Our destination along the Southern Mediterranean coast was actually Nice, to visit David’s French goddaughter and her boyfriend who we had not met, so we stopped in Aix en Provence on the way to cut the journey in two. 

Hotel Grand Negre Cost offered us a very good value typical Louis 16 style bedroom, in Aix en Provence centre.

There was a very good exhibition of Cezanne versus Picasso.  I did not realise they both used to live close to Aix, and Picasso was an avid collector of Cezanne.

The exhibition showed famous paintings by Cezanne alongside those done by Picasso, where he had used them for inspiration for some of his own. The one shown here is of Cezanne’s wife, which Picasso has done in his own way by choosing just to use shapes and two colours.

 The Drive around Mont St Victoire, famously painted here by Cezanne, took us past the Chateau that Picasso had bought for himself before he died and where he housed his collection of Cezanne paintings along with other famous impressionists of that time.

The Saturday Market in Aix is one of the huge pleasures in France, with the aroma of the herbs and spices from Provence and North Africa together with those of ripe fruits and vegetables pervading the atmosphere.

Fayence – not where the pottery is made but a great little village in Provence which offers a great place for lunch.  The town below of Grasse, where Fragonard perfumes are made, amongst others, is still a pretty town, despite its industrial factories for extraction of oils of many plants, exported around the world to make famous perfumes.

Grasse

Mas Sur Loup

Tourettes sur Loup

Provence hills behind Vence