Bonjour mes amis! Sunday evening, Lee and I spent the evening with the Menningers just outside Gordes, in a lovely farmhouse-hacienda close to Joucas, another Luberon town. We had a view of the hilltop town of Gordes from our window. The next morning we began our exploration of Gordes. In the 1960's, Gordes was a virtual ghost town but has been renovated and is now an impressive village in the Luberon. This village was made popular by Peter Mayle's book which was later made into a movie, A Good Year. The Abbey de Sénanque which is a beautifully situated Cistercian abbey built in 1148 is nearby. From Gordes, we continued to Roussillon which was Europe's capital for ochre production until World War II. Roussillon sits on the world's largest known ochre deposit. The value of the ochre cliffs was even known in Roman times. Once the ochre was excavated, the clay ochre was rinsed to separate it from the sand, and then it was dried for deeper color. This was used primarily for linoleum and wallpaper, and reached its peak just before World War II. Enjoy the beautiful hues of color in Roussillon!
Mme. Wallace
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