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| Digne, Provence Vacations and Luxury Travel Packages |
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If, instead of entering Provence on the route to Sisteron, the visitor has left the side of Lac de Serre-Poncon and taken the D900, then a pleasant drive brings him to Digne, a popular stopping place, well-supplied with hotels and a spa for the treatment of rheumatism.
Digne does not quite have the feel of a Provençal town, its mountainous setting of steep and sombre crags making it seem more Alpine. Yet, for all that, it is a centre for the growing of fruit and flowers, and especially of lavender. Each year, in September, there is a lavender fair.
Digne is, in fact, the capital of a vast area where lavender is grown. Several types grow in Provence. True (or common) lavender is the plant from which the finest essence is distilled. Aspic, which flowers in late August, is not cultivated but hybridises with true lavender to give lavandin which yields great quantities of inferior essence. Lastly, French lavender, found mainly on silica soils like those of the Maures Mountains, has deep purple flowers but is of no commercial value.
Boulevard Gassendi, in Digne's Ville-Haute, is the main artery of activity and interest. On each side of it are car parks. At one end is the Grande Fontaine, its Doric structure buried under tufa and moss. At the centre of the Boulevard is the Place Charles de Gaulle and a statue of Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655), philosopher and polymath, born at nearby Champtercier. Gassendi is little known to the layman, though one of his debating partners, René Descartes, has become famous, if only for his proclamation 'I think, therefore I am'.
The old part of the town lies to one side of Boulevard Gasssendi. The Municipal Museum, housed in a one-time hospice, provides a visual survey of Digne's prehistory and the Gallo-Roman period. Paintings by local artists are augmented by better-known painters such as Natoire and Ziem. A natural history collection includes specimens of unusual local moths.
Notre Dame-du-Bourg, once a cathedral, stands at the northern outskirts, and the Lombard and Alpine influences that were apparent at Sisteron are seen again. This majestic building has a particularly fine rose window, but now the church is only used for funerals, and the caretaker has to be found at the cemetery if you want to get in. This is not the grandest way to spend your holiday, so perhaps you should settle for a look at the outside and a walk around the old town.
Also in the town, and a true must for all readers of the works of early explorers, is the collection of the
work of Alexandra David-Néel, the famous explorer. Alexandra studied oriental languages at the Sorbonne, then travelled to Lhasa, the first European woman to do so. On her return she became one of the West's foremost Tibetan scholars. She moved to Digne at the age of 59 but 10 years later left to spend a further 9 years in the Himalayas. She returned to Digne but in 1968, just after her 100th birthday, she renewed her passport for a long trip to China. Sadly it was not to be, and she died in the town in 1969. The collection of the Fondation Alexandre David-Néel includes many important pieces from the Himalayan kingdoms and Tibet. |
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| Full Service Digne, Provence Vacations and Cruises Planner |
| Click here to start planning a France great vacation, tour or cruise with our Virtuoso Travel Advisors. You may call us too, but we'd really appreciate it if you complete a vacation planner first so we can determine which destination specialist to introduce you to.Thank you very much! Call 1 800 330 8820 or 415 446 5252 to book your Digne, Provence vacation. | |
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