The Experience

Explore beautiful Provence, filled with sun-drenched landscapes and quaint villages that have inspired many an artist, including Van Gogh and Cézanne. Day 1: Avignon
Your Guardian Angel meets you in Avignon and accompanies you to your hotel. The remainder of the day is at leisure to take a first look at this historic Provençal town.

Hotel La Mirande
Day 2: Avignon
Join your local guide for a half-day walking tour in the magnificent papal stronghold of Avignon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the capital of Christendom in the Middle Ages. Visit the Clock Square and the huge Palais des Papes, where seven exiled popes lived between 1309 and 1377. Its main rooms are decorated with stunning 14th-century frescoes.

Hotel La Mirande | Meals: B
Day 3: Les Baux/St. Rémy/Nimes
The medieval village of Les Baux de Provence is dominated by the ruins of a magnificent fortress hidden between the craggy hilltops of the Alpilles. Explore the village, admiring the ancient houses that have been carefully restored, and view some of its 22 historic monuments. Then continue to St-Rémy-de-Provence with its Roman antiquities. Van Gogh immortalized the countryside around St. Rémy in more than 150 paintings. If you visit on a Wednesday, you can wander the delightful market that offers a splendid array of regional produce, including wild mushrooms, olives, honey, dried herbs and spices. From there, head to Nîmes, housing treasures that include the well-preserved Maison Carrée, one of the world,™s best preserved Roman temples. Built between AD 2-3, it was modeled on temples to Apollo in Rome and Greece and so inspired Thomas Jefferson that he had its simple line of columns copied for the Virginia state capitol in Richmond.

Hotel La Mirande | Meals: B
Day 4: Avignon
You are transferred by private vehicle to Avignon’s train station.

Meals: B