Page 21 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

INTRODUCING PROVENCE  19

A PORTRAIT OF

PROVENCE

In a comparatively short time, Provence has changed its face. A few generations
ago it was, to the French, a place of indolent southern bumpkins. To foreigners,
it was an idyllic spot, but one reserved, it seemed to many, for the rich or
artistic. Now Provence, more than any other region, is where the French would
choose to live and work, and its holiday routes buzz with both local and
international traffic all year round.

The high-tech industry based here can Shopkeepers always greet you as you
attract top-flight staff, not just from enter, but open and close on the dot.
France but from all over the world. Lunch, in Provence, is sacrosanct.
Still, Provence remains an essentially Traditions are important to the people
rural region. At its edges, it has a lively of Provence. Local crafts are not quaint
Latin beat: almost Spanish among the revivals, but respected, time-honoured
gardians of the Camargue in the west, occupations. Festivals, such as La Bravade
Italian in Nice to the east. The rest of in St-Tropez, have been taking place for
the region is mostly traditional and the last 450 years. Artists who came here
conservative. Only in games of pétanque for the light and the scenery found other
or discussions about European bureau- inspirations, too. Picasso himself learned
cracy does the talk become animated. the potter’s art at the wheel of a Provençal
But, once engaged in conversation, craftsman. Homes will have hand-turned
Provençals are the most generous and local chestnut or oak furniture, terre rouge
warmest of hosts. There is an all-pervading clay pots, Moustiers faïence, Biot glassware
Frenchness, of course, which means and furnishings using the traditional
that people are polite and punctilious. indiennes patterns of Arles and Nîmes.

Locals enjoying a leisurely game of pétanque at Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Basilique de Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in Marseille