After visiting the town of L'Isle sur la Sorgue, we made our way to the city of Aix-en-Provence where we stayed for three nights during our second visit to the Provence region of France.
This was a little ways back, in the month of May of this year.
Skipping right to the punchline here Ill say that in the end we really loved the city. I would even go as far to say that it was our favorite city in the region (not including the French Riviera of course).
We definitely liked Aix more than some of the other major cities in Provence, like Marseilles and Avignon, though we did quite like Avignon when we visited it the year before.
Mainly we just found that Aix had more of a small town charm about it, while also having more restaurants and things to do and see than some of the smaller quainter villages like Gordes and Rousillon.
Overall it had a better mix of qualities you would want in a destination, which in my mind made it a really great home base to branch out from. It was a great spot to explore the surrounding area during the day and then come back to in the evening for dinner and drinks.
This is exactly what we did during our stay there.
The City
Aix is located in the Southeastern part of France, about a 30 minute drive North from the city of Marseilles and about an hour East of Avignon.
It's also close to other small villages and cities like Gordes, Rousillon and Arles and relatively close to parts of the Riviera.
All in all, a good home base as I already mentioned.
Trains connect to the city as well, including the main speed rail from Paris, so that could be a good option for travel to and from the location. However, a car will give you more access to some smaller towns that are worth checking out in the area so you may consider renting one if you wish to branch out a little.
The old quarter of Aix is quite large and bustling with people.
Aix is a college town, so it has that vibrant and youthful feel that university towns tend to have.
But it's also set within a backdrop of a traditional and historic architecture,
which gives it a sort of old worldly romanticism as well.
Note: I chose the picture above for this place in the post because to me, the red flowers look like tiny hearts floating above the couples heads, which really ties into the romanticism idea. Tip - subtle shit like that is how you take things to a whole other level in your post....
"Did he just toot his own horn in his post...who does that?"
Here is a photo of the same fountain (Fountaine de la Rotonde) taken on different days and at different times.
Like I said, the old town was a buzz with with people, especially in the late afternoon.
The many large squares were busy with folks eating in restaurants or having drinks on one of the many terraces.
There were several large squares to explore in the old quarter including the Town Hall square with its famous clock tower (below).
There is Place des Cardeurs (below),
which is a long stretch of space that is surrounded by tall buildings. It has many restaurants in its center.
We walked around one side of the square and then back up the other to see the entire space before continuing on our journey.
There is also Cours Mirabeau,
a tree lined avenue with many bars and cafes. We had drinks before supper here on two occasions.
It also holds a statue of King René (whoever that was), which can be seen more clearly in the first two photos at the begining of this post.
My favorite square was a small spot called place of Albertas (above and below).
The architecture there was very interesting and there was a really neat street performer dressed up as a 10-12 foot tree. I didn't take any photos of the guy because I didn't have any change to pay him, and I didn't feel right trying to profit off someone without giving something back to them.
He looked quite comfortable in the location though, so who knows, maybe you will see him if you ever decide to visit the city for yourself.
I saw another pizza vending machine in town but didn't order anything from it this time around.
We popped into a church right in the heart of the old quarter.
It wasn't overly special but definitely worth a quick pop in to see the organ and the altar.
From there we just walked through the streets checking things out
and discovering the many interesting nooks and crannies.
There really was a lot to see in the city. What do you think, does it look like a good location? Feel free to let me know in the comments.