Our starting point for the trip was the vibrant city of Marseilles. We were only there overnight but got a chance to explore the harbour and old part of the city.
After Marseilles we moved to the hilltop town of Gordes which is a popular town for visitors to Provence. Interesting shops and restaurants, and market day provides a wide array of good from local vendors.
A view of part of the town of Gordes.
The purple crop is lavender and was one of the photographic targets for our group. We visited various lavender fields at various times of day to get a good variety of photo opportunities.
More lavender! This is ready for harvest.
A common scene around Gordes.
The restaurants of Gordes are aglow in this blue hour photo.
From Gordes we moved to Chateauneuf-du-pape which requires a visit to a local wine merchant for a tasting as well as leaning more about the wines produced in the area.
One of our many group dinners which were enjoyed by all. We had great travelling companions.
An unexpected highlight of the trip was a visit to the Carrières des Lumières. An abandoned limestone quarry on whose walls are projected the works of great artists. A single photo cannot convey the sense of enchantment as the images change minute by minute with beautiful music reflecting off the stone surfaces.
During our visit the works of Rousseau and Monet were featured.
Every member of our group felt that they could have spent the entire day watching, listening, and photographing.
Just to show we really were there. The Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard.
Another unexpected delight was the Roman Amphitheatre in Arles. Two thousand years old and still being used.
The amphitheatre gave us the some great artistic photo opportunities. Ctedit for the image above goes to Heather.
We have moved to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer on the coast of the Mediterranean in the Camarque region and home to this unique breed of horse. The Camarque horses are adapted to the marshy area, can travel readily through water and actually even drink the briny water along the coast.
Here we see a demonstration of them moving easily through a rice paddy.
It was a real thrill to be able to photograph these horses. We had a number of occasions over the course of two days to capture their abilities with our cameras.
They make a great photograph even when standing still.
Some young stallions sparring on the beach.
One of the original uses for the Camarque horse was to round up bulls. Here we see a demonstration.
We got to photograph the bulls and the horses for some memorable pictures.
After a hot and thirsty round-up a cold drink was well deserved.