Travel · 4 min
A place that time forgot
I have a weakness for villages that cling to a mountain. You leave the car below, walk the last stretch on foot, and with every step something of the hurry falls away. Gordes is such a place. Arriving at the top I am always a little slower than before, and that is exactly why I keep coming back.
Why the old endures
These villages were built to stay, from the stone that lay right beneath. Nothing about them was fashionable, everything was sensible, and that is exactly why they still stand. I often think we may learn this again, to build with what is there, and for the long term, not for the next season. An old village is the loveliest lesson in it.
Narrow lanes, wide views
The beauty of a hilltop village is the alternation. First the narrow, cool lanes where you see the sky only as a strip, then suddenly a corner, and the whole valley lies before you. This sequence of tightness and width does something to you, it opens the chest. No viewing tower achieves what a grown lane achieves.
Growing slow, right at the top
At the top there is usually not much to do, and that is the point. A coffee, a view, a hand over warm stone. You do not travel to Gordes to tick something off, but to walk for a few hours at the pace of a place that has done the same for centuries, standing there and being beautiful. That I take home every time.
Frequently asked
What makes the hilltop villages of Provence special?
They grew from the local limestone, often built without mortar, and combine narrow, cool lanes with wide views over the land. Grown rather than planned.
Is Gordes worth it without a programme?
Especially then. The charm lies in strolling, in the light on the stone and in the slowness, not in ticking off sights.
When are the hilltop villages loveliest?
In the late afternoon and early evening, when the crowds thin and the stone begins to glow golden.