Go to a city,

Have a dream,

Complete love in this world.

The lavender swaying in the wind all over the mountains and plains is like the undulating waves in the sea; the dazzling sunshine passes through the soul-stirring purple, leaving behind touching and beautiful legends;

When the wind blows, I hear the rondo of love gently whispering;

The wind blows and smells the sweetest smell of love;

We all look forward to the most beautiful appearance of love, because from now on we will no longer be alone.

—Editor

I think many people are like the editor, who want to visit Provence when the lavender flowers are blooming, and want to experience the beautiful, charming and moving scenery described in Peter Mayer's article "A Year in Provence".

In June this year, thanks to the company of a friend, I truly felt the joy of traveling by car in Europe for the first time.

The editor's self-driving tour generally represents two words: freedom.

For example: we can get up early to welcome the morning sun and run along the Bay of the Moon in Nice to embrace the sunshine;

Another example: We can also stay up late, experience French romance in a small French village, and enjoy their music festival with local residents. We didn't return to the hotel until early in the morning, and the whole town was still immersed in a sea of joy, with no sign of calling it a day.

Think about why France is synonymous with "romance", maybe it stems from their respect and love for life that is woven into their bones and blood!

01 Eat, drink and have fun

Day 1: Flying from Beijing to Nice, arriving at night and checking in at night with jet lag

The next day: Tour Nice city, Lake Sainte-Croix in the afternoon

Day 3: Take a stroll through the flower fields, pursue and realize your dreams

Nice’s most famous attractions:

1. Rothschild Garden Villa (abandoned if time is insufficient)

2. Angel Bay is Moon Bay (must go)

3. Nice Old Town; (a place for dining and wine tasting)

4. The town of Eze; (more than 20 kilometers away from Nice, abandoned)

Moon Bay is named after the shape of this beach like a crescent moon. Standing at the vantage point with the most beautiful views and looking from afar, it is indeed worthy of its name.

Old Town: The Old Town of Nice is right next to Moon Bay. When you cross the road to the Old Town, you will see a market. This market starts closing its stalls around 12 noon. After closing the stalls, it immediately turns into a Chinese night market, hahaha~ ~

When you come to a coastal city, it would be a shame not to have a seafood dinner. We are also glad that we made the choice at that time, because even the famous seafood restaurants we ate at in Paris were not as good as the roadside stalls we ate at in Nice~~~.

Seafood dinner, highly recommended. . .

Raw seafood (especially fresh, delicious, delicious)

A portion of cooked seafood (cod and potatoes are good)

I left Nice at around 2 pm and originally planned to visit Lake Sainte-Croix. However, I was delayed by changing trains. When I arrived at Lake Sainte-Croix, it was already 5:30 pm, so I could only look at the beautiful scenery.

Note: It takes about 2 hours to drive from Nice to Lake Sainte-Croix. There is only about 60 kilometers of highway. There are country roads along the way. The scenery is very charming. With the country music in the car, it feels very good.

The purity and beauty of the lake water here can be compared with that of "Tekapo, New Zealand".

Note: After writing about self-driving in France, I will immediately write about self-driving in New Zealand.

You can enter the valley by boat. I heard it is very beautiful. I don’t know if it is possible without being there in person. Please let me know after you go.

In the evening, we stayed in Wa Village. It is said that this is the best place to see lavender. I don’t know whether the lavender is good or not. This small village is very interesting. It is a small village with thousands of people. There are large and small hotels scattered here and there. I didn’t see anything after walking around for a whole night. Asian face. After asking, I found out that this is a place where French locals like to go on vacation. There are almost no foreign tourists. Several people in our group immediately said: Yes, we are not here for tourism, we are here for vacation. It feels like this trip has been upgraded to several levels...

Whether lavender is beautiful or not, please look at the picture to tell~~~

Let’s take a look at the lavender of the prestigious “Senanque Abbey”...

The actual picture has not been processed and is very different from the promotional picture. The few sparse lavender flowers are not taken care of. There is something to see next to it, but it says "Private property, please do not enter".

The editor's current mental endurance is comparable to that of Xiaoqiang. I can't even say I am disappointed. I just treat it as passing by, passing by, passing by this world.

There are a few things to share with you about lavender in southern France:

1. Regarding the area of lavender planting: Before I came, I imagined that when I stood at one point, I should be surrounded by endless purple; but the actual situation is that except for a few specific places, I can see up to ten lavender fields. There are several acres of flower fields, if you want to see the vastness, please look at the pictures and use your imagination, hehehe~~~.

2. Regarding whether the hotel is close to the lavender fields and whether you can smell the charming smell by opening the window. I can only apologize to everyone, no, no, really not. All hotels are in the village, and flower fields are outside the village, outside, outside~~~

3. Misunderstandings about viewing: There are three places to see lavender in the south. According to the locals, the best place to see lavender is in Wacun. Because the signs are not too clear, we drove for nearly an hour to find it. When we were about to give up, we finally found it. The largest area of the area should be dozens of acres. I don’t know if we went wrong or if this is the actual situation. It is recommended that if you want to drive by yourself, you should walk around outside Wacun to see if there are any fish that have slipped through the net.

4. Flower blooming season: late June or early July, but it seems to last until August in the mountains. It was June 22nd when we went, and the flowers were not in full bloom, but it felt like they were in full bloom.

02 Accommodation

Nice: Hotel Ava (three stars)

Price: 800 yuan/night, breakfast 15 euros/person

Location: 5 kilometers away from Moon Bay and Old Town

Overall feeling: 75 points. The room is small, but the bathroom is very spacious. The room near the sea has a beautiful view.

Valensole: Hotel Villa Borgos (4 stars)

Price: 1,300 yuan/night Breakfast: 15 euros/person

Location: Near the village of Wa, on the edge of the small town of Greou-les-Bains.

Overall feeling: 85 points. The overall environment of the hotel is great. Standing quietly in a valley that is independent from the world, with no disputes, no jealousy, no resentment, this is definitely a good place for a vacation.