Beaumes-de-Venise, Provence, France
The village of Beaumes-de-Venise is picturesquely situated among the hills, about 30 km north of Avignon, between Carpentras, Le Barroux and Séguret. The grapes are grown in this area, from which the beaumes-de-venise wine is produced which has the certificate of AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée). The chapel of Notre Dame d'Aubune is located nearby, whose bell tower is a very interesting example of 9th-century Romanesque architecture.
The access and parking in Beaumes-de-Venise
The only one but quite large parking lot is located at Place du Marché (P; GPS: 44.120750, 5.027819). You can easily park your car here, but with one exception - if you are unlucky enough to go to the town at a local market time (which unfortunately happened to us), you will have to do a little gymnastics to find a free place ...
Strolling the town
Next to the parking lot you'll find the tourist office (GPS: 44.121228, 5.027285) and the seat of local government (GPS: 44.121545, 5.027840). You can then walk towards the church of Saint-Nazaire, built already in 7th century on the ruins of a Roman temple and completely rebuilt in 1849 in Neo-Romanesque style (A; GPS: 44.121780, 5.029497). Just follow the Rue de la République, past Place de la Liberté (B; GPS: 44.122291, 5.029135) with a fountain and continue walking down the Rue du Presbytère to the eastern boundaries of the old town - Place du Portail Neuf with another fountain (C; GPS: 44.123083, 5.030326). From there you can go up the stairs and follow the path to the hill. There is also an opportunity to approach the ruins of the castle (D; GPS: 44.123108, 5.029028). Going back, you can walk the Cours Jean Jaurès street (GPS: 44.122046, 5.028389), which is home to many stalls offering local and Chinese products during the market days ;).
Walk to the Chapel of Notre Dame d'Aubune
Being in Beaumes-de-Venise, you can not refuse a very pleasant walk to the chapel of Notre Dame d'Aubune, located in the fields and vineyards, about 1300 meters from the town center. Our stroll begins at the previously mentioned Cours Jean Jaurès (A; GPS: 44.122056, 5.028347), and we go in the west-northwest direction. Then we head down to Chemin de Raboly, which continues west to the junction (B; GPS: 44.122068, 5.024789) with the Chemin de Notre Dame d'Aubune local path. We will walk this path to the chapel. On the right we pass vineyards, the place is famous for. In the background you can see the peaks of small hills under which Beaumes-de-Venise is located. Then we meet the Canal de Carpentras, along which we will go. There are tall grasses and other plants that use nearby water resources. After a short while we reach the chapel (C; GPS: 44.123255, 5.012106). The place is very quiet and the silence is interrupted only by few birds and the whistling of insect wings. The bell tower of the chapel is really impressive. The chapel building was unfortunately closed, so we could not go inside. On the outside, there is however an information board detailing the history of the chapel. We walk around the whole building. Then, at the back, we can see a medieval botanical garden with medicinal plants and herbs.
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