France: Luberon Hiking, Revisiting St Remy, Enjoying Paris (7 - 25 September 2025)

 We started our France vacation with an 8-day MACS organized self-guided hiking tour of the Luberon district of Provence with friends Marc and Susanne Mumby. 

Happy hour with Marc and Susanne

Cute villages like Bonnieux

Hiking to the hill-town of Lacoste

Interesting art at Lacoste

This version of the MACS program is what they called "In Style" meaning very nice hotels

The food was also "In Style"

Varied hikes, but many with very long, challenging rocky stretches

In total we had 5 days straight of hikes from 7.5 to 10 miles each with significant climbs. We were relatively surprised that we completed the hikes without any sore muscles or blisters and remained refreshed and ready for the next day’s hike. Ibuprofen may have been part of the answer!

Interesting sights along the way:

Abbey de Senanque

Reconstructed Bories dry-stone village from the 1700's

A villa in Gordes

Sundial in Roussillion

Our lunch venue on the Sorgue River in Fontaine de Vaucluse

The towns we visited on the hike: 

Bonnieux, Roussillon, Gordes, Fontaine de Vaucluse, L'isle-sur-la-Sorgue

Revisiting St Remy, the place we were married in 2013

Wednesday is market day in St Remy

Street scenes

The sanitarium where van Gogh did many of his paintings

We rented e-bikes to visit Les Baux, a medieval village and the Les Baux Carrieres des Lumieres, a limestone quarry cave system showing an immersive slide show of French artists like Monet and Gaugin. On the way we visited where we were married 12 years ago – Chateau de Roussan now called Nostra - Chateau de Roussan, an event facility, not a hotel, restaurant that it was when we married.

We found two hikes through the AllTrails app that we could do from our hotel.

View of St Remy from our hike to...

Rocher des Deux Trous or Rock of the two holes

Paris

Sunday dance lessons on the left-bank as we walked to our hotel from the train station

Spectacular, refurbished Notre Dame cathedral - our access was by way of tickets to an evening concert

Luxembourg Gardens views

Musee d'Orsay featured a special exhibition of John Singer Sargent's work

Spread sister Lindy and her husband Weldon's ashes and said a little prayer at some of their favorite places - the Seine and the grounds of Sacre-Coeur overlooking Paris

And finally....

At Musee d'Orsay