The area around Sisteron has a great variety of sites to offer many that should not be missed!
The landscape is very old and rich both in natural and man made features, there are a multitude
of ancient buildings, deserted villages, and a great deal of history. There are too many sites to
list them all but a few examples include:
Areas of natural beauty:
the penitents - petrified monks (rock formations)
of Les Mées
the natural fortress and castle ruins of Mison and
the canyons of the Méouge river opposite
the world's largest fossil face at Digne, its fossil
museum and nature reserve and the fossilized
ichthyosaurus in the conservation area
the breathtaking "Canyon du Verdon"
the lavender fields all around
the route of the olive and almond groves
the multicoloured ochre formations of Roussillon
the valleys of the Alpes de Haute Provence with
their unspoilt beauty and the gentle, romantic
hills of the Lubéron.
Great works of art are so numerous in the area
that even during a longer stay you will only be able to visit
a small number of them:
10 km above our house details of the exploits of a
Roman general are to be found carved into the
rock: rock face at the <Pierre Ecrite>.
the Roman bridges near Peyruis, Ganagobie...
innumerable fortresses and small villages dating
from the Middle Ages - well-preserved or in ruins
- are strung along the local rivers, Sisteron,
La
Baume, Lurs, Montfort, Peyruis, Oraison, Les Mées,
Volonne .…..
Romanesque churches and monasteries such as those at
Sisteron
or Ganagobie
with its world-famous floor of the 12th century or the Ottonian-Romanesque
Chapel St. Donat.
Forcalquier,
a small town with a strong Roman past and its bulky Romanesque
buildings, it also has biggest market in the area.
Of course, you can also go on day trips to visit the well-known
cities of Provence:
the papal city of Avignon
Les Baux, which bears witness to the brutality of Richelieu
St. Rémy - from the Romans to van Gogh
Aix-en-Provence, the city of art, culture and culinary
delights: from Roman baths to Cézanne and the
present-day students
the many small mediaeval towns on the hills of the Lubéron,
such as Gordes with the even more ancient "bories“
nearby, Oppède, Lourmarin, Ménerbes
(Peter Mayle:"Une année en Provence").
famous Cistercian monasteries, such as Sénanque,
Silvacane, le Thoronet.
