With Lyon as our home base, we carved out a 6-day tour of Provence and the Bordeaux region. I researched some routes from other blogs, so I’m returning the favor.

We left Lyon early down the A7 to Avignon and headed east for a lazy drive through western Provence to Arles. First stop was L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, where the Sorgue River was split into channels to drive water wheels, and now is fueled by what some say are more antiques dealers in the little town – some 300 of them – more than anywhere else in France, except Paris. 

From there, we continued through the Luberon mountain to beautiful Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, and Gordes, perched on a hilltop.

And on to Roussillon, a multi-colored village built on ochre, where we spent hours before making our way to Arles before dark.