a Curious Canadian in Provence : photography, art & renovation!
*The house has since been sold!
We have decided to put up our house in Maussane-les-Alpilles, as seen on the Househunters International show, for sale. We’re hoping to start a new renovation project sometime soon. This house is a perfect pied-à-terre for someone wanting to experience Provencal village life in the heart of Les Alpilles.
This past weekend, in our small town, there were constant animations of live music, parades, and lots and lots of bull running to celebrate Bastille Day. While visiting Provence, you must see one of these abrivado-bandido events.
Before the weekend tall steel barriers were installed all along the main road to protect against charging bulls. Announcements in just about every language are made to let people know that you just might find an enormous black bull on the road!
The abrivado-bandidos in Maussane occur in the late morning rather than in the evening. This is ideal as, although the young kids who’s job it is to try and stop the bull are younger, it doesn’t attract the heavy drinking pastis atmosphere of the older youths; leading to some pretty dangerous behavior! Last year, we lived in Noves and oh my the whole village smelled like aniseed. Not that I’m anyone to judge with my copious rosé drinking…
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Curious about in the ins and outs of working in a market in Provence?
Do you want to taste the best Provencal ingredients?
Would you like to eat breakfast at the market with the workers?
Book a foodie market tour with me!
Tours are about 3.5 hours in the towns of St Remy de Provence and Eygalières. There’s lots of tasting to be done so come hungry! Tours are private and cost 250€ for 2 people or 310€ with a picnic. Day tours and combined market tour and photoshoot experiences are possible. Send me an email to ask about availabilities. curiousprovence@gmail.com
Just about every village in Provence has a weekly market. Some villages have markets that occur twice a week or even daily! Markets are absolutely my favourite part of living in Provence.
We can easily spend a day wandering through the stalls and people watching as we sit at a wonky table with a couple glasses of rosé. The weekly market is a ritual that is truly part of living in Provence. On Sundays, you’ll see whole families shopping together as kids amazingly express great interest in the new vegetables of the season. Here are my 9 favourite Provençal markets.
Seasonal mushrooms at Le Thor market
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The phone number, of course, printed on bread!, to make donations for the Telethon
Last weekend was the annual Téléthon in France. Since 1987, the nation-wide television marathon raises money for rare diseases with a particular focus on muscular dystrophy. We were lucky to be in one of the six “ambassador villages” of France. Maussane-les-Alpilles, our new home, was the village to donate the most in the region so the musical events and especially the amazing boeuf gardian meal was televised. Sadly, we had intermittent rain; however, that certainly didn’t stop us! It seemed like just about everyone was there. There was traditional dancing and costumes, the local firefighters and cadets showed off their talents, live music, and of course lots of food and wine!
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The other evening I witnessed the most beautiful sunset I’ve yet to see in Provence.
Sadly, the camera cannot truly do justice to the intense colours we saw- but I’ll share these images with you anyways!
First, while wandering the garrigue landscape admiring the variety of herbs, we came upon the Maire (mayor) of Les Baux de Provence who was out hunting specifically for partridge. Only in France?
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