SAINT ETIENNE DU GRES - Cycling tour in Alpilles, in 3 days

Léonard Quinche joined forces in 1818 with two Tarasconnais and created an Indian factory in Saint-Etienne du Grès. In 1948, the company is taken over by Pierre Boudin. In 1977, he created "Les Olivades", a family business that perpetuates the ancestral art of printing on fabric from the south of France, while adapting it to the current life. The Les Olivades brand has been a forerunner in terms of high-end products manufactured and sold by the same company.

The Rambaille pond is one of the few lakes of the Alpilles. Artificial and in which one it is forbidden to swim, it draws its water in the Vigueirat canal and has an area of ??2.5 hectares. It makes the happiness of the fishing lovers from the surroundings. Most white-fleshed fish, as well as pike, trout and zander can be caught.

In the early Middle Ages, a first church was erected instead of an old pagan place of worship. Dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, it is an important step on the road to Santiago de Compostela. The current chapel was built in the 12th century. and testifies to the splendor of the beginnings of Romanesque art in Provence, as shown by its architecture: its facade, its monumental portal, its carved friezes, or its oculus decorated with symbols of the four evangelists.

Between the 18th and early 20th century, Fontvieille lived to the rhythm of the windmills. Built on a rocky promontory, four mills cap the surrounding hills of Fontvieille. Moulin de Daudet, the most recent of the four built mills stopped working in 1914. It was transformed in 1935, paying tribute to the famous writer Alphonse Daudet who portrayed through the tale "Lettres de mon moulin" (Letters from my mill), the consequences of technical changes at that time.

This mill was built in the 2nd century. and would have served 100 years. Built in a hillside on a slope of 30 ° and fed by the eastern branch of the Barbegal aqueduct, this mill consisted of two parallel rows of eight water wheels that operated sixteen mills. It formed a rectangle measuring 42 by 20 meters and produced about 4.5 tons of flour a day.

In the 1st century AD, the Romans built two parallel aqueduct bridges, which converged in a basin from which a single conduit leading to Arles. The Barbegal aqueduct was diverted in the 2nd century. AD to feed the Barbegal mill, while the western branch continued to supply the city of Arles. The modified bridge trenched the link of the Pene to feed the mill. The waters were then collected by a channel that evacuated them into marshes.

Formerly kniwn as Saint-Martin-de-Castillon, the current name "Paradou" comes, not from "Paradise" although it may seem like one to inhabitants or visitors, but the name of the old water mills of the Arcoule river which enabled weavers to "decorate" the sheets.

In the Alpilles massif, numerous hydraulic structures have been built to supply all municipalities with water. The canal of the Baux valley, put in operation since July 3, 1914, passes along the southern foothills of the massif. The specificity of this environment associated with that of a canal, which must include a gentle slope allowing the good flow of water, led to the development of several canal bridges in the municipalities of Maussane-les-Alpilles and the Paradou.

This mural was realized in 2014 by 35 students under the mentorship of the artist Jean-Claude Quilici. The latter is a painter of Corsican origin, born in Marseille in 1941, who has a workshop in Maussane-les-Alpilles. Specialized in Provencal painting, he exhibited in the largest French, American and Japanese galleries. ;Among other things, he has created a 40m by 4m mural for the University of Corte and a 130m long mural for the Marseille metro.

This Second Empire wash house style (Napoleon III), was inaugurated on March 26, 1865, after having been realized by the Avignon architect Louis Astruc. The inhabitants of the town came there to do their laundry, making an important social meeting place. For the period this wash house presented a great particularity : It allowed to do the laundry standing, and no longer on the knees. ;

Culture emblématique du territoire des Alpilles, l'olivier est le symbole du climat méditerranéen sec. Ses troncs multiples sont la conséquence d'un recépage au niveau de la souche suite à un gel important en 1956. Aujourd’hui, certaines des olives et les huiles produites dans les Alpilles sont reconnues à l’échelle nationale et internationale, bénéficiant de l'Appellation d'Origine Protégée (AOP).

On D24a connecting Mouriès to Aureille, you will drive for about 5km on a road punctuated by numerous olive groves. You can then explore all the various activities in relation with the planting of olive trees. These activities range from intensive farming with tight plants and bare soil to organic farming with widely spaced plants and vegetation cover.

The irregular plant mosaic is the result of clearing work carried out under the LIFE program of the Alpilles. Its objective is to promote the reintegration of species living in the open air environment. The species include small game, such as the wild rabbit and red-legged partridge, that constitues the main food source for predatory birds of the Alpilles such as Bonelli's eagle and the Egyptian vulture.

Once you have reached Aureille, I invite you to make a detour in the center of the village to admire the church of Notre Dame de l’Assomption. The construction of this neo-Romanesque church was initiated by the parish priest, named Father Pauleau, who arrived in 1867 at Aureille. The first stone was laid by the Archbishop of Aix, George Chalandon, on 31 March of that year. His plans are the work of the architect Auguste Veran from Arles.

