Lourmarin, of Peter Mayle and A Year in Provence fame, is approximately a 45 minute drive from our home base in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue. We had somehow missed visiting this beautiful Vaucluse town in previous holidays, so today was the day. It might be blasphemy to admit, but we are starting to schedule visits around the markets so as to avoid the tourists in the heat. Lourmarin market is held on Friday mornings and today is Thursday, so we thought we would be safe for a relaxed outing. The drive is scenic and awe-inspiring through the Luberon (for the passenger). For the driver, it is constant attention to miles of twists and turns and switchbacks on smallish roads, avoiding cyclists and speeding vehicles coming around the odd blind corner, through the area of Bonnieux and beyond to Lourmarin.

Soon after parking our car on the main route into centreville, a little black cat crossed our path and darted into the shadows.  Throughout our rambles, he would pop out unexpectedly and lead us down another picturesque chemin. 

First on the agenda was déjeuner at Restaurant La Récréation, which serves guests on a charming flower filled terrace.  Misters cool the heat weary patrons every 30 seconds or so. We enjoyed a huge fresh salad, salmon tartare, soft decadent bread, and un verre de vin.

Midi is time for déjeuner and nothing but relaxing, so most of the stores were closed for a couple hours.  I wonder who planned our schedule? There were many cute shops with tempting window displays so that we could faire du lèche-vitrines which means “window-licking” in French… the expression for “window-shopping”.

Lourmarin’s historic winding streets are filled with innumerable picturesque maisons to photograph and dream that you might live here amongst the flowers and vines and lavendar shutters. We did not find Peter Mayle as he moved on to another small town nearby a few years ago, but we did enjoy his muse. C’est tout.