Every now and then you get a day that you'll never forget. I call those type of days “eternal-memory-days”. The feelings associated with the day, the pictures of the places you visit, snippets of mind movies you take, and the spirit of the day will always stay with you, regardless of how old you become one day. It's not a day that will ever fade away. On the contrary, the more you think about it, the more magic your imagination adds to it. Yesterday was such a day.
We have visitors from South Africa here at our place at the moment. When they asked me what they should see in the area, I told them that a visit to the Vaucluse is a must. You can't come to this area and not see villages like Gordes, Murs, Lacoste, Bonnieux, Menerbes and many others. Something else you have to see is the natural beauty in this part of Provence.
After breakfast we left home and drove towards Eyguières. A few kilometers before Eyguières we turned off the D569 and followed the scenic route, the D25. We passed through the hills behind Aureille, and returned to Orgon via Eygalières. From Orgon we drove through Cavaillon in the direction of Coustellet. At the entrance of Coustellet we stopped at a wine cellar, called the Cave du Luberon (http://www.caveduluberon.com/). After tasting and buying some wine we continued our drive and arrived in Gordes a short while later. We walked around the village, taking pictures with the other tourists, realizing that the tourist season has started.
From Gordes the road led us to Murs. A few kilometers outside Murs we saw a cherry orchard. My friends wanted to stop to take some photos. When they saw the huge cherries they wanted to know where they could buy some. I didn't see anybody to ask and told them there shouldn't be a problem if they picked a few to taste. Just then, of course, the farmer arrived. I immediately asked him if he could sell us some cherries. He asked how much we wanted to buy and I told him that we only needed a few kilogram. He then told us to help ourselves. We were overjoyed and started eating some while we picked.
My one friend was very interested in the drip irrigation system the farmer used to water the cherry trees as well as his method of grafting new shoots onto old trees to create better cherries. When the farmer realized how interested we were in what he did, he asked us to follow him to the shed where they wash and pack the cherries.
We arrived at their place, not far from Lioux and was introduced to his wife and some of the other workers. They showed us how the cherries were packed and gave us another box of cherries. My friends invited them to go and visit them in South Africa and I told them that I will come back soon, with my family, for a visit.
From their place we drove to the Cedar forest not far from Bonnieux. While we had a picnic under the trees we couldn't stop talking about the kindness and hospitality of Evelyne and Jean-Paul Bourgues. We all agreed that they are the type of people who give the human race a good reputation and drank to their health.
To find out more about the cherry producers in that area you can visit their website: http://www.cerise-venasque.com/index.html
