Hike to L'Abbaye de Sénanque and Borie Village

One of the things that I couldn't wait to do once I got to France was hike. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to do much, as good hiking areas are a bit far from the factory choked section of the Rhone where I live and it's almost necessary to have a car in order to reach trailheads.

Equipped with our diesel-only-eating rental car, my parents and I had decided to do a hike from the center of Gordes through the undulating hills, still greyish lavender fields, past the Abbaye de Sénanque, and back into Gordes. Unfortunately, even though the guidebook gave almost step by step directions, we still managed to get lost and turned around every few feet. I'm still not entirely sure we went the way we were supposed to.

After going for what seemed like hours of walking uphill past people's yards and through fly infested forests, we broke into a wonderland of lavender puffs and mountain views.

This is what lavender looks like in April. It's at its most purple in July and August. One of our most repeated comments was, "yeah we're not here when the lavender's purple, but at least we are avoiding the crowds and heat. Can you imagine what that would be like?" We didn't pass another soul until lunch time and yes the provencal path did feel like our own, even if we had to search for the washed out lavender fields that seemed to blend with the mountains.

The lavender-keeper's house?

L'Abbaye de Sénanque

After some wrong turns and lunch we reached a view that I've seen many times before on a wall in my parent's house in the form of a painting. The Abbaye de Sénanque was built in the above valley by Cistercian monks in 1148. While taking a break from hiking in the gift shop, I tried to get some information on the place by reading some of the guides. I particularly liked how much the monks rely on the earth and let nature dictate the ideal place to build a monastery. Valleys are usually chosen because of the fresh resources found there.

The sun shines down upon L'Abbaye de Sénanque.

Our hike continued along the road leading up one side of the valley, giving us a phenomenal bird's eye view of the place. It's barely visible from the picture above, but it was laundry day in the back courtyard.

Village des Bories, Gordes

After returning to our car, we drove to the Borie Village, just outside of Gordes. This is essentially a preserved village of rural homes that date back 3,000 years. And people actually still inhabited them up until the 19th century. The stone huts were built without any kind of mortar. This is amazing and scary. I wouldn't have wanted to be sleeping in my borie bedroom worrying about the strong mistral blowing the rock roof out of place and onto my head.