Provence

poppy fields and the isle-sur-la-sorgue antiques market

07.03

le coquelicot

As you probably already know, Provence is famous for their lush lavender fields this time of year! The lavender season starts June 14th (that’s when they really bloom!) and attracts people from all over the world – unfortunately we missed the season by just a week, but that just means I’ll have to plan a trip back sometime soon… Another flower you see in fields aplenty is that of the poppy, or as the French call it, le coquelicot. Bright red spots as far as the eye can see! While I’d known about the lavender and poppy fields prior to my trip, I was pleasantly surprised to discover all kinds of flowers dotting the countryside! Even the highways were beautifully adorned. Let’s just say it was a blogger’s paradise.

Of course, we never found the fields when we were searching for them – always by happenstance on the way to a new destination! As I mention in my Provence travel guide, Bonnieux is known for poppies while Sault is known for lavender – funnily enough we had no luck in either of those places, but we did spot this poppy field later that afternoon when we were driving to Ménerbes. According to my iPhone’s geotagging magic, this particular field was in Oppède! Naturally, we took advantage.

PS – as much as these photos look effortless… they were not! I ended up with scratches all down my shins from moving through the poppies – just a fair warning if you try to do this yourself!!!

ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE ANTIQUES MARKET PROVENCE POPPY FIELDS

isle-sur-la-sorgue

Backtracking a bit to tell you what we did earlier in the day, before the poppy fields! We actually started our day in Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, which is basically a direct translation to “island on the Sorgue river”. This small town is known for their big antiques market that happens every Sunday! We actually visited on a Saturday, so while there was an antiques market happening it wasn’t the big one everyone told us about. It was still really fun to poke around and look for treasure!

In addition to perusing the market that was happening that day, we walked across the street to the actual antique shops that sell pieces year-round (there’s a small street next to the Villa Datris Foundation for contemporary sculpture museum that’ll take you from the main road to these shops)! I actually enjoyed this part more than the market, as there were more pieces I’d want to buy myself. Grand gold mirrors and armoires, chandeliers, etc. Definitely worth checking out if you have time and want to shop!

ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE ANTIQUES MARKET PROVENCE POPPY FIELDS

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