THIS IS AN IDEAS ABOUT WHAT THE TOUR CAN BE - SINCE THE TOUR IS JUST FOR YOU, IT CAN BE TAILORED MADE ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, LIKE GOING TO A VINEYARD THAT HAS ART GALERIES DESIGNED BY FAMOUS ARCHITECTS, and dome sublime restaurants.

There also LUMA, in Arles, a faboulous ART CENTER, installed in an old factory that was building locomotive until the mid-1900s. There is a tower designed by Frank Gehry, with art galleries.

Plenty of aother things can be seen and done. Just asks.

 

Day 1 -            

Leave the US on the airline of your choice to Paris (airfare not included).

 

Day 2 - D1:         

LAND in Marseille-Marignane-Airport OR arrive at the Avignon-Train-Station where we will pick you-up and drive you to the hotel, in the Center of Avignon, capital of Provence. 

Every day we will go in one direction and absorb the sites.

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Day 3 - B1-L1-D2:

We are going to the second largest antiques market in France at L'Isle sur Sorgue. In the morning, there is also a great farmers/street market.

There are also some interesting art galleries/foundations worth a visit.

 

Day 4 - B2 L2- D3:

Arles was a Roman city whose foundation dates to the 6th C. BC. We will visit the remarkably interesting Museum of Roman Antiquities, a modern building erected at the axis of the Roman circus, the foundations of which are still partly visible. Between models, artifacts and maps, the genius of Roman creativity becomes obvious. It is a wonderful place to understand how important that civilization was and how much we owe to them, in decoration, architecture and in our political systems. Then we will tour the Roman Amphitheater, and walk around Ales to find some of the spots that Vincent van Gogh painted including a famous draw bridge.

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Pont du Gard – Built circa 19 B.C.E. by Marcus Agrippa, the 890-ft long, 160-ft high Pont du Gard comprises three impressive tiers of arches. The bridge was listed as a protected monument as long ago as 1840, when major restoration was undertaken, and was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1985.  The Pont du Gard was part of a system 32 miles long that brought water to Nîmes from a spring almost to the north.

 

Day 5 - B3 L3 D4:            

In Avignon we will visit the Pope's Palace, built in 1378. The Popes left Rome because of political turmoil and were in Avignon for 70 odd years. They owned the town and the area known as Comtat Venaissin until 1791.

Then on to visit the Angladon Museum, home to a collection of works of art by famous artists from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, works which had been collected or inherited by a couple of artists, Jean et Paulette Angladon-Dubrujeaud. They worked as painters and engravers and were bequeathed the collection put together by the well-known Parisian couturier and connoisseur Jacques Doucet, who supported new young artists like Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, Rousseau and is considered as one of the “inventors” of the Art Deco Style, by supporting and promoting designers and architects who excelled in that genre.  

You will see the famous "Pont d'Avignon" where, in the song, people are supposed to dance under it. Impossible.

 

Day 6 - B4 L4 -D5:

We will stop by a fabric outlet selling designers' fabrics at incredibly low prices. Even without buying anything, I like the place, a kind of French Calico Corner run wild.

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We will visit the village of Roussillon, which has a beautiful landscape of ocher cliffs, then visit an ocher factory, L’Usine Mathieu, where to learn how ocher can be applied in architecture and décor. 

Gordes – High on a rocky hill, Gordes has been listed as "one of the most beautiful villages of France". Within the town are beautiful old doorways, arcades and walls of flat stone perfectly restored, while the panorama on the outskirts overlooks the valley and mountains of Luberon. 

Les Bories – Just south of Gordes lies the Village des Bories, a bizarre, primitive habitat. Bories are tiny beehive shaped huts built of overlapping dry stones. The construction techniques are thought to date back to Neolithic times. This group of bories was inhabited from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.

We will also visit a chandelier maker, who restored those in Versailles as well as many of them in some of the most famous opera houses of the world.

 

Day 7 - B5 L5 D6: A day of improvisation, where we will do what you want according to your desires and interests, although there are a lot more fascinating places, villages, castles to see within 40 minutes' drive, or go to Marseille to visit Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse, and its museums and landmarks.

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Day 8 - Friday - B6 L6 D7: On our way to Les Baux we will stop in St-Remy-de Provence and visit the insane asylum of St. Paul-de-Mausole where Vincent van Gogh had himself admitted after he cut off one of his ear lobes following a fight with Paul Gaugin. He stayed there for one year and 8 days during which he painted over 150 works.

Les Baux - With its ruined castles and deserted houses capping an arid rocky spur plunging abruptly to steep ravines on either side, the old village of Les Baux-de-Provence is a spectacular highlight of the tour.  A stronghold in the early 10th century, Les Baux holds many Roman artifacts, including burial tombs and stèles (monoliths), marking it as a Roman defensive town. 

                

Day 9 - B7:

You will be driven to the train station that has Very Fast Trains (TGV) to Paris, every hour, some even going to Charles de Gaulle Airport, or to Marseille Airport to get a flight back home.

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