Gordes, Provence, France

Gordes, a village located on a mountain in the Massif of Luberon, between Fontaine-de-Vaucluse and Roussillon, is commonly visited by tourists. Thousands of them come here to admire one of the most beautiful towns in France. Characteristic pictures of Gordes are known around the world.

Parking in Gordes

Local authorities did a great job since we have a really large parking area in the town, consisting of several interconnected squares. Entrance to the parking lot is possible from the Route de Murs street (P1; GPS: 43.913256, 5.200546). The parking is payable.

The centre of Gordes

Once you've parked the car, you can walk down the Rue de Murs towards the town center. There is the Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs (A; GPS: 43.911277, 5.199333) and a castle (B; GPS: 43.911059, 5.200098), built in 1031 and renovated in 1525. Currently the castle is a seat of local authorities, the tourist's office and the Pol Mara museum, who was a Flemish painter and an inhabitant of Gordes.

From the castle just turn to the Rue de l'Église and walk literally a few dozen meters to reach the building of the church (C; GPS: 43.910506, 5.199789) of Saint Firmin built in Romanesque style in twelfth century. The interior is interesting, but unfortunately very neglected. Some side altars are destroyed to the bricks. It is unfortunate that such monuments are not being repaired and also the French state doesn't help them and ostentatiously implements its secular policy to the Catholic Church. We leave the building and keep strolling the narrow streets. It is worth to pay attention to the arrangement of medium-sized pebbles, fixed to the ground. Such streets are typical for Provence. They even have their name: les calades.

How to make beautiful pictures of the village?

As we already mentioned, the characteristic look of the town is known all over the world. And we also used it on our channel and the website. Nice pictures of the vilage can be done, for example, from the Route de Cavaillon (D; GPS: 43.908451, 5.197814) or from the southern side from the D2 road (E; GPS: 43.905436, 5.200645). There are lay-bys in both places to allow you to safely stop your car.

Village des Bories

Near Gordes (about 2 km to the west) there is an interesting open-air museum called "Village des Bories" ("village of stone huts"). The area was once a part of Gordes (known as Les Savournins). The open-air museum consists of characteristic stone huts. The stones come from fields that were farmed by the peasants.

The place can be visited. The price of a normal ticket - 6€, reduced - 4€. You can park your car next to the village (not a very large parking lot - P2; GPS: 43.9062188, 5.1809763) or in a fairly large parking lot (P3; 43.9012310, 5.1928463), and then walk about 1.5 kilometers.

The Sénanque Abbey (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque)