The little village of Saignon where we stayed for a week to explore the Luberon region of Provence
The former town hall and clock tower of Saignon, built in 1584, around the corner from our apartment
Chris on the terrace of our rustic but comfortable apartment in an old house in Saignon
View from the top of Saignon rock, the site of a fortress since at least the 900s AD
Villagers conversing on a terrace
Farmland around Saignon. The local crops include wine grapes, cherry trees, and lavender.
Mountains in the distance
Plaza in the center of Saignon (the place under the arches is the old village wash house)
Card players in the main plaza
Saignon's church, a wide but plain Romanesque structure
The only decorations on the outside are the columns and some 17th-century wood carvings on the main doorway
Full moon over the cliffs around Saignon
An old Provencal windmill
The red and ochre stone in parts of Provence have been used for centuries to make pigments
Road up to the hilltop village of Bonnieux
Cedar trees around the old church at the top of Bonnieux
Looking down on rooftops and another church in Bonnieux
An ancient Roman bridge, Pont Julien, near Bonnieux
The 16th-century Chateau of Lourmarin
View of the village of Lourmarin from the chateau
A simple country church in Provence
A pretty restaurant where we had lunch in the town of Apt, near Saignon
The Oppedette Gorge
The village of Oppedette at the top of the gorge
The village of Simiane-la-Rotode is set above fields of lavender (not yet in bloom when we visited in May)
The old covered market in Simiane-la-Rotonde has a fabulous view
Ceiling of a cone-shaped 12th-century castle keep, the "rotonde" from which Simiane-la-Rotonde gets its name
A window in the hexagonal keep
Although Provence's famous lavender wasn't blooming in May, its poppy fields were a riot of color
An unusual settlement of stone houses (bories) near the village of Gordes. Historians aren't sure when it was built, but it was inhabited into the 19th century
The part on the left was a pig sty
The interior of a borie
The picture postcard village of Gordes