Getting out of Aureille, it is possible to contemplate the presence of a set of rocky ridges. They are located southeast of the Alpilles and include Les Civadières and the highest point of the Regional Nature Park: Les Opies 498m high. Some of their rock walls are now the favorite site for many climbing lovers.

Located in the immediate vicinity of the highest point of the Alpilles, the crests of Civadières, high of 446 m offer a broad panorama on the solid mass of Alpilles, Petit Luberon and Mont Ventoux. They are part of the most ancient geological formations of the Park, dating back from the Jurassic. ;

This opening of the landscape, which follows a pine forest, reveals the Roquemartine lowland. It is between the eastern end of the Alpilles on the left and Mont Menu and Defens on the right. In the distance, one can also distinguish very clearly the first reliefs of the Petit Luberon. It forms a landscape where each element composes a harmonious whole, of a great serenity.

Also called "Queen Jeanne Castle", it dates from the twelfth century and belonged to the family of Alba. Below is the Church Saint-Sauveur, which was formerly the parish church of Roquemartine village. The castle and the church form an original landscape perched on a spur overlooking the lowland below. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the castle is abandoned in favor of the New Roquemartine castle, in lowland. This site has been registered with the historical monuments in 1926.

Symbols of Provence, many hedges segment the territory and separate the various plots. Composed of cedar or cypress, these hedges have the primary function of protecting the various crops from mistral and frost. These trees are also known for their wood, very solid and fragrant, and have served to build the framework of many farmhouses of the Alpilles.

Place of Christian pilgrimage today, this promontory is a place of worship probably since the protohistory. Many vestiges of the altars were found on the site. The current chapel was erected in 1878 on the site of a chapel that had become too small to accommodate pilgrims. Many ex-voto testify to a great religious fervor granted to this place The building below is a former convent built by the Augustinians Déchaussés (17th century).

West entrance of the second enclosure of Orgon, it is difficult to estimate exactly its age. But we know that it has seen many important personalities since the sixteenth century. Notably, François 1st, who returned from Italy in 1516, stopped a few hours before continuing to Tarascon; Pope Pius VII, who will stay in Orgon and was lodged at the Berne Hotel No. 13 rue Edmond Coste; or Napoleon I, who passed through Orgon to go to Elba island.

This road was inaugurated in 1978, nine years after the memorial at Salon-de-Provence which also pays tribute to Jean Moulin. It leaves Saint-Andiol and ends in Salon-de-Provence. Very attached to the Alpilles, where he owned a small country house, Jean Moulin chose this familiar land to be parachuted and to begin his mission of unification of resistance network of the unoccupied France.

His name refers to Sixtus II, contemporary of St. Lawrence and pope of early Christian times. The chapel is located on an old place of worship: until the nineteenth century, it housed a pagan stele, which was then used as foot of holy water. The latter reflected a cult dedicated to the water. The first reference that is made regarding the chapel date of 1155. Significant changes were made in the sixteenth century. and seventeenth century, because it served as a lazaretto during the plagues of 1629 and 1720.

Here, the relief of the Alpilles is similar to limestone rocks forming a natural barrier. The latter limits access to the heart of the massif to small passages like the Pas du Suisse. On the left is the famous Calan de Rousset, isolated from the rest of the massif and 275 meters high.

The bridge called Pont dit Romain does not date from Antiquity but from the Middle Ages. Its name still remains a mystery today. It was built on the chemin des Poissonniers, which was already used during Antiquity, to replace the crossing point that passes through the gaudre of Romanin (a gaudre is a temporary water body). This ancient route started from the chapel Notre-Dame de Piargues (or Notre-Dame-de-Romanin) and joined Mouriès crossing the Vallongue.

The AOC area of Les Baux-de-Provence is one of the hottest AOC areas, watered and early Provence wine. The soils of the AOC appellation of Baux-de-Provence are of stony clay and limestone, sandy gravel, clay and stony type. The grape varieties of AOC Baux de Provence are Grenache, Mourvedre and Syrah, and also Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Counoise.

From Orgon, the network of the northern Alpines Canal stretches for 119 km and ends in the Roubines of Anguillon and Vigueirat. Begun in 1826, its construction was slowed by conflicts of interest and ended in 1875. At the time, it was intended to complete the Canal des Alpines meridionales finished in 1772, to supply water to 18 towns and 40 additional mills.

This cross announces the path leading to the Romanesque chapel Notre-Dame-du-Château. This is mentioned for the first time in 1180 and was restored around 1419. Erected on the hill Saint-Michel-de-Briançon, it dominates the village of Saint-Etienne du Grès, former parish of the city of Tarascon. It was a priory chapel dependent on the Abbey Saint-Laurent of Avignon. Since 1350 she welcomed the "Belle Briançonne", a statue of the Virgin to the Child very famous from the Tarasconnais people.