Our Mid Life Crisis Gap Year: Menerbes and Beyond...Part One

Today was quite overcast, but the weather bureau promised no rain, so we headed back to the Luberon area to visit some more of the hilltop villages of the area. To start with we headed to the village of Menerbes, the original French home of the famous author Peter Mayle. On our way there we drove through lots of vineyards, all of which were in the beautiful colours of autumn, with their yellows, oranges, reds, and browns, it looked quite spectacular, even on a grey day like today.

Autumn In The Vineyards

Menerbes On A Distant Hilltop

As is the way with many of these towns we parked on the edge of the village and walked into the town.

Always Somewhere To Park On The Village Edge

Great Views

The views across the valley from where we parked the car were beautiful. it was so quiet up there, we could hear a car driving along a road, miles away, and farmers calling to each other in fields so far below us. As we walked into the town we soon realised that here was another quite different looking Provence village....we had seen the white stone buildings in Gordes, the Ochre rendered buildings of Roussillon, and now the shale grey and sandstone coloured buildings of Menerbes....you start to realise how "local" all of the stone and materials used in all of these buildings really is.

Walking Into Menerbes

Great Looking Old Buildings

Menerbes is actually a very narrow villages that has its length along the ridge of the hill that it is built on...you can walk through the narrow part of the village within a couple of minutes. The worst thing about this layout is the going up and down the hills, the up hills especially. So we puffed and panted our way along the length of Menerbes and I can honestly say..its worth it. One of the great things about a hilly village is that you always have the chance to see great views of the village itself.

Up Or Down? Down Looks Easier!

Menerbes is a lovely little village that has views all over the surrounding contryside. At one point we must have been above the local school as all we could hear was the children laughing and playing below us as we took in the lovely views.......children laughing must be one of the best sounds in the world!!!

Beautiful View Pity You Cannot Hear The Children Laughing

Looking Back At Menerbes

Lovely Places To Walk

The Walk Up To The Church.....Steep

Too Tired To Walk Up There

We stopped for a light lunch that we washed down with some local wine, we spent well over an hour just relaxing taking in the locals going about their day to day business...mind you half of them must have joined us in the little cafe for their lunches as well.