France #5: Village des Bories

28 October- late afternoon

After some time in the hot tub and a chance to unwind after the via ferrata, I proposed a quick hike to see the Village des Bories—a set of ~200 year old houses built out of flat stones using a dry stone construction technique. I’ve mentioned that stones are everywhere—fences, houses, etc. are all made out of these rocks. When you need shelter and flat stones are everywhere, you develop construction techniques that result in small (or not so small) beehive looking structures. 

I double checked the distance- 2 km from Gordes (maybe 1.5 miles for a hike). 



We started walking- Stephen wasn’t feeling well so headed back to the house. 




We kept going, finding a side route through some amazing estates, then down onto an obscure scrubby path, past some brand new olive groves, then eventually to the village itself. It took longer than expected- we arrived around 5 pm, with not a lot of light left.

Hard to tell from this photo, but this is about 5 sets of stone walls- one after another after another.

Quick exploration of the village- amazing to see both the construction and imagine living in these accommodations- we are a bit tall for the doorways!

After our quick exploration, we asked about a taxi back- no luck. Walked the road back, tried asking for a ride, no luck (figured a French speaking grandmother and young kid might be good for hitchhiking). Hiked the roads back for better footing as the dark descended. Chris took a short cut back near Gordes, while Steve, Linda, Elizabeth and I took the longer route back through town. Nice to arrive home to Chris and Stephen setting the table and making dinner.

 Gordes in the dark