Hi Guys, hope you are all well... We wanted to give you some idea of the beauty of Venasque, what will be your home-base Village in Provence... but we couldn't decide between these two video's so we've included both of them! Venasque is an incredibly beautiful little stone-built medieval village just down the road about a mile from our Villa, Château du Soleil ...
The French Cultural Ministry lists only 164 villages throughout the whole country as 'Plus Beaux Villages de France' ("The Most Beautiful Villages in France") With over 32,000 villages in France, a country that relies on tourism, getting this official designation is a really big deal! The villages in the 12,000 square mile region of Provence have just 17 of these designations... We will be taking you to four of them; Venasque, Gordes, Rousillion and Les Baux-de-Provence!
In this first Video, they use a drone to show you how Venasque is truly a hilltown with high elevation perched on the edge of cliffs... you'll realize this as we drive ups the switchbacks to get to the village!
In this second video, they walk you through the various pedestrian streets of Venasque, and you might want to pause the video at exactly 4:05 in; if you look out in the distance, right in the middle of the screen, you'll see our Villa Château du Soleil (big yellow villa)... and the last mountain Range in the far background behind the Villa and a little to the right at about 1 o'clock, is Mont Ventoux (what the locals call Old Baldy) in the Alps! That mountain will be the site of our Le Provençal Classique Road Rally on Monday! Mont Ventoux has become famous as one of the big mountain climbs of The Tour de France Bicycle Race! When we ascend Mont Ventoux on our Le Provencal Classique Road Rally, you'll have a whole new respect for the athletes that peddle up this monster during the race!
