South of France

The most attractive Ardeche villages receive the award ‘village of character’ from the local tourist authority. Much like the national ‘most beautiful village’ award it is a recognition of the village itself and its attention to preserving the fabric of the village, and also a tribute to the setting of the village – typically running down a hillside below a ruined castle…but not always. In tribute to these selected Ardeche villages, a selection of photos… Alba-la-Romaine

On the south of France site home page we use ‘widescreen’ (landscape) pictures’ that get pushed off the front page when a new feature appears, never to be seen again. This is a shame, so I thought I’d post them here as well for the sake of posterity. Aubeterre-sur-Dronne Mont-Lozere Ardeche gorges

OK, I grant you, this picture could have been taken anywhere in France, or plenty of other places in the world. So you are just going to have to take my word for it, it was taken at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, a resort on the French Riviera betwen Sanary-sur-Mer and Bandol. Be that as it may, it’s a lovely photo with the inevitable bright colours and reflections that you look for in a picture of this type that really does give you [...]

This photo of Marseille harbour is very beautiful despite having little colour, and a background view that is hard to see clearly. The Marseille it portrays is not especially realistic – very few of the ships in Marseille harbour are decked with rigging – but that hardly matters. The question is, would it make you want to go to Marseille if you saw the picture in a travel brochure (I bought the picture for use in a travel website) – [...]

Photo taken in Aigues-Mortes centre In many of the towns you visit in the south of France you will find yourself in open squares lined with trees and narrow streets of medieval houses, and very pretty they are too. The distractions at ground level will keep you occupied, and it is easy to forget to spend a moment to look above you.

This impressive series of buildings was built in the 14th century, after Rome became too violent for Pope Clement V and he, along with successive popes, set up home in Avignon instead. The Pope’s palace in Avignon continued to be home to the popes until 1377, and following a later split in the Catholic church it then became home to a faction known as the ‘antipopes’.

Conques is a very attractive village in the Aveyron department, with a renowned pilgrimage abbey and a main street lined with beautiful houses, all in a picture postcard setting in a wooded valley. So why does this photo of Conques show none of that? This house caught my eye because of the balustrades that form part of the external wall of this house – they seem to be actually built into the wall, rather than a vestige left over from [...]

Lovely view of one of the lesser known cathar castles of Languedoc – actually three castles strung out along the top of a rocky ridge, at Chateau Lastours.