France
Who: (left to right) Kimmie Baroch, Lindsey Sadler and Cameron Sadler, all of Evergreen.
Where: The 12th-century Abbeye de Senaque, outside the perched village of Gordes, in the Luberon Valley, Provence.
Best meal: The “carte du jour,” featuring an incredible seafood gratin and a to-die-for melted-chocolate fondant cake at Les Cavettes, a wonderful restaurant built into the hillside at the base of the charming town of Bonnieux, in the heart of Peter Mayle (“A Year in Provence”) country.
Best deal: In a region renowned for its fabulous yet affordable vintage wines, don’t miss the “caves cooperatifs,” cooperative wine cellars run by local farmers who don’t have the volume or expertise to produce wines on their own. As an alternative, they combine their grape harvests to produce an incredible “vin du pays,” or local wine, that rivals some of the more well-known appellations in terms of quality and yet is sold by the jug (some a recycled plastic milk carton) for less than $10 a gallon.
Best time to go: The Abbeye de Senaque is known not only as one of France’s oldest operating monasteries, but also as a major producer of the region’s famous lavender. The fields surrounding the Abbeye are typically in full bloom and at their most spectacular from mid-June to mid-July; the region is at its most tourist-friendly (smaller crowds, better rates), however, in late spring and early fall.
Don’t leave home without: A detailed local road map (the Michelin foldout maps of the region have rightly earned their international reputation) is a must, but so is a sense of adventure, which will embolden you to veer off one of the ubiquitous Provençal roundabouts and down a country road not on the map and ultimately to an abandoned chateau or little-known winery.
