Gordes

Gordes climbs the north face of the Luberon in tiers of pale limestone houses with the castle and church at the top, and the view from the road below, where every car stops, is the reason it appears on so many covers. The stone is local and the roofs are Roman tile, giving the whole village one colour. Just outside, the Village des Bories preserves about twenty dry-stone huts with corbelled roofs built without mortar, used as shelters, sheepfolds and stores into the nineteenth century; similar structures are scattered across the whole Luberon. Senanque abbey lies in a fold of hills a few kilometres north.

History

The name Gordes comes from the Celtic Vordense, and the Romans left many traces here, among them the road from Apt to Carpentras and remains found in the Bouisses quarter and the hamlet of Les Gros. In the 8th century monks of Saint-Chaffre founded a Benedictine abbey on the site of an ancient cella destroyed in the Arab invasions, a castle was built in 1031, making the place Castrum Gordone, and it was strengthened in 1123; in 1148 Cistercians from Mazan founded the abbey of Sénanque nearby. After Provence passed to France in 1481, Gordes stood out in an insurrection against French centralism and paid heavily for it, and soon afterwards Jacques Raybaud de Simiane took the title of Baron de Gordes (Wikipedia, Gordes).

What you'll find

• The stacked village - tiers of pale stone houses up a cliff face.
• The roadside viewpoint - the classic approach view below the village.
• The Village des Bories - about twenty mortarless corbelled stone huts.
• The calades - stepped stone lanes through the village.

When to go

April to June and September to October; July and August bring severe crowding and parking problems, made worse by lavender visitors heading for Senanque.

Practical notes

It is expensive and heavily commercialised, with galleries and boutiques in most ground floors. Parking is difficult and charged. The viewpoint layby is small and dangerous when crowded.

Nearby

Senanque Abbey lies north; Roussillon is east.

Key facts