The Lavender Museum

One of the many attractions for visitors to Provence is lavender, a flower beloved for its tranquil purple hues as well as its long-established medicinal properties and calming scent. Its tiny florets can also be used to enhance the flavour of foods like baked goods, chocolate and lemonade. During our outing to the Luberon I visited the Musée de la Lavande, Lavender Museum, in Coustellet to learn more about this iconic symbol of Provence.

Luberon Lavender Field

The Luberon: Peter Mayle's Provence

With his 1991 memoir A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle put this picturesque region in southeastern France on the radar of travellers. Once I began reading his books I too dreamed of visiting Provence, and all the beautiful photos I saw of endless rows of lavender stretching away to the horizon only reinforced my dream. So the day we journeyed into the Luberon countryside was the most anticipated day of our tour.

 

The Luberon Countryside

St. Rémy de Provence

St. Rémy de Provence, July 2012 - We arrived in St. Rémy yesterday on the Provence extension to our Rhone River cruise with Avalon Waterways. Once again the weather promised to be hot -  35 Celsius by afternoon. Unlike my previous visit to Europe when my sun hat travelled around in my luggage, mon chapeau is being worn every day.

"L" is for Lavender

This is Day 12 for the

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

for 2013.

The letter "L" takes us to another item on my Bucket List: Lavender.

Vendors at the Cours Saleya Market in Nice sell an assortment of lavender products, but I wanted to see fields of flowers in full bloom – the lavender fields of the Luberon. And thus began my pursuit of lavender on a return trip to France.

Lavender Products, Nice