The enchantingbeauty of

The enchantingbeauty of GORDESAuthor Elizabeth Birkelund shares her favourite place in Provence, thePlus Beaux Village (prettiest village) of Gordes, perched atop a hill in the Luberon.I wonder if Louis XI knew what he hadgained in 1486 when Provence, a semiindependentstate ruled by the Counts ofProvence, was legally incorporated intoFrance. He must have known that the RhoneRiver was a highway of commerce andcommunication, that the area bordered theMaritime Alps and included Mount Ventoux,the Giant of Provence, and that thanks tothe Mediterranean climate, the area hadthe potential of producing the most fruit andvegetables in all of France. Perhaps he hadalready tasted Provence’s dessert grapes, figs,almonds, oranges and lemons.If Louis XI didn’t appreciate the bounty andbeauty of Provence, I sure do! I fell in lovewith France when I was 8 years old. But I fellhead over heels in love with Provence onlynine years ago, when I stayed with a friend ina house in the hilltop village of Gordes. Thatfirst morning, when I walked to the center ofthe village, heard the church bells chiming,saw people under umbrellas chatting overmorning café, smelled baguettes baking fromthe nearby boulangerie, and took in the viewof vineyards in the valley, something about thisplace connected with something deep insideme. It was a soul touchpoint.© Destination LuberonSince 2015, I have visited many villages inProvence extensively, but I keep returning tothe perched village of Gordes. My favoritespot in the village is the postage-stampsized balcony of the café tabac, Le CercleRepublicain. Because we writers like to reliveour lives through characters, that is thelocation where my character, Ilse Erlund in ANorthern Light in Provence, a Greenlander,spent her first hours in Provence. When I’m inGordes during the summer months (generallyit’s best to avoid visiting at this time of year), Itry to arrive before the rest of the world to sitin one of the eight tables overlooking the view,to take in the sky, the misty lavender/bluecolored Luberon mountain range and the limegreen vineyards below. In the late afternoon,there is no better way to say au-revoir to theday but to sit on the same balcony with ananise flavored Ricard in hand, and to gazeat the unfolding shifting orange rose coloredkaleidoscope of color.There, as Ilse Erlund does in my novel, I meetmy friends to discuss the cares and delightsof the day. And unlike fetching a morningcoffee in NYC, where I will wait in line, offer58 | The Good Life FranceGourdes © Destination LuberonLe Cercle Republicain © Destination LuberonThe Good Life France | 59