Moustiers says it's one of the most picturesque villages in Provence and it certainly is lovely. We arrived around lunchtime and it was busy with visitors. We walked up the 262 steps to the little chapel Notre-Dame de Beauvoir, passing the stations of the cross on the way. The view over the village and plain was worth the climb, and we could look up at the small gold star, suspended above, which is in fact almost 2m across, but almost impossible to see in a photo. It has been replaced many times over the years, but nobody knows how it originally came to be there, although one legend says that during the Crusades the knight Bozon de Blacas was held prisoner by the Saracens and he vowed to hang a star over his village if he was able to return.




We found a boulangerie and bought fougasse for lunch, one with béchamel sauce and black olives and the other with bechamel and spinach and we ate them in a shady square beside a fountain. Afterwards we wandered round the cobbled streets where many ceramics were for sale. Moustiers is famous for its pottery, thanks to a visiting Italian monk in the Middle Ages who brought the secret of how to make a white tin glaze which became very popular.

 
 
 
 

We are staying at Maison d’Hotes a Angouire for the next couple of nights, a lovely Provencal home set just out of town up a rough track amongst woodland. And we've swapped resident sheep with bells for resident donkeys with bells ... luckily they sleep in! Our room was pretty with shuttered windows, wooden floors and crispy white linen and we arrived early enough to relax in the garden and watch a dozen or so hang gliders catching the air currents. When we booked we requested dinner and Emmanuelle cooked us a fabulous meal of mixed entrees, pasta, cheese and homemade fruit tart which we ate sitting on the terrace, watching the sunset.

 
 
 


We made an early start next day to drive to Quinson at the far end of Sainte-Croix-du-Lac and had barely left the town before we saw our first field of lavender, followed by several others stretching in every direction. We had to restrain our temptation to stop and take pictures as we had a boat to catch, but knew we would have time later. Arriving at Verdon Electronautic, we picked up our little electric boat which would take us 9kms into the gorge and back again. There were lots of people out on a Sunday enjoying the river, some more energetic than us in canoes and pedaloes but our boat was great and a really peaceful way to travel.

 
 
 

Back in Quinson, we followed another route back, stopping at St Croix for lunch with a lake view.
 
 
 

After lunch, we stopped at every lavender field we passed to take photos ... and we saw sunflowers too! You really have to be here to realise that as well as the view that goes on forever, the air is completely saturated with the scent of lavender and humming with the constant buzz of bees. As we approached Moustiers, the sun caught the gold star above the town and you can even spot it in the photo!
 
 
 


Having eaten lunch late, we picked up provisions and decided on a quiet evening on the terrace with bread, cheese, olives and another bottle of local rose to watch another sunset.

Tomorrow it is time to move on ... west towards more lavender!