Forest fires in Provence

Each year there are numerous fires in the hot Provence sun, often due to lack of care and attention. On average, 3000 fires each year destroy 15,000 hectares of forest.

As a result, there are rules and regulations to follow, and times when certain areas are closed to the public. Since these anti-fire measures will be useful to anyone vising Provence, here is a quick guide:

Forbidden

• Smoking or discarding cigarette butts in forest and wooded areas
• Barbecues and campfires are banned within 200 metres of a wooded area
• Use of matches and fireworks is forbidden

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Discovering the real France

Travelling around France you will occasionally find yourself in a lost corner that has not yet been taken over by renovating expats and is miles from the nearest sign of life.

These corners are ever harder to find, especially in the more popular tourist centres of the country, but are a particular treat because they hark back to how France ‘is supposed to be’ and how visitors will still perhaps imagine it.

It is these small discoveries that are as important and memorable as your visits to the ‘major’ destinations, and it is because of these special moments that France continues to be such a popular attraction.

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Is this a tourist attraction?

We have a couple of travel websites, and one of the challenges of operating a tourist site is deciding whether something is a tourist attraction or not, and how ‘honestly’ to paint a picture of a town or attraction.

Of course, everyone tries to be honest, but it’s not always to give a balanced picture. If we visit somewhere on a cloudy November afternoon when it’s raining we are unlikely to come away with the same impression as someone visiting in May, when the sun is shining and you can sit outside your cafe having a drink.

Many places are very pleasant to visit, and we recommend them heartily, but don’t really have any great attractons or monuments - so it’s hard to say very much! So while we try and identify what was nice about a town it is often hard to explain.

On the other hand, some towns are positively littered with historical monuments and places of interest - but also have a lot of unattractive parts in between, or nowhere to sit down etc. These places we end up writing lots of information about…and it’s not very convincing to then seem unenthusiastic!

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Keep looking up

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.

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