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<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto courtesy of Rue des Vignerons<\/em><\/p>\n The village itself is a small gem, a UNESCO world heritage site.\u00a0 It has been occupied for a thousand years and the local people have maintained its medieval character to this day.\u00a0 It was once a fortress and the mighty walls are still there for you to see and walk along.\u00a0 You will see it as you drive up through the valley and you\u2019ll be hard put not to gasp in delight.<\/p>\n The ruined building atop Les Baux is the Ch\u00e2teau, which was the home of some renegade princes and was torn down, rebuilt, and torn down again as the fortunes of war and politics swayed over the years.\u00a0 By the 19th<\/sup> century Les Baux was pretty much abandoned.\u00a0 Then they discovered an ore nearby that contained aluminum and called it bauxite.\u00a0 The mines are depleted now, but by the time that happened, the tourists had discovered the village.<\/p>\n Today, the 400 or so residents of Les-Baux-de-Provence are joined by thousands of visitors each year.\u00a0 It is a great place to wander through ancient streets, walk the walls and stop for a meal.\u00a0 There are many caf\u00e9s and restaurants, where you can have typical French meals as well as some gourmet fare.<\/p>\n The remains of the Ch\u00e2teau are the most visited attraction and you will have to contend with the tour buses that deposit their passengers there.\u00a0 It is worth seeing, if only for the views across the alpilles. The most notable site in the village below is the 12th<\/sup> century Church of St. Vincent.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a magnificent cathedral but rather a simple village church.\u00a0 It\u2019s simplicity belies many notable reasons to visit the church.\u00a0 The windows are modern glass, a gift to the people of Les Baux from Prince Rainier of Monaco.\u00a0 There are also modern murals of Provencal shepherds celebrating Christmas.<\/p>\n Down below the village, hidden amongst the rocks and vineyards, is the Relais & Ch\u00e2teau H\u00f4tel Baumani\u00e8re that has merged with the neighboring hotel La Cabro d\u2019Or, \u00a0a jewel in the repertory of this prestigious hotel chain.\u00a0 One wonderful memory of the three Michelin stars restaurant in this hotel is being served a steak \u00e0 la mo\u00eblle<\/em>. \u00a0This is a New York strip topped with beef bone marrow with a small bone filled with marrow on the side. \u00a0They recommend removing the marrow with a tiny spoon they give you.\u00a0 To this day, we still salivate when we think about this.<\/p>\n It is Christmas that really defines Les Baux.\u00a0 Each year, on Christmas Eve, the villagers form creche vivante<\/em> (or living creche) around the altar in St. Vincents.\u00a0 The villagers dress in quaint costumes and they lead their farm animals into the recreated manger.\u00a0 It is unlikely that you\u2019ll ever see the ceremony; it\u2019s for the people of the village, not visitors.\u00a0 But you can see the villagers preparing for midnight mass and realize that the waitress and the store clerk you meet are probably members of the touching statement of faith in the church.<\/p>\n Santons.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of lesbauxdeprovence.com.<\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s another Christmas tradition that comes from Les Baux.\u00a0 Many people in America and elsewhere decorate their homes with miniature houses and people made of porcelain.\u00a0 These are called santons<\/em>.\u00a0 Perhaps the people who treasure these delicate pieces don\u2019t realize it, but the village they\u2019re recreating is in fact Les-Baux-de-Provence. There\u2019s even a museum of santons<\/em> there.\u00a0 Yet another reason to visit Les Baux when you\u2019re wine tasting is to collect some of these miniatures from the place where they originated.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nestled in the rocky area of southern France known as the alpilles, or the little Alps, is the village of Les-Baux-de-Provence.\u00a0 In the valleys below are vineyards making red, white and ros\u00e9 wines that in recent years have received AOC status under the name of the village. Photo courtesy of Rue des Vignerons The village … Continue reading Les-Baux-de-Provence<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1710,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1694\/revisions\/1710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n