{"id":5644,"date":"2023-01-05T23:28:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T21:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floatinginprovence.com\/en\/?p=5644"},"modified":"2023-01-12T16:37:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T14:37:14","slug":"les-baux-de-provence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floatinginprovence.com\/en\/blog\/les-baux-de-provence","title":{"rendered":"A glorious trap: Les Baux de Provence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s a tourist trap. No way around it. Well there is, and I will explain how to beat the trap. Yet, despite it being super touristy and popular, crowded and full of parking hassle, do not give up. You must visit Carrieres de Lumieres and the perched medieval village Les-Baux-de-Provence. It was designated one of \u201cThe Most Beautiful Villages of France\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like I always say to travel purists who seek off-the-beaten-path sites – there is a good reason why some sites are super popular. And it doesn\u2019t mean they should be excluded in the name of travel elitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets, get your tickets!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I admit I was naive as I rolled into the Alpilles massif around noon. First mistake. No parking to be found and the line to buy tickets to the sound and light show at the old quarries, Carrieres de Lumieres, is an hour and half long. And this is in late October. We abandon, and decide to organize this visit better for tomorrow. We adjourn to our super airbnb in Avignon and in the evening I order tickets <\/a>online<\/a> to the light show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following morning at 8:30am we start the drive back there. Slowly, with the kids in the backseat. We leave the flat lands around Avignon and start our climb again to the Alpilles massif \u2013 the small limestone mountain range about 20km south of Avignon. The scenery changes to a beautiful marriage of limestone pinnacles and a green dry forest. We stop at a stunning road turn to gaze upon Les Baux village perched high on top across the valley. It is hardly discernible as it is itself cut into the mountain face itself and perfectly blends with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A sound and light show with Van Gogh<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I booked the show for 10am and we arrive 30 minutes before. We have our pick of parking spots, all is cool, calm and misty at this hour. We enter the site with little hassle through a small metal door which abruptly closes behind us. It’s pitch dark and we can hardly see, but soon our eyes grow accustomed and the show begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I say show, I mean, this is not a sit down venue, though there are some benches here and there. The site is enormous, the ceiling maybe 45 meters high, huge pillars of the Baux stone (white calcareous limestone, fine-grained) seem to threaten as they dominate the space. The show begins and we walk around the huge columns. This year, the light show projects images from the artists Van Gogh and Dreamed Japan, and the marriage between the two is stunning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n