A Visit to Lourmarin, One of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France"

As I told you in a previous email, we met cousin Annick in Lourmarin for a day devoted to visiting Luberon villages. Lourmarin is about 1 1/2 hours from Sablet and is classified as "one of the most beautiful villages in France."

Lourmarin is nestled in the middle of vineyards, olive groves and almond trees in a combe, or valley, which separates the Grand Luberon mountains from the Petit Luberon. On sunny days, its golden stone glows against a swathe of green, marshy land watered by the Aigues Brun brook.

In contrast to many other villages in Vaucluse, Lourmarin isn't a rugged perched village. It's just slightly hilly, with narrow cobblestone streets spiraling lazily up to the belfry at the top of the village.

Lourmarin

Lourmarin, like much of Europe, was devastated by the Black Death plague epidemic in 1348 and left semi-deserted. The village's fortunes turned around a century later with the arrival of the powerful D'Agoult family who started building the Château de Lourmarin.

The Lourmarin Chateau was built by the Agoult family between 1479 and 1545 on the ruins of a 12th century fortress. The part of the chateau open to the public includes the furnished apartments and the library (with some 28000 books). The highlight is probably the magnificent stairway.

Lourmarin Castle

War Memorial at Eugene Bounot Square

The Three Mask Fountain by sculptor Louis Didron seen below. The three masks represent the Rhone River, the Durance River and Luberon Mountains.

The Three Mask Fountain

Lourmarin has an unusually large number of bars and restaurants, many of which - even more unusually - are open outside tourist season.

Cobblestone Street

Empty Café in the Early Morning

Cafés cluster around the place de l'Ormeau, pictured at the end of the street below. The small square is named after an elm which was planted there as a sort of "tree of liberty" in 1792 during the French Revolution. It had to be cut down in 1944 and was replaced by a fig tree (though the square was not renamed).

Cobblestone Street Leading Down to Ormeau Square

Lourmarin Door

Faded door in Lourmarin

Lourmarin Town Hall

The Church of Lourmarin, which is part of the Avignon Catholic Diocese, used to be dependent on the Priory of St Andrew in Villeneuve-les-Avignon in the XIth century. In those times, it was a Chapel with only two arches and no choir. This church, in which Romanesque and Gothic styles are both present, has gone through several restorations and additions.

The Church of Lourmarin

Fountain in front of the Church of Lourmarin

Lourmarin Fountain

Lourmarin Boutique

Annick and Shirley Receiving Aroma Therapy from the Huge Jasmine Bush

Lourmarin Fountain

Pretty Stone House in Lourmarin

Stone Arch Entry into Lourmarin House

Narrow Lourmarin Street

Stone Pigeon House

Wash House

The D'Agoults also repopulated Lourmarin by inviting a colony of Vaudois (Waldensians) from Piedmont in Northern Italy to settle in the village. This was a sect that had split from the Catholic Church, leading to its members' persecution.

Many were burned as heretics; many more fled to Provence, where the massacres nonetheless continued, notably in nearby Mérindol. Those who remained joined the Reformed Protestant movement in the 16th century and finally built their own Protestant church - sometimes referred to as a "temple" - in Lourmarin in the early 19th century (see below).

Saint-André and Saint-Trophime Church with the Lourmarin Castle in the Rear

Entry into Lourmarin House

Pottery Shop

Inside the Pottery Shop

Lourmarin Street

Lourmarin Cafe

Our day trips with Annick are always fun and informative. We will be back in Sablet in a few days and I look forward to new adventures.

Brasserie Insolite, Lourmarin

As I told you in my previous post, we went to Lourmarin and while we were there, we ate déjeuner - lunch at Brasserie Insolite. I normally try to figure out what are supposedly the good restaurants in a town before we go, but since our visit to Lourmarin was a spur of the moment decision, I didn't get a chance to do that.

Although it was mid-September and vacations mostly over and people back to work, Lourmarin was bustling with lots of people. There were shoppers completing purchases at the Friday market while sellers were starting to box up the fruits and vegetables and assorted merchandise they hadn't sold, shopkeepers were closing for their two hour lunch break and office workers were headed home, baguettes in hand for lunch.

