The Beating Heart of St-Rémy

St-Rémy has a lot of great cafés and restaurants, but there’s one that really stands out: the Bar-Tabac des Alpilles.

It’s not just that the food is good, it’s also that it’s comfortable any time of day. Whether it’s a coffee and croissant before hitting the weekly market, a glass of wine in the afternoon, or a delicious meal, you can find it here. And even more, it’s an important part of the local fabric of St-Rémy, while also being welcoming to tourists.

Sitting at your table, you might hear Americans on one side of you discussing their travel plans and, on the other side, there will be workers unwinding after a long day. Patrick, the owner, calls his place “A mix of modern tourism and local identity.” It’s family-friendly, and I often see kids there with their parents, having a Coke or a juice. It’s a must-stop for your next visit to St-Rémy.

Read all about it in Perfectly Provence!

See the Best of Provence in One Week!

Provence is one of the most popular regions of France, and for good reason—think fields of golden sunflowers and lazy afternoons sipping rosé. Visitors flock to two main areas, the glamorous Côte d’Azur in the east, and the lavender-scented western part made famous by A Year in Provence.

These are so far apart that it’s hard to cover both in a week, so I’ve written a guide to the western part, home to famous towns like Avignon and Aix-en-Provence. It provides you with an itinerary with a mix of historical sites, charming hilltop villages, and some of the best restaurants in Provence. The stops are in no particular order, so you can mix and match as you please.

Read all about it in Frenchly!

The French Pharmacy is the Traveler’s Best Friend

Let’s say you’re vacationing in France and have a medical problem—not a serious one like a broken leg, but still something that needs attention. Maybe you’ve fallen and scraped your leg. Or maybe you’ve got a scary-looking rash, or a headache that won’t go away. Your dream vacation is ruined! Where can you turn for help?

You might think of finding a doctor, but that’s hard to do on short notice. Instead, go to a pharmacy, the first line of defense in the French healthcare system. The staff there will be able to help you with many of the problems that might occur during your vacation.

French pharmacies can be a traveler’s best friend, but they are different from American pharmacies, and it’s important to know the differences.

Read all about it in Frenchly!

 

Trouble in Paradise

Imagine the scene:

You are in a giant storage facility in middle-of-nowhere Provence. It’s a blazing hot day and you’ve just gathered some items from your storage locker.

You are about to leave when suddenly the power goes out. You find yourself in the dark, your wife is trapped in an elevator, and there is no one in the building to help.

You suddenly feel very far from home.

Ah, isn’t travel fun? Yes, this is what happened to Val and me last summer and, happily we lived to tell the tale. But it wasn’t easy! Burly firefighters might have been involved.

Read all about it in Frenchly!

A New Life in France: A Photographic Journey

Jamie Beck was a sought-out photographer working for top brands like Cartier and Veuve Clicquot. She had legions of Instagram followers and what seemed like a rich, fulfilling life. But something was missing.

As Beck tells us in her brilliant new book, An American in Provence:

“I had it all. A ‘dream life’ with a cool job, amazing clients, luxury trips, designer clothes, a cute little vintage Mercedes convertible, a house in the Hamptons, a French-looking apartment by Riverside Park, and I could eat at any restaurant I wanted, any night of the week in New York. Why on earth was I so unhappy?”

Beck realised that all the personal sacrifices required to “make it” were squeezing the life out of her. Photography fed a deep artistic need, but working for others year after year, adapting to their needs and their timetables, had extinguished her creative spark. She desperately needed a break.

And so she moved to Provence. And now has written a book about her life-changing experiences in this magical corner of France.

I really enjoyed An American in Provence, with its fabulous photos and compelling story. Read all about it in France Today!

Prehistoric Cave Paintings in Marseille

In 1991, Henri Cosquer made a remarkable discovery: he found a grotto filled with prehistoric paintings. Even more remarkable is that the cave is only accessible via an underwater passageway.

