A taste of Provence...

Frid 1 July we leave our idyllic little bay and head to Nice to pick up our hire car for the next 12 days - it's a new Ford Focus 1.6 TDI Trend 6-speed manual and it's left hand drive. It takes Max only minutes to suss out how everything works and he is quite pleased to find that the clutch and brakes are all the same as for driving a right-hand car. Driving on the motorway is a good introduction to left-hand drive with no fear of drifting into oncoming traffic but with speeds up to 130km. Provence here we come!

We get our first experience of the Mistral - a very strong provencal wind - when we stop to eat in Carpentras. We are at McDonald's - not our favourite but the only place open and where we know exactly what to expect. The Mistral blows in through the courtyard and sweeps nearly everything right off the table including the drink containers.

Our destination is Venasque, a lovely old village perched on a hilltop in the Vaucluse region. The road from Carpentras is narrow and has no centre line so driving this takes immense concentration as we try to keep to our side of the road.

The road up to the village is steep and windy with many switchbacks which we don't enjoy the first drive up, however after a few days, it is a challenge we overcome - if only the French drivers keep to their side of the road!

We park just outside the village and walk our luggage through a tunnel and along the main street until we find Impasse de l'Horloge - a tiny dead end street with a brown door that leads to our villa.

Our first impressions: we fall in love with it straight away. The stone villa with its courtyards, trees and delightful character immediately remind us of our time living in Central Otago. The villa has everything we could possibly wish for the next seven days - fully-equipped kitchen, TV, WiFi, dishwasher, fan and lovely big super king-size bed with ensuite upstairs.

Venasque is one of the many perched villages amongst the Vaucluse Hills - built high above the valleys for protection and the beautiful views. It is also classified as one of 'The Most Beautiful Villages of France' and we discover this during our evening walk.

We are also delighted to find, on our first evening, a little street market setting up - selling wine, cheese, pastries, sausages, fruit, berlingots (little fruit flavoured lollies) and vegetables.

Sat 2 - Sun 3 there is much to see and many suggested drives around Provence - and for this, a car is essential. Visiting the markets is high on our list - there is at least one in a different village each day.

We visit the l'Isle sur la Sorgue market. It is hot, colourful, and crowded, with everything on offer - a great source for traditional provencal fabrics, tablecloths and brightly coloured traditional pottery. Isle sur la Sorgue is also a mecca for antique lovers.

Mon 4 we wind our way to Mont Ventoux and stop at Bedoin for the market - it's a cooler day and the experience is quite pleasant. And for Max - there are several bike shops - we both get a few bargains!

We stop to eat a picnic lunch on the road side as recommended by many but gi-normous ants think we are on the menu so we quickly decide that a picnic out of the car boot is a much better idea. The bugs here are bigger than any others we've seen - we've seen wasps, with red wings, 10 times bigger than those at home, big black bumble bees and huge ladybirds.

Mont (Mount) Ventoux stands like a giant guardian over the valleys and plains. Its bare and barren looking summit can be easily seen from Venasque. It is a pleasant drive up the mountain through scrubby forests (where ironically we see many picnic tables). We pass plenty of cyclists on their way to the top - it's a long steep climb - some cycling, some walking their bikes, and one getting a tow, hanging onto side mirror of a van. We stop to offer assistance to a cyclist who's had a nasty accident but his buddies have already called an ambulance so we move on.

As we get close to the summit, vegetation gives way to what looks like snow but is, in fact, course white limestone scree where very little grows except perhaps the odd little alpine poppy.

At the top, we look across the valleys and plains on either side of the mountain but there is a haze which limits our view. Mont Ventoux is often included in the Tour de France, so Max is happy to have made it up this very special mountain, even if by car. It is a windless day, which is good as when the Mistral blows on the mountaintop, it can take small vehicles with it but, so we are told, it also produces deep blue clear skies.

There is a boulangerie (bakery) and a greengrocer shop in our little village and Max enjoys visiting these each morning for supplies, especially those from the bakery where he finds tantalising little tarts for supper - it's his walk of shame - his obsession to experience a new tart each day. If we lost weight in the UK, we are surely putting it back on again here in France.

