I left my camper parked in the shade at the campsite and set off early on foot to Saint-Remy. It was already warm by 8am and looked to be another hot one. First, I hit the boulangerie for a pain aux chocolat, then went to the church. What a surprise this turned out to be - considering it was a fairly boring white-colonnaded outside, the inside of the church had this amazing deep blue ceiling that I immediately fell in love with...
I went walking through the town for a while - it was full of lovely provençal shops selling olives and oil, soap, lavender, lots of difference foods and wine and so much more. There was also lots of windy, narrow cobbled streets that are so hard to resist.
From there, I went looking for the tourist office (and free wi-fi). On the way there, I noticed these sign posts with Van Gogh artwork on them, so I decided to follow them.... all the way to the Saint-Paul Asylum, which is where Van Gogh spent some time painting while recovering from his mental health problems. While there, he painted olive trees and other landscapes, with the most famous painting from that period being The Irises. It was a beautiful place, quiet, with lovely gardens and a lavender field that rivalled Senanque Abbey (only without the hordes of tourists).
Saint-Remy has one more claim to fame - Nostradamus was born here. There was some evidence of this around, but not too much.
All-in-all, Saint-Remy was a really lovely place, but from here I was off to Avignon!
