located next to Sault, in a region of lavender fields on the southern slopes of Mont Ventoux, Aurel will be very active on the 25th of July when the 2009 Tour de France cycling races passes through the village.
We've made a new page for the Lérins Abbey (known also as the St Honorat Monastery), separating it from the http://www.beyond.fr/sites/sthonorat.htmlSaint Honorat Island page. At the same time, we added a lot of new photos to both pages.
We've added a page about the 3 prehistoric dolmen sites of Adrets in the Var. Located north of Brignoles and southeast of the little village of Le Val, the dolmens are accessible by a couple of hours of hiking, although some of it is cross-country without trails.
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