It was a beautiful day, the sky was brilliant blue and we wanted to sit outside and soak up the sunshine and atmosphere. We could see that diners were already seated at most of the café tables that line Place de la Fontaine and the streets near the center of Lourmarin.

We walked around reading the various menu's, some were on blackboards and others printed and posted outside restaurants. After checking menus and availability of tables, we decided to try Brasserie Insolite. They had a selection of salads and pizzas which was what we were looking for given we weren't familiar with any restaurants in the area.

Brasserie Insolite has a few tables along the street, a dining room for inclement weather and a large terrace behind the restaurant. We were offered the last table on the terrace along with a warning that there were no more umbrellas and it was very sunny. Sounded perfect to us.

It seemed like everyone had descended on the restaurant at the same time as it took a while for the server to get over to our table to take our order. In this picture wife Shirley is patiently waiting for our server to arrive.

We ordered a pichet - carafe of rosé wine from the Luberon region to accompany our lunch. For starters we chose a Salade Italienne - a nicely dressed salad of arugula, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese; and

Camembert Fondue - a plate of greens and a whole baked Camembert with little toasts on which to spread the cheese.

We had observed several pizzas carried out to other tables and seen they were very good size. So we decided to share a Pizza 4 Fromages - four cheese pizza. I guess we weren't worried about cheese overload.

To finish, we shared a Café Liégeois, a wonderful combination of vanilla and coffee ice cream, cold espresso topped with Chantilly cream. It was perfect for a hot day.

We will be returning to the Lourmarin area many times I am sure. Brasserie Insolite was wonderful for a simple lunch. I have heard there are several very good restaurants in the area. I would appreciate any restaurant suggestions you might have for Lourmarin and the surrounding area.

Bonne appetit.

Lourmarin, A Beautiful Village in the Luberon

There are many Vaucluse villages we have not visited so we are trying to visit some of those rather than returning to the same villages over and over. One of the villages we had not visited was Lourmarin in the southernmost part of the Luberon.

I guess Lourmarin was at the top of my list to visit because it is classified as a Plus Beaux Villages de France - one of seven small Vaucluse villages classified as most beautiful villages of France and the English author Peter Mayle who wrote A Year in Provence and other books about Provence lives there. I should mention that Julie over at Provence Post has reported the house is for sale so that may be changing soon.

We arrived in Lourmarin late one Friday morning just as the weekly market was wrapping up. I didn't know there was a market on Friday mornings or I would have made sure we got there earlier so we could wander through the market, one of our favorite things to do.

Lourmarin is nestled in the middle of vineyards and olive groves just north of the Durance River at the foot of the Montagne du Luberon. The inhabitants of Lourmarin are called Lourmarinois.

Lourmarin was bustling with people finishing up morning shopping before heading home for lunch and tourists staking out tables for lunch at one of the cafe's that line the street.

Lourmarin is very picturesque village although not as compact or cute in my opinion as some of the other more famous villages nearby.

Brasserie Insolite where we ate lunch. Since our visit to Lourmarin was spur of the moment, I didn't do any research about local restaurants or reserved a table so we decided to eat here since it was cute and we could get a table. More about lunch in my next post.

We wandered in and out of the shops but didn't find anything that we had to buy.

All roads seem to converge on the intersection near Cafe de la Fontaine.

Another view of the center of Lourmain.

There are many narrow winding streets to explore.

The architecture is typical of a Provencal village.

Pretty shutters on a window with a pretty flower box.

Another pretty house that caught my eye.

I love all the blue you see on the walls of homes and shops.

One of several interesting fountains we saw on our walk around Lourmarin.

The Romanesque church of St. Andre.

A fortress was first built at this site in the 12th century and was rebuilt by Foulques d'Agoult in the 15th century on the foundations of the earlier castle. It was restored in 1920.

Another pretty house and arched passage we passed as we made our way back to our car to return to Sablet.

Bonne journée mes amies et à bientôt.