The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

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1 year ago

Summer 2023

  • Text
  • Medieval villages
  • French food
  • Normandy
  • Photos france
  • Castles france
  • Best france holidays
  • Where to visit in france
  • Recipes
  • France travel
  • France
  • Paris
  • Provence
Chock-full of fantastic features and stunning photographs. You'll find inspiring, entertaining & informative destination features - French Riviera, Provence, Loire Valley, Mont-Saint-Michel, Alpine villages and secret places, recipes from French foodie legends, culture and history and much, much more... Bringing France to you wherever you are!

Or see the village from

Or see the village from a boat. The Grands Bateaux de Provence enable you to discover the most beautiful sights of Avignon and Villeneuve-sur-Avignon from the Rhone river; or, push the boat out on a discovery cruise that includes lunch or dinner. Orange Take a 20-minute train ride to Orange and then walk 1km to the city centre (or take a bus from outside the station) to discover the extraordinary Roman theatre, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Once the theatre hosted 10,000 Romans, incredibly its famous wall still stands, one of the best preserved in the world. Close by is a majestic triumphal arch, and don’t miss the Museum of Art and History, which houses mosaics, cadastral maps, ancient remains and artefacts. The town itself is enchanting, bijou boutiques, bars and brasseries will tempt you to linger. Villeneuve-sur-Avignon © A Hocquel Vaucluse Tourism Wine is part of the culture of Provence, and in Chateauneuf-du-Pape life revolves around the wine. The hilltop town rises like a ship amongst a sea of grapevines, topped by the ruins of a castle built by those 14th century popes to be their summer holiday home. It was the popes who first planted the vines here. And they chose well. The terroir, that French word that’s so hard to translate which refers to the conditions the vines grow in, makes for the most superb wines to this day. There’s plenty of opportunity to taste them in the town with a cellar or shop every few metres. Stroll the historic street, climb the hill to the ruined castle from which you have spectacular views and walk the marked circuit from the village through the vineyards. As you might expect, it’s not easy to plonk a train station and tracks down in the middle of vineyards, so take a bus from Avignon to the town, visit by bike which takes about an hour, or take a tour (ask at Avignon tourist office for details). L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue Carpentras It’s around 30 minutes by train from Avignon to l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and the train station is in the town so it’s a short walk to anywhere. This former fishing village has a laid-back charm, with water wheels along its canals, pretty houses and fabulous shops. Its fame is worldwide due to the many, many antique shops and annual antique fairs. This town is the number one antique centre of southern France, and third in Europe. Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, the source of the water that feeds the canals and river in l’Isle-sur-la- Sorgue, is close by and well worth a detour. Take Zou line 21 (8 July to 31 August), or rent a bike (7.5 km). Chateauneuf du Pape Provence is famous for its superb wines and Chateauneuf-du-Pape is where some of the finest wines in the world are produced. View of Orange theatre from the top of the wall Isle sur la Sorgue © Marianne Furnes A 30-minute train ride brings you to Carpentras at the foot of Mont Ventoux. This small city has a rather exotic feel, almost Roman with a jumble of terracotta roofs atop the higgledy-piggledy houses. The Romans were in fact here, and though there are few remains, traces of the city’s ancient history is everywhere you look. In 1313 Pope Clement V took up residence in Carpentras. His successor moved the Papal Court to Avignon before it was re-established decades later in Rome. Carpentras was the capital of what’s known as Comtat-Venaissin, territory which belonged at one time to the Counts of Provence, at another to the Catholic Church, and didn’t become French until 1791. One of the legacies of the French Popes in Carpentras is the Synagogue, created in 1367. The Jewish community, expelled from France, was welcomed into Papal territory. 18 | The Good Life France Chateauneuf du Pape © A Hocquel, Vaucluse Tourism The Good Life France | 19