Yesterday we stayed in St Remy and drove up to the extensive and amazing ruins of the ancient Hellenistic and Roman city of Glanum. I have never felt such a sense of walking in the ancients’ footsteps as I did following the Via Appia up here.

It is all so very THERE still – from columns to drains to homes with little steps.

Afterward we purchased items from the Italian deli and ate them under overcast skies at our hotel patio.

In the evening we had cocktails and dinner at a different restaurant – my beef tartare in burger very good.

Today was the first gloriously blue day in a week and we set off hoping to find the lavender in bloom surrounding the Abbaye Notre Dame de Senanque. Of course it was not, but it was a beautiful sight nevertheless.

We followed our noses up the hills and to our utter delight found a town we’d not heard about that ticked all the boxes: Venasque! A hilltop fortified walled town with sweeping views of the surrounding countryside.

Even better, we found balcony seats at a delightful cafe where we had great coffee and lunch.

I even had to try lavender ice cream (delish) to make up for missing the real flowers earlier.

We ambled through town loving the whole experience.

On our way out and through surrounding fields I turned to the side and lo and behold LAVENDER! A miracle!

We felt very much as if it was OUR day!

We are back relaxing and preparing to pack after a refreshing swim in the pool. Glad we are leaving on such an up note. What a wonderful time we’ve had in Provence!