In summer 2006, I went to South France for 10 days with five friends. Taking two cars, we started at four o'clock in the morning because we wanted to reach our first destination, the little town of Greux-les-Bains in the Provence region, as early as possible. The journey was fine, we drove easily and, after a little break for breakfast at a filling station in Luxembourg, we reached the French border. Just before the French Alps our navigation system directed us from the motorway to a smaller national road which picturesquely wound among the Pre-Alps. In this way, we were slower, of course, but we had a beautiful view of the Alps and the small villages at their bottom. We stopped several times to take photos which wrecked our time schedule for good.
It was nearly evening when we finally reached Greux-les-Bains. We had booked on the town's only camping ground. Apart from us, there were only elderly people in mobile homes, who had come to this town for a cure. The advantage was that we had the whole tent pitch for us alone. The camping ground of Greux lies picturesquely, somewhat outside de village, on the bank of a small river. The first thing we did after dinner was to explore the nearer surroundings walking along the river; and we discovered a little pub with a dancing floor where the elderly people of the camping ground seemed to spend their evening. We bought some bottles of beer there and went to bed quite early, as we were all exhausted after our long journey.
In the morning, we were called up by the backer who brings the residents of the camping ground fresh baguette and croissants every morning. After a relaxed breakfast and a bath in the river, we returned to our cars. One of our companions, who already knew this area of the Provence, wanted to show us the towns nearby. He led us to two small, seemingly medieval towns both built around a hill. Both villages lay in the middle of the violet-shining lavender fields that are so typical of the Provence. The second town, named Allemagne, had, apart from a Roman excavation site, a little castle. Though there were no guided tours left that day, we met the owner of the castle himself at the little market near the castle and he proudly showed us around on his property. In this way, we got a private tour and, apart from the details on the history of the building, we also learned how you become a castle-owner in Provence and how much work this is. On our way back from Allemagne to the camping ground, we took a pizza and spend the evening having dinner and playing card games.