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Our Tour "Themes"...

The Bike Tour
The Roman & Castle Tour
Art and Beach Tour
Camargue and Féria Tour
Le Lubéron Tour
The Wine Crush Tour
The Fall Colors Tour
The Marmiton Cooking Class
The Avignon Festival Tour
The Senior Tour of Provençe
American Student Tour of Provençe
Abbeys and Cathedrals of Provençe
The Dive Trip

Other...

Pictures of the Parish House
The Manse
The Cloisters
Doing Business in France
Products of Provençe
Places by Name
Links

9 DAY TRIPS: 72 hours!

The biggest travel "hype" in the tour business is the AMOUNT of ACTUAL ON-HANDS TIME you get from the tour "leader".

Just as important, is it "quality time", commentary-rich, researched information? Is it just-plain-boring information? Can your tour leader field questions in English? Can they deviate from a rote "recital" of facts? Do you understand their accented English? In other words, is it conversational, or instructional, and hard-to-follow? Are they giving you what you want, or just giving you a repetitive "packaged recital"? Do they sit with you during lunch and explain the menu options, the origins and traditions, or is lunch "on your own". Indeed, is a whole afternoon sometimes described as "on your own" in their itinerary?

On Parish DayTrips, you get a full 72 hours of conversational comment-filled touring, not just the usual 42 hours. With a french tourguide you can't ask the question, "Why do the French do this, or that, why are they this way, or that?" You might offend them, or, and this is more likely, they don't know what you're driving at, because you are asking a "culture-comparison" question. YOUR tourleader is American, speaks the local dialect without accent, and has a doctorate, master's and undergraduate degree from Georgetown. He has lived in France over 15 years and researches local medieval libraries, for fun. 
Given our SMALL 8-person groups, we are flexible. You can even wander off on your own, if you want, and join the group later. We can make unanimous decisions, as a group, to change the Itinerary below. Thats because its easier to coordinate 8 people than 30. 
Small groups are conversational. Our tours attract interesting, easy-going, laid-back types of travelers, savvy and price-conscious. This should be your time to savor, a time made memorable, full of the smells, sights, and "feel" of this remarkably "deep" region. You shouldn't go away without enough "experiences" to make you want to come back. Part of this is having good people to share with, during the trip, and after. This is a time to relax, absorb, and reflect, not be exhausted by a flurry of meaningless sighseeing. On a Parish tour, you'll see more than any other comparable tour, because you're not whizzing through it. With us you have a full TWO weeks, for the same price as a crowded One-Week tour with our competitors. Most of all, the style is very Laid-Back, very convivial . . . . if you don't subscribe to the axiom that "what you put in is what you get out", this is not a tour style for you. 

We take you in the very comfortable Parish 9-passenger Air-Conditioned maxivan on nine (9) different tours of Provence ("Day Trips") following the below ITINERARY:


DAY 1: Upon Arrival, you check into your suite, are given an overview of the Parish House, and a Walking Tour (no Van) of the Ancient Walled Ramparts (about 1/2 mile of walking) of the fabled City of the Popes. We view the Cathedral, the Opera House, Restaurants, and the available shopping, parks, places to change money, the general layout of Old Avignon, including the Palace of the Popes.
DAY 2: Luberon Valley. Gordes, Abbey of Senanque, Rousillon, Bonnieux, wine-tasting. Consensus Options: the Hermit Caves, Druid Road, the Salt Road, Renaissance castle, deserted castle, Marquis de Sade's Lacoste.
DAY 3: Market Day St. Remy, In the Steps of Vincent Van Gogh, local artisans, the citadel of LesBaux. Option Olive Oil Mill, the lost acqueducts, the Queen's Gazebo, Artisans of Provence.
DAY 4: Rest Day Olde Towne Avignon. Renaissance Italian Museum.
DAY 5: ARLES, in the steps of Romans. Option: the Camargue Wildlife Park and more of VanGogh's southern paintings. The Floating Castle, the Napoleonic castle, St Marie-la-Mer.
DAY 6: North into WineCountry, Vaison-la-Romaine, Pernes-les-Fontaines, the perched village fountains, Baumes-de-Venise. Option: Panoramic Pass, the Roman Village and Theatre.
DAY 7: Rest Day Olde Towne Villeneuve, across the Rhone visit Fort StAndre and the "Chartreuse" Abbey, Brocante antique market.
DAY 8: Isle-sur-Sorgues, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, the River Walk and in the steps of Petrarch.
DAY 9: Aix-en-Provence, In the steps of Cezanne. The Med Option.
DAY 10: Le Grand Luberon: Oppede-le-Vieux, Menerbes, Lacoste, the Carmelite Abbey, In the steps of the Marquis de Sade, The Hidden Valley and the Old Salt Road, footsteps of the Druids.
DAY 11: Rest Day Olde Towne Avignon. The Provence Gourmet Cooking Class or Opera performance.
DAY 12: If not the Mediterranean, then Roman Orange, Chateauneu-du-Pape. Option: Olive Oil Mill, Renaissance Castle, Nimes and the Arles Acqueduct. 
DAY 13: Rest Day Olde Towne Avignon. The Impressionist Museum, VanGogh, Renoir, Degas, Modigliani. Hidden Palace of the Popes.
DAY 14: Uzes, Pont du Gard, The Roman Heritage, Roman engineering, the power of water. Option: the Roman Garrison at Nimes, the Amphitheatre, and the Hanging Gardens.

