From Apt to Manosque

The Luberon Valley is populated by small villages dotting the hillsides.  The drive from Apt to Manosque is breathtaking.  Each curve offers views of fields, mountains or an occasional village. The roads are narrow for upstate New York standards and sometimes I drive much slower than most French people.  Near heart attacks are frequent happenings as we cross the Col de Montfuron, a windy mountain pass.  It is only 41 kilometers, about 25 miles but this is not like driving on the Northway!

You get a good idea of the Luberon Mountains with this picture.

Recently, Sophia decided to take pictures of the views as we drove from her grandmother's house in Apt to our new house in Sainte-Tulle, near Manosque.  The pictures are not perfect but you can get an idea of the countryside.    The first village we see when leaving Apt is Saignon, one of my favorite villages that I will write about soon.  We slowly climb in altitude through a valley cut by the Callavon.  We pass the signs for the villages of Castellet and Saint-Martin-de-Castillon.  You can catch glimpses of Castellet from the road but you have to drive into the hills to go to Saint-Martin-de Castillon.  The road climbs some more and we arrive in Cereste.  I like to think of Cereste as the mid-point to our drive.  Thank goodness for Cereste!  We've stopped there for coffee, bread, groceries, and windshield wiper fluid!  It is a small village and we try to find a reason to stop there each time we pass!

Quick view of Cereste

Cathedral of trees

 The second best part of the drive is leaving Cereste.  It is my favorite part because of the Plane Trees that are planted on the edge of the road.  These trees create green tunnels, verdant cathedrals that you pass through.  I have heard that these trees were planted to give shade to passing armies or to the horse drawn wagon merchants of yesteryear.  I want to stop every time to walk under the cool shade of these majestic trees, but it is impossible because there are cars and it is a road after all!
After Cereste, we drive through fields and meadows slowly making our way up the mountain.  We pass by Reillane, a village nestled on a hill not to far from our road.  We can see the steeple of Reillane long before we can see the whole village.  At this point I know we are about to start the curvy mountain road. We turn at Les Granons, where there is a bus stop and a pizza restaurant and NOTHING else.   My husband's uncle says that they have great pizza and I have promised Sophia that we will stop there once this year. 

This part of the ride necessitates lots of concentration.  There are switchbacks, no guard rails, treacherous cliffs and lots of fast French drivers on the road.  The views are magnificent!  Off in the distance we can see the beginning of the Alps.  Sometimes we take a "shortcut" through the village of Villemus.  It might be shorter but the road is so narrow you have to pull over if someone comes from the other direction.  Our car barely passes between the walls of the village but the views are glorious!

After Villemus we are at the highest point of our journey, 649 meters (2129 feet).  We begin our descent of Le Col de Montfuron trying not to use the brakes too much, down shifting to slow the car with the motor and constantly watching out for people wanting to pass me on this crazy road. Ask me sometime about the girl that ended up with her car in a tree! 

We finally see the hills of Manosque in the distance.   It is a hilly city with lots of different neighborhoods and the ruins of a tower on the top of Mont d'Or.  It can be seen from all over and we know we are close when we spy it. The road eventually takes us to the neighboring village of Sainte-Tulle, where we are living this year. The road from Apt to Manosque is beautiful, scary and fun but most importantly it takes us to our French home.

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Thank you Sophia for being my co-pilot and photographer and for having the idea in the first place!