Off-season in the Luberon

The ocher trail winds through the old Roussillon quarry, now eroded by water and wind.

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The writer Jean Giono whispered that “from October, huge pieces of the country fall into silence”.

In this season, the noises muffle and time slows down its course in the Luberon, in the shadow of the gutted castle of Oppède.

Recently restored, its cobbled alleys, lined with wild grass, remember that the old village was deserted at the beginning of the 20th century.

This austere and luminous site offers a first stop in a still wild Provençal enclave, carved over 60 kilometers of cliffs, cirques and limestone valleys.

Near Gordes, the Village des Bories brings together around twenty dry stone agricultural huts, typical of the Luberon.

- Jean-Claude Urbain

In the landscaped garden of Oppède, fifteen terraces articulated in the form of an amphitheater bring together all the characteristic species of the Luberon.

We are here on the northern slope of the massif, in the kingdom of the white oak.

Under its foliage already browned by autumn, the red berries of the alien tree cover fragrant mushrooms like the blue foot, with which amateurs fill their seasonal baskets.

If the stones could speak

Picking leads gently to the east, where the white facades of Bonnieux emerge.

This medieval fortress can be seen from afar, under the harsh midday light.

From the Calavon valley appear its three rows of walls, a stone scarf evoking the violent history of the country.

Here, as in Oppède, the nightmare of the Wars of Religion still looms.

It was indeed from Bonnieux that the terrible repression against the Vaudois of Lacoste was orchestrated.

Settled in the region from the 13th century, the Vaudois formed a colony of preaching Christians.

They were decimated in the 16th century when the Holy See decreed them heretics.

The perched village of Lacoste, observed from Bonnieux, the former rival.

- Jean-Claude Urbain

The streets of Bonnieux, long appeased, hoist the curious to its primitive oppidum.

From this balcony, the gaze greets Lacoste, the former rival, then wanders off towards the heights of the town where an astonishing cedar forest thrones.

These blue giants were introduced into the Petit Luberon in 1861. There they found the mild climate of their native Atlas.

Over 5 kilometers, a course embalmed by lichens allows you to discover the original ecosystem of the cedar grove.

If it takes a lot of luck to meet a long-eared owl, a stone marten or an Aesculapius snake, it is less rare to come across a beautiful red cedar and a few other mushrooms associated with the noble thorny.

Below the village, the Julien bridge, erected at the beginning of our era on the

, already indicates the road to Roussillon.

A land of gold and blood

Standing on its fiery cliff, the ocher capital is set on fire in the sun.

According to legend, this scarlet land was tinted by the indelible blood of the angels slain by Gabriel.

Roussillon is in fact based on an islet of silica included between the limestone ranges of the Luberon and the Monts du Vaucluse.

Maritime pine, chestnut, various heather, cistus and elderberry blossom in this gold and vermeil setting.

The town invites you to discover its former extraction quarry along a powdery path from which the shoes generally keep a lasting memory.

Ranked among the Most Beautiful Villages of France, Roussillon is the second most visited village in the Luberon after Gordes.

- Jean-Claude Urbain

Ocher, bloodied by iron oxide, was used for the first time in 1780 by Jean-Étienne Astier.

Taking advantage of railway progress, the pigment trade intensified until the beginning of the 20th century.

It was used in particular for coloring plaster, cosmetics, and even cheese rinds.

Its production then supported more than a thousand workers across the department.

From their exhausting work, combined with erosion, surrealist landscapes were born today delivered to amazed eyes.

A return to childhood is guaranteed in front of this decor that looks like a Hollywood Western!

The Luberon is a land of ocher.

From Roussillon to Rustrel, his careers have earned him the nickname “Colorado Provencal”.

- Jean-Claude Urbain

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