Provence travel guide

Provence was around many centuries before what we know as France and more still before Peter Mayle wrote about it so beatifically. Marseilles, the largest city in the region, was once Massalia, a Greek settlement that grew to become one of the most important trading posts of the ancient world. Later, the Romans made Provence the first Roman province beyond the Alps, hence the name, and they certainly left their mark: superb examples of Roman architecture are everywhere in Provence. Among the most well known are the Pont du Gard aqueduct, built during the reign of Claudius; the vast amphitheatre in Arles, and the theatre in Orange which is generally considered the best-preserved in Europe, and is still used for events today.

After the Roman Empire lost its grip, Provence was tussled over for a while by Arab pirates, Germanic tribes, pirates from North Africa and a host of Counts from around Europe with their armies. Relative peace and development arrived with the Papacy moving from Rome to Avignon, and that brief flurry of violence, the French Revolution, was quelled by one Napoleon Bonaparte. Provence fell into German Occupation during World War II, much of its Jewish population tragically perishing in concentration camps. The wreckage of the war years proved fertile ground for cultural renewal however, and from then on Provence and the French Riviera, bar a horrific terror attack in Cannes during the 2016 Bastille Day celebrations, has seen tourism prosper. The region’s main problem now is how to balance that enduring popularity among people seeking the real France, with retaining the authenticity that gives it such appeal.