Where to stay in Aix? There aren’t too many places actually in the old section of Aix and most seem to be on the exterior of the city although a short walk to Cours Mirabeau which you will find will almost always be where you start to do anything in Aix.

This is where we stayed. It was a nice hotel, 4 star, bar, lobby, elelvator, swimming pool but, really, just a hotel when it comes down to it. I recommend it if you can’t get into this place:

This is the little lobby. It’s called 28 a Aix, found on 28, rue du 4 Septembre close to Cours Mirabeau. I read about it in the New York Times article on Aix and stopped by to have a look. There’s no pool, no elelvator and there are only four rooms. It not even a B&B. It has a new owner and they were smart enough to keep the services of the manager, Michel, who is a wonderfully friendly guy and who let us in to look around. The rooms were off limits though.

Not your usual lobby.

Wouldn’t you love to have breakfast here every morning? I read that their breakfasts are fabulous and included in the price of the room which wasn’t the case of our hotel. To get a room here you have to book months in advance and July is always fully booked being the big festival month for Aix. The rooms range from 250 to 300 Euros a night or more depending on the season. The next time I have a reason to spend the night in Aix, I’m going to try and get a room here.

What to do in Aix? I haven’t broken it up into two hour increments like the New York Times did but here is a list of what to see and do while visiting Aix.
First, make a stop at the Tourist Information Center across from the huge fountain at the Rotunde and get a map of Vieil Aix. It will help you find places as the old part of Aix can be confusing with its winding streets and dead ends. You will find that Cours Mirabeau is the heart of Aix lined with it’s lovely plane trees and decked with fountains and it’s a good place to have a drink and watch tourists and fashionable women stroll by.

Good King Rene stands at the opposite end of la Rotunde. He is holding a bunch of muscat grapes in one hand, something he brought to Provence.
Go south to find the Mazarin section of Aix, especially the Place des Quatre Dauphins. Go north to enter into Vieil Aix where shops, cafes and markets of every kind fill the narrow lines and squares.

I especially like this clock tower next to the Hotel de Ville. It’s a really nice sqaure. When the market here is finished, it is filled with tables for drinks and eats. Continue on up the street past the tower and you will arrive at the Cahtedral St Saveur, a must see. It is a mix of centuries of additions with a lovely 5th century baptistry with recycled colums from the temple of Apollo which once stood here. There are fabulous carved wooded doors that are covered but you can arrange to see them by asking at the office in the church. There is also a wonderful 12th century cloister which is opened once or twice a day at scheduled times. The cathedral, by the way, is closed for lunch.

My favorite thing in the cathedral, over on the furtherest wall to the left, is this dragon. Martha was said to have captured it after it had been terrorizing the villagers. Martha along with two Marys of Biblical times were believed to have come to France after Christ was gone so you will find many places and churches connected with this belief.

You will find these medallions all over Aix and you can get a map and follow them to various buildings and areas having to do with Cezanne was lived and painted in Aix and the surrounding areas. You can find his atelier at 9 Ave. Paul Cezanne where you can see where he did his still-lifes. You won’t find a museum with his paintings here though, although the city did have a really good show of his art a few years ago.

To the south of the Cours Mirabeau is an interesting area to explore. If you need some reading material you can also find an English bookstore called Book in Bar Bookstore at #4, rue Joseph Cabassol in this section of town.

The fountain found at Place des Quatre Dauphins. This is found in the area called Mazerin and is one of my favorites.

If you’re lucky, you may get a photo of a lady walking her dog seen through the falling water of the fountain.

Aix has some of the best markets in Provence. Wednesday and Saturday there are many stalls lined up on the Cours Mirabeau mostly selling clothing but also table clothes and a free hand made items. I especially love the vegetable market held daily on Place Richelme which is right before you reach the Hotel de Ville.

You can easily rent bikes in Aix. Instead of being called Velibs as in Paris they are called VHello. Get it? Really though, Aix is so easy to walk around that unless you are going a long distance, you probably won’t need one.

A year or so ago I read an article in the New York Times entitled 36 Hours in Aix-en-Provence. They do one of these once a week on places all over the world. Since I’m always in Aix I eagerly read the article and wondered where in the world they came up with the places the picked. Mostly it was bars, restaurants and a little shopping leading me to think that the article must have been written by a young person. Who gave them the information? Where can I get this job? Anyway, I decided to put together my own 36 Hours piece. I find I have to split it up into parts mainly because I have so many photos. Maurice and I actually did spend 36 hours in Aix the other day as we had to wait for our car to be worked on. It’s a wonderful place to be “stuck”.

Preface to 36 Hours in Aix:

A good starting point in visiting Aix is the Rotunde. The lovely Cours Mirabeau, a charming central street goes off this place and the Tourist Information Office is to the left of this fountain if Cours Mirabeau is behind you.

Aix is packed with places to eat and it is a pleasure to find an umbrella or tree to sit under, sometimes with a fountain trickling nearby, and watch the world go by. Cours Mirabeau has a line of cafes going all the way up one side but I like to go “inland” from there up the tiny streets to find a place.

Fountains can be found all over the city. This is one of my favorites.

Always keep looking up as you walk around Aix. There are amazing things overhead.

Aix is full of lovely buildings and churches.

There are Saints and Virgin Marys on many buildings overhead.

We’ve been seeing plums in the markets for a few weeks now. I’m only a fan of plums when they are really juicy and that first sort of sour taste from the skin is replaced by the rush of sweet juice from the soft interior.

Usually the plums are all the same color. I liked this mix we got one day.

I had bought some plums that I was less than pleased with-too hard and very little sweetness-so I used them to make a very simple plum cake. It was really good. Maurice and I finished in two days.

We had some clouds the other day at exactly the right time-developing as the sun set. I looked at my window and a rosy glow was flowing in and I went outside and saw this.

I especially liked these swirly clouds. Can you see the crescent of the moon on the left?

Whenever I walk or run with Maurice he usually talks me into going further than I wanted to. On this particular day we decided to walk to the top of the mountain behind our house. We have to drive over it to get to Cereste or Apt and it’s pretty steep. I climbed to the top of it once by myself a couple of years ago. I’m not sure what made us decide to try it but the whole hike ended up being two hours long and I spent the rest of the day moaning and groaning everytime I stood up from sitting. At the top of the hill is a fabulous view and of course I didn’t have my camera so somehow we did the climb again so I could take photos.

After you pass through the little village near us and get a bit of the way up the hill, this is what you see.

And then this a little further on. I love how the road curves.

Finally, at the top we see our elevation. We started at 506 meters in the village.

I was ready to head down the way we came but Maurice saw a sign pointing on a hiking trail back to our village. Here and there on trees or rocks you will see colored stripes which tell you that you are on the right trail. It doesn’t always work for us though. We’ve gotten very lost in spite of them.

A look at a steep part of the road we climbed. Made me wonder how I made it.

And finally the view which had me making this trip twice. On the other side of the mountain we could see a long distance to a village a long drive from us and also the beginning of the French Alps.