There are many world-wide known landmarks in the Rhodanian Provence.
Aix is quite a beautiful city next to the Montagne Sainte Victoire, so praised by Cezanne
Camargues, the mouth of the Rhones river, is a very wild area where sea and earth get married and where birds, horses and bulls live free. You should get acquainted with the gardians (local cowboys) life, visit a manade (bull raising), ride freely on horses… ask me and I will organise it for you.
Aigues Mortes a city now surrounded by earth used to be a port where crusaders used to take the boat to Jerusalem, and which still has a beautiful roman cathedral and walls.
Camargues’ capital, Arles (where Van Gogh painted his master pieces) used to be a Greek colony before the Romans came and has a lot of treasures (Ste Trophime cloister, Les Alyscamps, Roman amphitheatre ...). Nearby Montmajour abbey is not to be missed.
In St Remy you will see "les Antiques" (Roman mausoleums) and, and you can visit the old Roman city excavated by the archaeologists, it is only ruins but you see a complete roman town with its baths, houses, streets, temples, Forum, ...
Les Baux de Provence will leave you an unforgettable impression.
In Tarascon you can visit the "chateau du roi Rene", castle of the King Rene (of Provence), it is really great, you can imagine how the noblemen used to live in the Middle-Ages, moreover the castle stands on the bank of the Rhone and the point of view is wonderful. You should stroll in the narrow streets of the old city and have a look at arcades and City Hall facade.
Nîmes used to be part of Provence in the Roman time and the Middle-Age. You can visit Roman "Arenas", Roman theatre, used nowadays for corridas, the second biggest after the Coliseum in Rome and much better preserved and "Maison Carree" (square Roman temple), have a walk in the beautiful "Jardins de la Fontaine" with the old Magne Tower and in the old city, do not miss the museum of the 'Vieux Nimes' where you can see old furniture, tools and costumes.
The Pont-du-Gard (24 km East of Nîmes), the best preserved and world largest Roman aqueduct is a MUST to see. It is so impressive especially when you think that Roman did not have cranes. I wonder how many slaves died to build it.
Avignon is the former Pope's residence. Famous for its broken bridge celebrated in a very popular song, its gardens overlooking the Rhone River and the Pope's Palace with very delicate wall paintings and very interesting exhibits.
From Avignon you can either go to Orange to visit its Roman amphitheatre (it is really huge and the only one which has kept its stage wall) and its Arch of Triumph, Vaison la Romaine, or make a tour in Avignon vicinity: Isle s/Sorgues (a kind of little Provencial Venice), the windmill of Daudet in Fontvielle, the Fontaine du Vaucluse (spasmodic fountain), Senanque Abbey, a pure Roman (not Gothic) jewel where Gregorian songs give you a hint of eternity, Gordes.
Luberon, made famous by Peter Mayle’s novels, is the North Eastern, off-beaten-tracks part of Provence, on the Low Alps slopes. You can have a lazy drive through its villages: Lourmarin where Albert Camus is buried, Silvacane abbey , Bonnieux, Lacoste with the castle of the Sade Marquis, Menerbes, where Nostradamus used to live but mainly famous since it is the setting of ‘a year in Provence’ by Peter Mayle (4 millions copies sold), Opede-le-Vieux, St Julien and its 2000 years old Roman bridge which was on Domitian way, Apt and its lavender fields, Roussillon, and its ochre quarries. Ochre is earth which provides painters with natural pigments, the earth is yellow, orange, pink, … with the contrast of the deep blue of the sky and the green of the trees, the view is breathtaking. If you are a painter, it will give you the desire to take your brushes. The village itself, all plastered in the same pigments, is postcard like. Your next stops should be the abbaye of Senanque, quite a spiritual experience, and Gordes with its Bories village; these stone huts built without any cement between the stones exist since the dark ages, of course they have been regularly rebuilt but people still lived in there until the end of the XIXth century. It is quite moving. You can see a lot of them scattered in the countryside and used today as sheep-pens but the only complete village exists near Gordes.
Depending on the time you have, you can also visit Venasque, Fontaine du Vaucluse and Isle/Sorgue to see its old mill wheels dating from the flax industry times and its canals which I liked when I was a kid. It made me dream I was in Venice ! Now Isle/Sorgue is the European capital for antiques.
The first two weeks of July, the Luberon Mountain around Apt is all purple, the view and the perfume are unforgettable.
Your itinerary could be St Christol, Sault, the Albion Tables which used to be the French nuclear missile storage site, Aurel, Montbrun and its impressive castle, prety Sederon village, Ferrassiere, St Trinit, Revest, Banon, Simiane. The abbey of Senanque surrounded by lavender is quite a picture.
Other villages with lavender fields include: Saignon, Ribaud, Le Castelet and St Martin de Castillon.
From Nice, it is easy to take a boat to Corsica.
For any of these tours, I can provide you with schedules and ahead transport reservations (quite recommended) as well as nice and non expensive accommodation and itinerary recommendations if you stay in an accommodation of mines www.rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com
For more day tours, refer to www.rivieraapt-villages.blogspot.com
I can propose you a nice and cheap B&B accommodation (50 euro/night) in Tarascon which is next door to the famous Les Baux and St Remy and is at equal distance by car, bus or train (20 minutes) from the three major historical landmarks of the Rhodanian Provence: Arles with its Roman ruins and Van Gogh space, Pont du Gard (near Nimes) and Avignon, the Pope city with the nearby Luberon, Senanque abbey, ochre's and Gordes. Tarascon city is very nice and has a great castle of the King Rene of Provence.
