Visite au Château l'Arc près de Fuveau





Château l'Arc near Fuveau

We are really spoilt this Thursday morning in mid-October with another day dawning bright and sunny, a high expected around 25C (78F), and not a cloud in the sky. I set two alarms to make sure I get up in time to catch a ride to a free financial seminar at a chateau, just 10 minutes drive to the east of Aix en Provence. We arrive at 9am, with the sun still at a shallow angle, casting long shadows across the splendid drive, bordered by traditional plane trees providing shade from the summer heat. Château l'Arc is now a hotel, and golf course, with a modern adjacent business centre. The Château as we see it now dates from a rebuilding in 1620. You can read some more about its history (in French) here.

Mont Saint Victoire from the steps of the Château l'Arc

As we climb the steps up to the chateau entrance, we turn around and are greeted with a stunning view of Mont Saint Victoire - a long craggy limestone ridge, rather than a simple mountain peak. This of course is the mountain made famous by Cezanne who rented a cottage in Bibémus, and who painted the mountain innumerable times. Perhaps less well-known is the fact that Picasso also bought a château close by, in Vauvenargues, where he is now buried.

The seminar finishes, and we lunch in the open air, reluctant to depart this idyllic scene...

 

© 2011 Text and Images Trevor White