Mon 5 we drive to Orange (pronounced 'oh ronge' but with a roll of the tongue on the 'r'). Here in the heat of the day we visit the Theatre Antique D'Orange - an amazing Roman theatre built during Emperor Augustus' reign and dating back to 27-25BC.

It has an intriguing past. In the early times it hosted many plays and shows with lurid themes (until the Christians came and put a stop to it); it was used for meetings and lectures; as a prison; turned into a village within its walls; and finally from 1925-37, it was excavated to return as near as possible to its origins. Gone now are the three levels which held up to 122 marble columns and once graced the 37m high, 103m long and 1.8m thick Great Wall - only one column remains. We climb, in the heat, to the top of the 'cavea' - tiered circle of seating which accommodates up to 10,000 people, to experience the accoustics. Voices from below easily reach our ears. The theatre now hosts modern singers such as Tina Turner, Police and numerous other international performers.

Our next visit is to the Pont du Gard, an ancient Roman aquaduct built with three levels to carry not only water but also people and carts. It is only a short trek from the carpark, in 37 deg, to this famous tourist attraction but well worth the sweat and exhaustion.

The Pont du Gard is the tallest of all the Roman aquaducts at 48m and took only five years to complete. The sheer size and engineering of this three-tiered hand made bridge is truly astounding. It was one of many, along with other bridges, tunnels, and siphons, built to take 20 million litres of water 50km daily from Uzes to Nimes.

When we return to the visitor centre we are pleased to discover overhead misters that send out mists of cooling vapour - sheer bliss. We later experience these, to our delight, in cafes too.

Wherever we drive or walk, we hear the loud buzzing of the cicadas. The cicada is seen embroidered on teatowels, printed on tablecloths and made into pottery and soap figures - it's symbolic of the area.

Each night we explore 'our' village, taking a different route and going beyond the village walls - finding tracks, walking roads and even discovering a cemetery down the hill and the Notre Dame de vie convent in the valley floor below.

Each night, I take my camera and document 'les chats du Venasque' - the cats of Venasque - there are a few and, as cats do, they laze about in the warm evenings on stone walls, in doorways and on windowsills - just waiting for me to catch them in the act of doing nothing.

Thurs 7 we drive through steep gorges to a very pretty but commercialised 'perched' village called Gordes. We leave the shops and hype behind and explore the little streets, tunnels, and stairways. We also discover a 'borie' near the carpark - a dry-stone beehive-shaped dwelling usually meant for one person to live in - there are many scattered across Provence and, indeed, across the world - all with different names and shapes depending on the country.

We leave the borie behind and head to Roussillion, another delightful 'perched' village, but one with a difference. For this village is in the heart of the Ochre Hills of Luberon. We take the trek with others along a red sandy path and view the steep yellow and orange/red coloured moonscape-like quarry. Our feet turn red in the sand and we take on an orange glow from the bright reflections from the ground. A most unusual but stunning attraction - we refrain from buying little bottles of layered colour sand and finally head towards home to wash our feet and sandals.

We stop on our way home to visit the Musee de la Lavende, where I learn the difference between fine lavender and lavendin -  fine lavender grows from seed and only in the Provencal hills above 800 metres, whereas lavendin grows throughout the world between 0 and 800m and is propagated from cuttings. I also view old distilleries and learn about the strong lavender history of the area. We discover some of the many lavender fields during our outings - some are well cultivated while others are quite unruly and overgrown.

From late afternoon, the local swallow population go crazy - flying in frenzied groups above our heads and calling out in their high pitched whistles - swooping down through the narrow streets, darting in and out of holes in dry-stone walls and from under the tiled eaves, and if you're unlucky, landing a poop on your head or in your drink. It's a stunning spectacle and each evening we are treated to this energetic bird dance in the sky.

On this, our last evening, we are treated to the haunting melodies and medieval songs performed by a small group called Le Trek. These men and women travel the small villages during summer to give these live performances. They move about the streets singing and playing their instruments - it is lovely to watch (they are dressed in costume) and equally so to hear their unique sound drift to across the rooftops and into our courtyard. Of course, it is also fun to follow them with the camera!

Upon reflection, the provencal landscape reminds us a little of Central Otago, Wanaka and even a little of Te Anau - its rugged-ness. It has been a wonderful week but time now to move back towards the coast and the Languedoc region...