We took in three towns on a day of 100 degree heat. Two of them required lots of climbing. They book-ended St Remy de Provence which was a stylish town where many of the people on the streets and at the cafes were very well dressed.
Orgon, our first stop of the day was quite rugged and less refined than the other two. The ruins here were a bit too rustic for us and a bit to far off the beaten path, but since we had not acted like billy goats in the last few days we did some major climbing to the top of the hill to the ruin over the city. Along the way are shrines to keep your interest. One thing we have not mentioned is the noise of the cicadas, there is a constant loud clatter of these bugs as we trudged along the path. I wanted to run to the chapel doors just to escape the never ending cacophony of sound.
Where we felt the heat of the daytime most was during our visit to Les Baux de Provence. The sun ricocheted off the white stone walls and paths giving an oven effect with little breeze to cool you down.
Man has occupied this land since pre-historic times. If you look closely at the stones you walk on you can see fossilized shells proving how the earth moved and rearranged this very high semi mountain from sea floor. There are troglodyte houses carved out of the rock close to the ruined castle. At different times in history powerful kings had this castle demolished because of it's defensible stronghold on the area. So there were times of building and tear continuing to today. The biggest problem the people faced in the past is lack of water, it had to be hauled up by donkey cart.
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