A Well Kept Man

A unique feature in this part of Provence are the hill towns which are basically fortified villages built in the hills to enable the villagers to see the bad guys coming. This makes perfect strategic sense as you will always be aware of what is going on before it happens. Les Baux spent the better part of hundreds of years building this fortress and developing the community within. We were somewhat amused at how they seemed to think of everything to protect themselves except for the small item of food, as most of the fields and livestock were kept in the valleys below. Basically, the village had about a month (maybe a month and a half) of reserves so if they were attacked, all the enemy had to do was wait them out until they were so hungry they just gave up. This only happened once (at least that is what the audio tour said) but the village survived other invaders for the better part of 300 years.

The fortress had a display of medieval siege machines (catapults and trebuchets), and we were able to watch them fire water balloons across using some of them (it would have been more fun if they used pumpkins, but since a major road runs below the hill, they were probably worried about hitting a passing car). At its peak, the village housed over 4,000 people but apparently that population is now below 30. Its jagged rocks below the plateau are said to have inspired Dante's description of Purgatory in the Inferno. The stop was completed with some fresh baguette sandwiches from the city, which we ate a turnout alongside the cliffs which provided a dramatic view of Les Baux from below.