Cosquer was a professional diver, leading underwater tours near Marseille. He also dove for pleasure, exploring the nooks and crannies of the rugged coastline.

One day, Cosquer noticed a narrow underwater passageway. Intrigued, he followed it and found himself in a labyrinth of tunnels going here and there. Over multiple dives, he followed these tunnels until, one day, he surfaced inside a cave filled with prehistoric paintings.

This has now been recreated so you can visit it (no swimming required, thankfully.) The French are brilliant at this, having previously recreated the caves at Lascaux and Chauvet. It’s a must-see sight in Marseille, and is an easy walk from the Old Port area.

Read all about it in Perfectly Provence!

Part-Time Living Abroad

Have you ever dreamed of living abroad, sipping a glass of wine in a charming café, or maybe on a sandy beach?

It sounds appealing, but it’s hard to pick up stakes and move to a foreign land. Who wants to leave their friends and family behind? And what about doctors and dentists and all that?

One way to have the best of both worlds is to live abroad just part of the time, becoming a part-time expat. That’s what Val and I do, and recently International Living Magazine convened a panel of part-time expats to discuss their experiences.

I was honored to be one of the panelists, along with others who make their overseas homes in Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica. If you’d like to hear what we had to say, just follow this link.

Happy dreaming!

10 Great Reads That Will Transport You to France

How would you like to travel to France but not have to get on a plane?

The best way to do it, unless you have a friend with a yacht, is by reading a book. I love books by foreigners who’ve lived in France. They see the country differently than the French do, and living abroad helps them see their own country through new eyes.

I’ve put together a list of my favorite books about France. Some are funny, some are touching, and all are excellent reads. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite yourself!

Read all about it at Frenchly!

Heartwarming Tales from France

Have you ever dreamed of chucking it all, leaving the big city behind, and moving to a charming little village in France? That’s exactly what Janine Marsh and her husband Mark have done, but the path they took was anything but straightforward.

One day some years ago, while on a booze-buying trip from London, they somehow bought an old wreck of a house in France’s Seven Valleys region. It’s a hilarious story, and Janine tells it brilliantly in her book My Good Life in France. Over the years, she and Mark have fixed up the house, adopted a shocking number of animals (including 72 chickens at last count), and settled into their village in “middle-of-nowhere France.”

Janine continued their story in My Four Seasons in France and now she’s back with more heartwarming tales in her latest terrific book, the soon-to-be-published Toujours la France!

If you’d like to know what life is really like in a rural French village, this is the book for you. There’s not a lot of entertainment, unless you count the snail races, but there is a strong sense of community, with neighbors always willing to lend a hand to one other. And there are, of course, endless cups of coffee to share the latest gossip.

The book is full of funny stories, like the dinner party where a neighbor tries to get Janine and Mark to taste his special holiday rum. Another neighbor warns them off. “For heaven’s sake don’t drink it,” she says. “You will miss Christmas if you do and most likely have to go to the doctor.” Mark foolishly takes the tiniest of sips and is rendered mute, his mouth so numb he can’t taste his food.

Janine and Mark are often a source of amusement for the village, as on the bitterly cold day when their water stopped running. They determined that an uninsulated pipe in the roof had frozen, so Mark got up on a ladder and removed a few tiles, while Janine plugged in a hair dryer so he could heat up the frozen section. One villager after another came by to see what was happening, and soon the whole village was abuzz about les anglais “who are blow drying their house.”

The book is packed with fun facts about France, like the reason why people clink their glasses before drinking (it has to do with fear of poisoning back in medieval times.) And that it is considered unlucky to have a dinner with 13 people—if you do, the waiter might put an egg on the table to represent a 14th. And that France invented the online sex chat!

As the book ends, Janine reflects on how she and Mark have become perhaps not natives, but awfully darned close. And how lucky they are to have settled in the part of France “where people have sunshine in their hearts.”

Highly recommended.