Evan and I booked a trip to Provence for the first May bank holiday for London. Our friends had told us about a hotel to try in the cutest town of Lourmarin. The hotel, Le Moulin is part of the Beaumier group and they have a few hotels around the region. On Friday afternoon, we flew to Marseilles, such an easy flight from London, roughly two hours. We then rented a car and drove to Lourmarin. It was a little under two hours. We checked into the hotel, Le Moulin and it was so charming. A restaurant on site, Bacheto with a courtyard attached in both the front & the back. The hotel also had a bar area with some board games that served coffee (and amazing oat flat whites) & pastries in the mornings and cocktails throughout the day. The hotel also had a pool in the back. Although there was no gym, the sister hotel (about a 10 minute walk) offered pilates & yoga at 9 am throughout the week (rotated between yoga and pilates).
We headed to our room, which was very large! Separate shower & toilet area, mini bar and snacks, plus a small little closet (although no iron or steamer). That evening we decided to stay local and have dinner at our hotel at Bacheto. The menu was very French. I was thrilled to see there were lots of veggie options. However, definitely mis ordered when one of those vegetable items was instead a sweet potato, carrot soup that was chalked full of heavy cream- whoops. We ordered the seasonal vegetables- fab, panisse- always a fav of mine, asparagus- delish (served cold), a linguine- amazing, and the lamb saddle. The only dish we did not love was the lamb. The texture was more like pork and our cut had a ton of fat on it (it could have just been the cut they served us). We finished with dessert, obviously, and had all of their flavors (almond, olive oil and pistachio). We ended the evening with some wine in our room since we had an early am the next day. The plan for day two was to cycle. I put Evan in charge of finding the routes. I organized the cycle rental from Rent Bike Luberon- It could not have been a better experience. So easy, dropped them off first thing in the morning, sizing was spot on and pedals were spot on. The bikes were in great shape. Could not recommend this company more. The ride we chose for the first day was roughly 20 miles and took us about an hour. The first half of the ride was straight up hill. We biked to the town of Bonnieux. If we had more time I would have loved to have an espresso and admire the views at the top of this charming town. But we had a quick turn around as we had lunch plans in Aix. We had a cute commissary across from our hotel (affiliated with the hotel) it offered coffees, sandwiches, wine, fromage and other snack and cute gift items. We refueled with lattes and chocolate chip cookies before our drive to Aix. We made a lunch reservation at Villa Gallici, a Relais Chateau restaurant. The grounds were unbelievable - would love to stay here in the future. Lunch was served on the patio. We had the option of a tasting menu or a la carte (45 EURO entree, 65 EURO plat principal, and option to add cheese & dessert). The lunch blew us away. I had the crusted tuna and Evan had seabass. Outstanding meal- probably the top of the trip. Post lunch we drove into the town, it was less than ten minutes from the hotel we had lunch at. We missed the markets which run on Saturdays until noon- so plan accordingly if you want to check these out. Aix was huge- much bigger than I expected. We bopped around then drove back to our hotel in Lourmarin. We decided to stop at Chateau Constantine on the way back. It was one of the wineries that our hotel recommended. They did not require a reservation for tastings and were open until 6 pm. The tasting was 15 Euro a person unless you bought a bottle. We tried their whites, reds and roses. Normally, I am not the biggest rose girl, but theirs were not very acidic and one that i tried was my favorite of the tasting (and we had 10!). We got back to our hotel and checked out the local village. Truly charming- there was not a bad street. Lots of cute cafes with patios, shops & glaces places (ice cream). We grabbed some ice cream (i tried lavender honey and olive oil-the olive oil was very chalky). For dinner, we booked the restaurant at the sister restaurant, La Bastide. It is a Michellin star and they had both a vegetarian tasting menu and a meat/seafood option. The meal was fab- we went with the sea/meat option although the veg option was very tempting. Also, the gluten free bread here was superb- you could tell it was homemade! A novelty! Our favorite dishes (excluding the cheese cart which is always a fav) was the monk fish and the lamb. We loved this restaurant and the grounds at this hotel are stunning- worth going to check them out. The next day, we went on an even longer ride and biked between villages. We rode 35 miles from Lourmarin to A first. This town was small very picturesque, had an old medieval castle and farmers market- Ansouis. From Ansouis, we went to La Tour d Aigues for an espresso. Then off to Grambois and then Etang de la Bonde a gorgeous lake with some restaurants along the lake. We finished with two final towns that we were choosing if we wanted to have lunch in. The first was Cuceron and the final town was Vaugines. We went with Vaugines and had lunch outside. It was a Sunday and the whole town was having a pot luck with live music- it was so charming. Post ride, we got cleaned up and then went to the Chateau in Lourmarin. Did a quick tour before walking through the town for wine at Cafe Gaby. We had dinner plans that night at La Fontenille. And decided to head there early to do a wine tasting at the winery on property. Dinner was fantastic, we did our aperitivo outside to enjoy the grounds of the proeprty then moved inside for food. This meal was fab- again, they had panisse! We had asparagus, a cauliflower tabulouli salad, salmon and ravioli dish. We packed up the rest of our wine then headed back to our hotel to play backgammon. Our last day we went to Cassis before heading to the airport in Marseilles. Check out my Cote d Azure page for those recs. Other Recs: Roche Belle- French Restaurant Coquillade Village- Hotel in Luberon Le Pavillon de Galon- b&b in cucuron Insitio- highly rated restaurant in Vaugines La Cuisine d'Amelie- restaurant at Fontenille in Lauris Auberge La Feniere- french restaurant in Cadenet L'Arome Restaurant- french restaurant in Bonnieux Le Mas Les Eydins- b&b in Bonnieux Villa La Coste- hotel in Le Puy Sainte Reparade Domitia Maison de Cuisinier- french restaurant in Beaumettes. |