La Fontaine-De-Vaucluse

Provence's northeastern border is approximately where the foothills and plateaus of the Basses Alpes give way to the plains and the valley of the Rhône River. You will forgive my gross geographical generalization.

It is in these foothills that many tributaries of the Rhône find their sources. The river Sorgue emerges from the earth up on the Plateau de Vaucluse. The site of the spring is aptly named Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.

The only photo I have of the green waters of the Sorgue at the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.

Our plans for this day were to make our way up to the peak of the Mont Ventoux, the tallest of the mountains in these foothill chains at 1,909 meters, or just over 6,200 feet. Before the ascent we naturally had to stop for lunch, so we chose the park at the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. The place was practically deserted and we had our choice of picnic tables in the park around the spring.

Our picnic lunch - yum !

Lunch consisted of a tarte provençale that we bought along the way that morning, des olives vertes et noires, une saucisse fumée (smoked sausage), du fromage, du pain, and une bouteille de Baumes de Venise, a local red wine. I'm sure we had a dessert of some sort, but that's not in the photo.

After lunch we were ready to tackle the Mont Ventoux.