When you think of Provence, the first thing someone probably thinks about is the lavender fields. However, the only time to visit the lavender fields while they’re in bloom is during the summer. As luck would have it, we would be in France during this prime season, so when my cousin asked if my sister and I would be interested in doing a day trip from Paris to Avignon, I immediately said ‘yes!’
On our third morning in Paris, my sister and I met up with my cousin and her family to take the metro to the Gare de Lyon train station. After waiting awhile for our delayed train, we boarded in our first class seats and enjoyed the beautiful French countryside scenery. Almost three hours later, we reached the Avignon train station.
It was a windy and hot day, but luckily we met our tour driver soon enough as all six of us loaded into his van for a drive to several lavender fields. We arrived at our first location and I immediately smelled the intense fragrance of the lavender. It was heavenly! We weren’t allowed to actually go into these fields but we still managed to take a few pictures from the perimeter.
Next, our van took us to the next set of lavender fields. In these fields we actually got to step in between the rows and rows of lavender. There were a lot of bees, and where normally that would freak me out, they didn’t bother us at all. We frolicked, took many pictures, and probably annoyed our tour guide for taking way too long.
While it was great that the tour guide gave us as much time as we wanted to take pictures, I would’ve preferred he reminded us of the time and other stops we needed to make. Which brings us to our next stop: the town of Roussillon. We enjoyed a much-needed bathroom break and some ice cream while we admired the colorful buildings and picturesque views.
Next, we did a drive by of the town of Gordes. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to actually explore this town because of time constraints (see above) and possibly lack of parking. From our viewpoint, the town sat upon a hillside and appeared to be lovely.
Our last stop was the Senanque abbey. Because it’s a fully functioning monastery, we weren’t allowed to go inside. The abbey is situated in a valley just below Gordes. This was a brief 10-15 minute stop where we just got to view from the perimeter.
After a car sick inducing drive back to the train station and a visit to the train station’s “minimart” for souvenirs and snacks, it was finally time to head back to Paris. It was almost 11:00 pm by the time we reached our final destination, but the streets of Paris were alive with many tourists and locals eating and drinking the night away. My sister and I had one last stop before ending our day: our one and only crepe in Paris during this trip. A banana and nutella crepe was just what I needed after a long day!
