I Found the Dreamiest Village in Provence 🇫🇷

I took the train three hours south from Paris and ended up in Provence, a stunning agricultural region in southern France known for having delicious food, rolling lush farmland, hilltop villages dotting the countryside, lavender fields. And today I am in the town of Apte and I cannot wait to show you around. I'm here with my mom celebrating her 70th birthday. We're doing a girl's birthday trip. And we don't really have a set itinerary and I'm actually really excited about this. Usually when I travel I have all these things I want to see, but today in Apte my priorities are this. I want to explore the town. I want to have some French pastries. I want to sit down and have a leisurely French lunch and really just kind of relax into this French countryside lifestyle. Like most little European towns, Apte is very quiet in the morning. Up until about 10 o'clock you won't really see anyone out on the streets. It's a perfect time to... Bonjour! A lot of the boulangeries and bakeries are open. Okay, okay. After securing our pastries from the bakery, we popped into this little local grocer for some fresh strawberries. Oh my gosh, the strawberries in France, they are heaven. And this is really all I wanted for my first French breakfast. Our Airbnb here in Apte is absolutely stunning. It's massive with these tall ceilings, modern art. It feels spacious, comfortable. We have a kitchen. It's the perfect place to spread out before we go explore. It is time for our daily croissant here in France. My cousin got this croissant for me once he found out that I was doing this daily ritual. This is what he picked out. It's quite literally the size of my head. Look at this monster. Oh gosh, where to begin? All I have to say is this, this is fantastic. After breakfast, we explored the town and discovered this little bookshop which feels like it has been here for hundreds of years. Who knows if it really has. It probably has by the looks of it. And they had all these kind of like little nooks and crannies full of these hidden gems. And then of course it was time for our next meal. Now what is so cool about Provence is that all of the produce is grown right here. And not just all the produce, but all of the cheese is made right here. They're known for having lots of goat cheese. The bread, the wine, everything is local. It just blows my mind how fresh and how tasty everything is here. So we've hit a little bit of a wall with jet lag so we're going out for a stroll and just around the corner from the Airbnb where we're staying is this teeny tiny little passageway. I pinned our location so that we can find our way back again. Our theory is that we're walking along the old city walls, we found this kind of really old looking walls, and we're climbing up this hill to see if there's maybe an overlook of the area. So we got up to the top and we can't see anything. Oh wait. No. Can't see anything. Very questionable sidewalk choice on our part. It's extremely tight. Here in Abt the streets are really narrow, but when you're here you have to have a car because part of the allure of Provence is going to explore these little tiny hilltop towns and you have to have a car to get there. So you really just have to still your nerve and look around those corners and you'll probably be freaked out a couple times, but you'll be fine. Abt is one of the oldest inhabited towns in France. Its roots date back to the Roman era where it was a big trade center. Middle Ages it was a very religious center and now it is known for having the weekly market that has taken over the entire town and guess what? It's been running since the 12th century. Now I didn't get this on camera, it was on our last day here, but I did walk around with my mom while they were setting up and I can confirm, it takes over the entire town. One of my favorite things about French culture that I've found while I've been here is this love of food and an appreciation of life. The French make such an effort to sit down and enjoy their meals, enjoy each other, enjoy the good company. We had multiple three hour lunches while we were here in Provence and no one rushed us out. There wasn't this hustle and bustle of quick, get out of the restaurant, go on to your next activity. It was really this slow, savoring appreciation, there's no other word for it, an appreciation for life and I can't get enough of that. So here are my suggestions when you go visit Abt. One, you'll need a car to get there, but once you get there, park, leave the car, walk everywhere, explore the streets, get lost. Try to go on a Saturday so you can see the longest continuously running market. Well, maybe not the longest, but it's been going since the 12th century. Sit down for a two hour, a three hour lunch, have a bottle of wine with your lunch. Try to adopt a little bit of this French lifestyle and you know what? We could all use slowing down just a little bit. Thank you so much for watching today's episode. I'm in love with Provence, I cannot wait to go back and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved making it. Make sure you subscribe and I'll see you on the next one.