* Aix en Provence … colors, light and panache

Aix-en-Provence is the perfect place to just wander. Every corner opens a new vista of glorious color. Here is the marketplace on a Sunday morning…

Aix-en-Provence ... marketplace on a Sunday morning

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We had outstanding weather all week in Provence. Warm but not too hot, cool enough for a blanket at night. But even so, a fruit blend is a refreshing delight. Now why can’t we take the same ingredients and achieve the same result?

strawberries and bananas, lemon juice, crushed ice & sugar

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Everywhere you look in the center of Aix, there is something very old and very beautiful, and sometimes funny and surprising and delicious.

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And then it’s time to relax with a Provence panache, which we first enjoyed in Arles many years ago at the suggestion of a friendly French waiter. It’s equal portions of beer and lemonade, ice cold.

panache & Le Monde

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Provence is known for the artists who worked here – Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet. Provence’s photographers also bring an extraordinary eye to capture the beauty of their surroundings. Here is Jurek Nems, who often works not far from his home, in the first minute of sunrise and the last minute before sunset. We bought two of his works, the spectacular shot of the Marseille harbor at dawn that he’s holding and a field of lavender under puffy white clouds at dusk.

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