Let's see - my trip last week. Where to start? We saw so many different things that names of provencial towns are just rolling around in my head getting all jumbled together. Maybe I'll start with my favorite - Les Baux de Provence. Funnily enough, this was probably the least favorite of L & B, but only because we have different interests. I'm less interested in hearing about dates and facts and would rather imagine the people of the town - how they lived, what they wore, what they did with each room/building.

Les Baux de Provence is a beautiful little village situated high a top a rocky mountain in the Alpilles mountains. Like le Mont St Michel, it's a huge tourist destination that I have somehow never managed to hear of before visiting.

The surrounding mountains were beautiful, and reminded me of certain parts of the US:
According to Wikipedia, traces of human life have been found in Les Baux dating as far back as 6,000 BC. You can read more about the history of the village here.

After driving up through the winding hills, you finally come upon the village:
We wandered around for a while and then made our way up to the castle, which is now privately run by a company called Culturespaces. This company also runs a few other well-known sites, including Les Arènes de Nîmes, Le Théâtre d'Orange and, curiously enough, the Waterloo Battlefield. The entrance fee included an audio-guide for the site, but things weren't really very well-numbered, so it was a bit difficult to follow. A little tip - don't do as I did and wear a dress - it was very windy up there! Good shoes are also recommended as you'll need to do a lot of climbing on slippery slopes. Also, we arrived late afternoon and it was perfect timing - as you can see in the picture below, there was barely anyone left, meaning we didn't have to fight through throngs of people.
The climb up to the top was definitely worth it though, and provided amazing views of the surrounding countryside:On our way out, we caught the end of a spectacle showing how they used to fire the catapaults. It was pretty funny, if very obviously staged.