Roussillon - town in ochre

Roussillon - town in ochre

This town (or village) is an absolute must when you visit the Provence. In earlier times was (and is a little now as well) mined ochre. All the town is colored in ochre in all its shades. Roussillon is located on the north slope of the Lubéron.

We drive almost the same roads as to the Véroncle gorge. At the junction to the D 177 we stay on the D 4 in direction of Apt. On our Véroncle trip we were able to see the ochreous rocks in the distance. Unfortunately, we don't have sun today. The sky is cloudy and we have quite strong wind. The saturated colors had looked better in the sun.
We park below the town because we are afraid not to find a place in the town.

A symphony of colors in ochre - red - yellow

Tablets inform about the development, mining and use of

A path leads from the main road to the left to the "Sentier des Ocres", the ochre footpath. For € 2.50 you can go in about 50 minutes through former Ochre breaks to admire the colors. Just past the entrance is to see the whole panorama. The ocher rock is fairly soft. The paths are accordingly sandy to fine dust. It is amazing how much shades the rock does have. On tablets are taught us interesting information, eg , that before the war 40,000 tons of ocher paint as raw material were mined and processed (today only a small amount). Only a fraction of the mined rock can be used as a dye (5%). The red color comes from iron compounds (iron oxides and hydroxides).

On the ochre footpath

Beautiful color contrast
with the green
of vegetation

Ochre rocks

Walk through
one of the
beautiful streets

But also the city is worth seeing. All the houses are decorated in an ocher color. It is built like so many villages in Provence to the top of a hill. It is teeming with tourists, and it was not easy to find a place in a restaurant. Then we've got lucky and have a nice place on the balcony of a small bistro. There is considerable wind, and we must keep everything on the table. We drink a pastis and ate a snack. Then we wander a bit through the town.

Street view in Roussillon

There are a variety of small shops and art galleries, a beautiful church and beautiful views to Mont Ventoux.

In front of the mayor's office

The Mont Ventoux is to see also here (but only in the distance)