Holiday in Aix en Provence

The Camp des Milles is the only French imprisonment camp and deportation that remained intact after the Second World War. It is since 2012 an indispensable place of memory, where many visitors come to get engaged in private prayer but also to get educated each year.The camp was opened in 1939 in an old factory in the municipality of Aix. First, they have sent there for imprisonment "enemy" or "undesirable" subjects, foreigners and anti-fascists. Then, in 1942, there are thousands...

Not far from the Cathedral Saint-Sauveur, there is one of the most beautiful private mansions of Aix-en-Provence, the hotel Estienne de Saint-Jean, which dates from the XVIIth century. Nowadays it shelters the city's history and heritage museum. Its architecture, its decoration (much of which is original) as well as its rich collections deserve the detour.Pushing its doors is to enter directly into the Grand Siècle - by the way a statue of Louis XIV welcomes you from the hall. Admire...

During your stay in Aix-en-Provence, be sure to visit the magnificent Saint-Sauveur Cathedral, in the heart of the Aix-en-Provence district. Whether you are a believer or not, you can not remain insensitive to it.The legend - attested by the presence of an ancient Roman wall - means that the cathedral was built on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Apollo. Erected at the end of the sixth century (perhaps even from the fifth century), it is indeed a...

The cuisine of Aix-en-Provence is a festival of flavors. You will find in its markets sunburned vegetables and fruits, tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, peppers; cooked meats with evocative names, the Caillette de Pierrelatte, the moutounesse, the feet and packets, the sausage of Arles, the porch of Nice; as well as specialties that smell good in the South: aïoli, tapenade, brissaouda, galapian d'Apt, Poutarges de Martigues ... All this dotted with herbs that grow in the hills, thyme, rosemary, savory, oregano, farigoulette...

Did you know ? Aix-en-Provence bears its name from the Latin "aqua". The city has been known since the great age for the properties of its waters. The Romans built baths there, destroyed by the Saracens in the middle of the eighth century and rebuilt by the Counts of Provence, who cared for goitre and scrofula.City of the baths, Aix became the city of fountains, thanks to the construction of aqueducts and dams, which made it possible to transport water...

It is impossible to go to Aix-en-Provence without hearing about the "Great King Rene," as the Provencals called the one who,yet, have never been a king. And yet, he has a strong record of titles! Duke of Bar, Duke of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Provence and, very temporarily, King of Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem, he was one of the most important lords of the French kingdom in the fifteenth century. He was also the friend of King Charles...

Building an ultra-modern neighborhood located just a short walk away from a two-thousand-year-old historic center was already a challenge in itself, but this neighborhood actually sheltering a great open-air shopping center seemed to be an impossible mission. Aix-en-Provence nevertheless managed its bet by implanting in 2007, right next to the historic district of Tanners and the very chic Mazarin neighborhood, the property complex of "Allées Provençales" ( Provençales Alleys ), now a real leisure activity place and an animated space...