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| Manosque, Provence Vacations and Luxury Travel Packages |
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Manosque, 14 miles (23km) south of Forcalquier, and set above the sluggish coils of the Durance, has grown rapidly and prosperously as the marketing centre for early vegetables, fruit and truffles, and as the hometown for workers at the Cadarache nuclear power research centre - now branching out into the field of robotics - downstream where the Verdon joins the Durance.
Two fourteenth-century fortified gateways, Porte Saunerie and Porte Soubeyran, mark the bounds of the old town. The curious names for the gates derive from the Provençal words for 'salt' and 'superior', Saunerie being near the town's medieval salt store and Soubeyran at its highest point. Porte Saunerie is the gate by which the French king François I entered the town on a day when it earned the title 'Modest Manosque', a title that it still bears, though more now in disparagement than in respect.
The king was presented with the keys to the city by a local girl renowned for her beauty. At the time this seemed a good idea, but the king was more than a little taken with the girl and became adamant that droite de seigneur should be added to his gifts. The city's mayor, the girl's father, was appalled by the idea. Not even for a king would his daughter suffer such a fate as to lose her virtue outside of marriage. He promptly threw acid into her face to cruelly mutilate it. The king was horrified when he saw her and lost all interest. The mayor was presumably satisfied, but history does not record how the girl felt about it.
Elsewhere in the town, be sure to see the handsome wrought iron belfry which surmounts the square tower of St Sauveur church. Such eighteenth-century campaniles are common in Provence and are poetically spoken of as 'God's sheep bells'.
From the town, cross the Durance Canal and River and take the D6 which rises through wooded country to the open plateau of undulating hills covered by bristling rows of lavender and almond trees around Valensole. Distant peaks jut coyly beyond the rim of the plateau, and the Luberon Range, across the Durance, is a luminous blue in this limpid light.
Valensole is one of the main centres for lavender production, the town and local farms offering numerous chances to buy locally made honey, its distinctive flavour arising from the bees' work in 'fertilising' the precious crop. At the Musée Vivant l'Abeille, the working life of the honey bee is explored, visitors are allowed to accompany the beekeepers as they work among the hives.
Leave Valensole - where Admiral Villeneuve, Nelson's opponent at the Battle of Trafalgar was born - by continuing along the D6 to Riez. |
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| 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 Manosque, Provence vacation. | |
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