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.
Oh, Aix-en-Provence:)) hehe, that tower, with a robot-face 😉
I didn't enter the church... Omg, the organ is beautiful! Thanks for showing me what I missed 😃
Haha yeah robot face tower, exactly 😆
You're welcome 😁👍
Hey there Mr.
Nice GuyRomanticismNo, you've earned that!
Making such a connection was the highlight of the post, which took it to another level for me, also. 🙌
Shame you didn't have someone take a photo of you and your wife sitting there 😆😉
Haha yeah, it would have been good if we asked someone to take our photo there. It's hard to get candid shots that way though. We probably would have looked super posey. Lol
You could forget the world around you, and be as candid as you like... the only fear would be that the person who you asked to take the photo, could leg it with your camera. Lol!
Haha yeah exactly. I trust no one lol
I didn't notice any hearts until you said something. Good one.
If I was able to judge text appropriately, I'd say you'd rather be there than where you are now. How close am I?
Haha it was a lovely place. Seems like a "no brainer." 😂
Lovely?! What are you, Canadian or British? = }
Haha I don't know why I use that word so much lol.
Canadian. Why, do the British say it a lot?
Oh gosh! Yes, British English, everything begins with oh gosh. And nothing's cool or hip or dope or awesome, either, it's "lovely" but they can't say things like R's and vowels so lovely is actually loave-lay, yea? That too, yea, random yea temp checks during and after statements, yea?
Ok, I'll stop now. One of my notes in my notepad is a comedy piece about how to speak British, can't be spilling all my material. =D
Haha that's funny. I say "yeah" all the time too. Lol.
From watching TV I notice they ask a lot of rhetorical questions when they answer someone. I wish I could think of a good example but basically "I very well had to, now didn't I?"
Ahhh stereotypes... so much fun 🤣😂
I can really pick up on Canadian accents a lot more since I've been away. Eh is an obviously one but its not as common as people think. I notice an accent in short words with "A" in the middle especially. Bar or car often sounds like baaar, and caaar...etc haha
That sounds super Californian to me. You forgot "dude" though lol 😆
Dude, touché dude like totally.
Ha ha, your comments about the flower and hearts made me laugh. It was a better picture then the next one. Good call. Looks like a lovely place.
Haha glad you liked it
The church is legit nice bro. We demand more church pics!!!
Haha I wish I knew that before moving out of France.
I may have one or two more church visits in backlog but I could have had dozens had I known you liked them so much lol. But then again, you could probably just walk down the street and see a nice church any town you visit... maybe you should be doing more church posts 🤔
🤣
Hahaha in other word, if you want some damn church pictures, do it yourself 🤣
Haha you said it, not me
Pizza vending machine?... that's new! I have seen burger vending machines but never for pizza. I would try it!
The Aix looks pretty built up and a little tired in places. Romanticism? I am not sure about that. I don't see it. But I am sure it would have been different in person.
Yeah pizza vending machines are everywhere in France. They're actually pretty decent. The pizzas are usually freshly made each day by a local restaurant and then frozen and loaded into the machine and cooked to order. I tried it once and it was decent.
I've never heard of a hamburger vending machine lol. That's hilarious.
Yeah I suppose romanticism is very subjective. I wouldn't say that Aix was swimming in it...but it had a little dash here and there... in my opinion 😂
Old but Gold. The buildings and the church are old but beautiful . I like the city, it's only crowded with people not with the air and noise pollution unlike here in my country., Hehe.
I like the idea and the reason behind of the first picture you choose., Your right the red flowers look like a floating hearts. At first, my attention was fixed to the fountain only, but since you mentioned it, I suddenly see romance all over the place! Thanks for that smart tip.
Yeah the city was quite nice and very clean from what I could see.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving some nice words 😁
What a lovely place, so vibrant… and bustling with energy.
Great architecture. Wouldn’t mind visiting one day.
Thanks for sharing @leaky20
Have a wonderful day today 👋🏻😊
Yeah it's worth checking out if you ever go to that part of France. It's a lovely city.
I will for sure.
I still need to go back one day to the town I have been born and lived. That was the centre of France, Cher province. 😉 I only know it from photos… not memory.
I didn't know that you were born in France. That's cool
Yep I was 😉 lived in 5 countries so far. 😎
Number 6 soon 🤓
Nice. You have 2 up on me lol
Cool, you lived in a few too 😎
It's amazing, it's the best place to visit, there are many beautiful buildings, and a number of cafes by the road, very good condition of this city. 😊
Yeah I agree. I liked it as well.
Awww the architectural designs are really very interesting my friend. This is a taste of goodness of romanticism arts. Being an old soul makes me love everything here. How I wish I could visit here too but thanks for touring me like I have traveled here now. Have a nice time my friend and keep safe always.
Feel free to travel through my posts anytime. 😁
The pictures are really great. It's interesting that you guys liked Aix more than most other big cities there, I've never been there as it wasn't on my itinerary before. But who can resist good little restaurants and good charm of the city :)
Greetings!
There are a lot of great towns and cities in the region but we happened to really like Aix. Other people might have a different opinion of course, but each to their own.
Lovely pics from a lovely place - I love Aix, and it looks like you had great weather (surprise surprise). Great architecture, great cafe life and lovely fountains !
!LUV
Yeah we did have pretty good weather that weekend. We got lucky in that regard.
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