Anna & Patrick

We had a wonderful time in a charming, authentic house few steps away from the village La Verdiere. Definitely spacious enough for 6 people. With nicely decorated and fully equipped inside and outside areas, it provides enough privacy and makes you feel home from the first day. Inside was fresh and cozy, outside enough shadow and green. Pool and terrace gave us a lot of pleasure in any part of the day.
We were warmly welcomed with keys and nice bottle of local rose wine. We also got the whole map, full of tips about surroundings, which we used a lot.
La Verdiere is a tiny village with a small supermarket, though you can find everything there (close on Wednesday), nice bakery (open every day, bread is delicious), pizza ( is OK), small café with newspapers and outside terrace with a nice view. The bigger supermarkets we found in Barjols ( about 20 minutes) and in Vinon Sur Verdon ( same time, but road is better). On the road to Vinon Sur Verdon you can buy some local fruits: very tasty and cheap. Between Montmeyan ( 15 min from the house) and Quinson you can spent a day on the water in a canyon Gorges du Verdon
( around 30 min away). The choice is between water bike, canoe or motorboat. Distance is 18 km both ways and the water is calm. So, for people who want it to be more relax I recommend to take motorboat. It’s amazing experience with remarkable views, swimming and lot of fun. Nothing to eat on the way and sun cream is a must. Also was great to visit Lac Sainte Croixe – deep lake with unbelievably blue water, surrounded with mountains. There is Water World for kids ( we were from the site of Les Sallens Sur Verdon village). Some restaurants in the village, also water sports to rent, sand beach is free of charge. After bathing you can discover the canyon with a car, great for photo shooting. There are 3 more places to visit not far from La Verdiere: Cotignac, Sillans la Cascade and Saint Julien-le-Montagnier. Cotignac is a bit bigger village with shops ( wine also), cozy market, lovely restaurants, platan boulevard and cave excursions. The car you can leave on a big parking before the village, as its just few steps to the center. In Sillans la Cascade after 20 minutes walking through the olive plantation you can enjoy the waterfalls and even bath or have a picnic. St Julien is the most close ( 10 min) to us and we found it occasionally driving to completely other place. The village is on the top of the hills, with narrow streets and tiny local houses. There is a nice local restaurant with tasty fair food and very friendly owner. Local people are playing petangue, its very relaxed and home like. We were also in Aix en Provence and Manosque. Aix de Provence is big city with heavy traffic and 2 parts: old with platan boulevard and the modern one with a lot of shops and official building. Can be interested to visit once. In Manosque we went specially to the restaurant "Dominique Bucaille (1 Michelin star) and also were in an old part. The city itself is not so attractive, but old part, inside the old walls can be seen. The restaurant was a perfect match, but in comparing to same level Belgium restaurants is more traditional.
Must admit that with such a wonderful pool, none of us wanted to go to the sea, but as we were not so far ( 1 hour driving), we decided to go in the end of the last week. The beaches by St Sanary are narrow, but water is crystal clear. Bandol is great for the evening with restaurants and yachts view. In Ciotat we found a small beach – Plage Du Mugel. It’s the start of the Calanque fiords, Provence fiords similar to those in the Norway. Was a discovery for us. Beach is tiny, but view makes it very special. In la Ciotat you can also go to the fiords on a ship. Will do it next time as we decided already to come back next year. In general it was a great holiday experience and we are in Love with Provence.
Warm greetings and many thanks to Le Cocon Vacances!
Hope you can find some helpful information! Thanks and Enjoy your holiday!
Anna and Patrick