Guests have a choice of our free wine lunch alfresco or a formal restaurant lunch, accompanied by the tour leader-operator.

The above ITINERARY is a firm contract with each of our guests. It can be changed by Unanimous (only) Consent. For instance, the trip to the Meditteranean is a firm commitment, but can be replaced (see Day 12) by unanimous consent.
Look at our special "THEMES" (Click buttons in left margin) if you would like to suggest changes to the contract-itinerary before you book (or after).
Groups of 6 or more "friends traveling together" get to dictate their own theme, which van be completely different than above Itinerary. "Tailoring" our tours to your interests is much easier when you travel as a group. The tour leader will always honor guest requests for Photo Stops.
Want your own side-adventure? Use your French Rail Pass to visit Nice, Cannes, Carcassonne, return for a full day at Aix (two museums and a great shopping town), Monaco, Marseilles or Lyon, even go to Spain or Italy, less than three hours away, using one of your 4 "Rest Days". 



The Standard 9 Destinations



Most guests appreciate the Standard 9 destinations: StRémy/Glanum, Arles/Camargue, Uzés/Pont du Gard, Isle-sur-Sorgues/ Fontaine de Vaucluse, Orange/ Chateauneuf du Pape, Les Baux/Daudet's Mill, Gordes /Abbey of Sénanque, Aix-en-Provence and the Côte d'Azur. These places are definitely "de rigueur" if you want to hit the high spots. No other tour hits all of them. 

"Tailoring" the tour: I like changing the schedule, but only if I have unanimous consent for the "Options". For instance, the Camargue Tour allows us to spend one day at either the Nîmes or Arles "Fería" , a yearly event which can include a day of Provence bull-jousts, or a Portuguese Corrida (12 man bull wrestling). We can even wangle an invitation to a real gypsy ranch-party (an "encierro"). For the Flamenco crowd, we can get invited to see the Gypsy King's troupe, near Arles, if we are lucky. Our biggest "Option" is to unanimously agree to NOT go to the Med, when we go to Aix.
It's up to you, even on a daily basis, since entrance fees ($38 total) on these Day Trips are paid by guests. You can thereof Opt Out of a particular museum, and go meditate in the Alyscamp Park where Vincent and Paul (Gauguin) painted, for instance. Forget Roman Glanum, and dawdle in the colorful market for a couple of hours, instead. Visit the Art Galleries in Gordes, or its ancient wine presses, or its market and forget the two-hour tour of the Abbey of Senanque.

The Camargue Tour Option goes to St Marie-la-Mer and its Gypsy Church, StGilles, Massillargues or Aigues-Mortes, depending on several variables, which we discuss the prior evening. If everyone agrees, we might visit a nature preserve, walk a beach and watch the flamingos fly, go horseback or bike riding, picnicking on our secret beach, or sometimes just stop and take in one of those yellow Van Gogh sunsets. The next day, we might visit a bird sanctuary, a medieval castle, or a gypsy museum, depending again on our collective mood or from seeing a posted local event from the day before. Since we are at most a group of 8 at any one time, we can "tailor" our days to fit the mood, just like a high-priced tour. 

If you want a regimented itinerary this is not the Tour for you. The ITINERARY is a contract, but what makes for an experience is how you weave the "extras" into this tapestry. Call us now to help you take advantage of ALL of your 15 days in Provence.

For more information, please contact me at:

toursofprovence@aol.com

or call

970.241.5034