Pastis and Mash, and Other Tasty Combinations

To Rousset, a rather lovely, off-the-tourist-track part of southern Provence in the foothills of Paul Cézanne's beloved Mont Sainte Victoire, for a lunch celebrating the publication of a new book about cooking with pastis. My own experience in the kitchen with the iconic hooch of Provence has mainly been confined to flambéed fish and shellfish, with which pastis makes a perfect pairing. However it turns out that you can use it in a whole range of dishes, both savoury and sweet, to delicious effect: pictured above are punk-green mashed potatoes spiked with blue pastis. On the same day we were able to tour the vineyard and olive groves of the Domaine Terre de Mistral, of which more shortly. Click here to read more.

A Driver's Guide to Provence

The first thing I saw upon arriving back at Marseille airport last week was a 13-registered car reversing along the wrong side of the road, on to a roundabout! Which is why, to accompany my previous post about the changes to French driving law, I've compiled a page of tips for driving in Provence, such how to cope with the heat and the kamikaze local drivers. Plus I've added some useful links to sites such as Bison Futé which tell you about traffic conditions, the best alternative routes and where to buy the cheapest petrol in your area. The pic, by the way, shows Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott's 2006 film A Good Year. Click here to read more.

The Rules of the Road in France

On Sunday a new French breathalyser law comes into force and drivers are required to keep an unopened éthylotest in their car at all times. Full disclosure: I haven't got mine yet, though it does seem there will be a grace period of a few months during which drivers will be let off with a warning rather than fined. Anyway, I thought this was an opportune time to do a comprehensive survey of all the driving laws in France, such as the one relating to the yellow emergency jacket, modelled above with great panache by Karl Lagerfeld for the very cool original government campaign. Click here to read more.

The Best Free Street Music Festival in France

Last weekend we went to the Fête du Panier, the annual music festival in the Old Town of Marseille. I go each year without fail: it's a fantastic occasion, a two-day multi-cultural shindig that begins in the afternoon with children's shows, community events and exhibitions and continues way into the night with (free) top-class, live world music - this year, the headline act was the Mercury prize nominee Susheela Raman.

After the lead acts have finished, it continues way into the small hours with pulsating discos in the various squares.

The music is only half the story though: the best thing about the Fête du Panier is its unique atmosphere. Local inhabitants sell home-made food and drinks - there must be some sort of special waiver for drinks licences - or perhaps the authorities just turn a blind eye.

And in every doorway there's someone grilling sardines or merguez (spicy North African sausages), and offering homemade Asian savouries, Algerian patisserie, vegetarian delicacies or home-made p'tit punch (rum punch). Click here to read more about the Panier.

Eating Like a Roman in Saint Rémy

On our recent visit to Saint Rémy de Provence, we thought we'd try the Taberna Romana. It's a little bistro overlooking Glanum, the Roman ruins just on the edge of town, and could easily have been just another spot to grab a quick, over-priced sandwich. Instead, it serves authentic Roman cuisine (and wines) and offers some very unexpected flavours. Click here to read more.

The Man Who Mines The Quarries of Lights

Gianfranco Iannuzzi has designed some of the most imaginative and spectacular light shows in Provence. He has illuminated the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the Jas de Bouffan and Paul Cézanne's studio in Aix en Provence and the Quarries of Lights (formerly known as the Cathedral of Images) near Les Baux de Provence, where he has devised spectacles for over two decades. He has worked all over France and internationally too. I caught up with Signor Iannuzzi recently to talk about how he goes about creating his projects. Click here to read more.

Flying Down To Nîmes

When I first started coming to Provence, there were few low-cost flights to Marseille, and so we generally travelled through Nîmes instead. It's a small, intimate airport, and I always loved the scent of pine and lavender and - if we arrived in the evening - the sound of frogs that greeted us as soon as we stepped out of the terminal building. There's a rather nice mural of the Camargue, too, in the airport car-park just to put you further in that festive provençal mood. This week, we had to go back to Nîmes on an errand, and we stopped by the airport to try out their restaurant overlooking the runaway. Click here to read more.

Marseille: A Soap Opera

Last night I stopped by for the vernissage of a quirky exhibition dedicated to Marseille's long history of soap production (savon de Marseille is reputed to be one of the finest in the world). It's a fun, if somewhat esoteric show, with posters, photos, santons, soap sculptures and all sorts of intriguing facts - did you know that a washing powder called Persil (meaning "parsley") was invented in Marseille? Click here to read more.

A Delightfully Old-Fashioned Theme Park near Aix en Provence

With its elegant boulevards, palaces and hôtels particuliers, Aix en Provence doesn't seem at first like an obvious spot for a family holiday. But gradually I've been building up a repertoire of places to go with children and, just on the edge of town, the Village des Automates, a delightfully old-fashioned theme park, is - especially in summer - a really pleasant destination. Click here to read more.

Lunch at a Classic Belle Epoque Brasserie with a Modernist Vibe

In Marseille yesterday, with a couple of hours to kill while waiting for a train, we thought we'd have lunch at Le Comptoir Dugommier. I've walked past it a hundred times, and read a lot about it: it's a lovely old fin de siècle brasserie that has been given a hip modern makeover by its new owners (a designer and antique dealer) that respects its elegant traditional interior. It has a great local reputation for its atmosphere and fantastic-value food, and we decided it was high time we tried it out. Click here to read more.