12 June 2026

 Today was an interesting contrast between two Provencal towns. Both off the beaten track, but one untouched by foreign tourists - Mérindol, which needs a separate post some day when I have time to think about the heritage of my ancestors who lived there. 

From Mérindol we drove another two hours east, into deeply wooded, hilly countryside, along increasingly smaller and winding roads, almost no other villages along the way, to eventually reach Cotignac - 

- surrounded by cliffs with ancient troglodyte Stone Age caves and the remains of two Saracen towers on the heights. I took this from the car window on our winding drive down to the town -

The hotel Lou Calen was unexpected and unusual. In the middle of the small town, with tricky access via steep steps up from the main road, but cleverly designed so that the fourth floor leads onto open hillside, where they've created pools and rooms amongst the vines growing up the steep hill behind the town.

We first had water and a snack at this colourful café across the road -

then headed up a steep dirt pathway from our room, with these views -

to a large, clean pool carved into a levelled-out area amongst vineyards.

In the evening an unexpected pleasure was a pastis-tasting on the bar terrace overlooking the town -

- where a lovely barman who is a Provencal native himself (his older family members spoke the Provencal language) gave us a dégustation of different types of pastis and told us about the social history of pastis drinking in the region.

Then on the larger terrace of the Lou Calen's bistrot we had a very local dinner of Provencal-style gazpacho -

and seared tuna with ratatouille and a bottle of local white wine.