Events at La Barbe

Provence is a beautiful region in the South West of France that stretches along the Mediterranean as far as Italy and the Alps. It was the first Roman province outside Italy and there are still many Roman monuments to be found there, the most famous of which is the awesome Pont du Gard, which carries an aqueduct, and another the Roman arena in Nimes. The French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) is in Provence, with the towns of Nice and Cannes which are renowned worldwide as well as Monaco. The famous port of Marseille (the name of which gave the French national anthem) trades with North Africa and other Mediterranean countries.

Provence is famous for all sorts of things: Its amazing landscapes, the special light which incited many artists such as Van Gogh and Cézanne to paint them: The fields of flowers and lavender that are grown to make expensive French perfumes in Grasse; the wonderful food and the delicious fruit that grown there; the wild horses in the Camargue; the huge gypsy annual pilgrimage to Saintes Marie-de- la mer; the delicate hand-painted china made in Moustiers; the traditional Christmas cribs including hundreds of different figurines called Santons, the carnival in Nice; the Cannes film festival; the opera at the Roman theatre in Orange; and the fact that Popes resided there at Avignon instead of Rome at one time, to name just a few.

If you are a keen cinema goer, the films Jean de Florette, Manon des sources, La gloire de mon père, Le chateau de ma mère, were all filmed in Provence and depict Provencal life from the books written by Marcel Pagnol who was born there.

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