We drove into Isle-sur-Sorgue, arriving just after 9am. Vendors were just beginning to set up their stalls but being labelled as an "Exceptional Market of Provence", we wanted to get there early to be able to find parking. The town is also known for its permanent antique dealers but on Sundays, the traditional market grows to include even more antiques' dealers. Isle-sur-Sorgue also has over 20 water wheels throughout the city, most of which are still in operation. These water wheels, using the force of the Sorgue river that flows through the town, used to power the local weaving and silkworm rearing industry but today are purely ornamental. We happened upon two water wheels as we began to explore the market and I was surprised by how large they were and the fact that they were still operational. The market was the biggest one we’ve been to so far, even bigger than the one in Sarlat. We started the market by walking past the antique dealers. We were definitely window shopping here as the antiques were far out of our price range but it was still fun to look. Nearly every street in the old historical center is occupied by stalls selling everything imaginable except for electronics. You can find fresh produce, cheeses, kitchenware, hats, table cloths and linens, regional products (lavender, olive oil, olives, melons) and even an artisan knife maker. We wandered from stall to stall and ended up with quite a variety of things including table cloths, fresh produce and melons from the region. I had a really fun time taking pictures of the various displays and of the old town itself, which offered a lot of interesting doors, shutters, iron work and faded old signs on store fronts or the sides of buildings. Around noon, I took all our purchases back to the van while Sheahan and Megs found us something to eat for lunch. We sat in the shade, on the steps right by the river and enjoyed some delicious sandwiches and patisseries from a nearby boulangerie.

After lunch, we continued exploring parts of the market that we hadn’t been to that morning and Meghan finally found a hat. Both of us seem to have lost our hats at some point during our visit to the Camargue – they literally just disappeared but our guess is they blew out of the van at some point and we didn’t notice. On our way out of the market, I had a good chuckle as a melon vendor was loudly announcing a “Liquidation Totale!” of his melons. Once we had completed the market we went on a short walking tour of the town that took us past about ten different water wheels of various sizes and construction (some made entirely out of metal, others using wood slats). It was very pleasant to just wander the streets admiring the colourfully painted houses, the river and the different water wheels. It was warm enough to go for a swim when we got back to our camp in Gordes so we all made our way down to the pool. However, when we got there, it had clouded over and the wind had picked up. Megs was the only one who went for a dip in the end while Sheahan and I stayed warm under our towels.