La Bastide de Gordes & Spa****, Gordes, Provence, France.

A charmingling modern hotel styled in tasteful Provencal themes
with spacious rooms and suites and a charme unique to this hotel
which is a collection of village houses gutted and rebuilt with
total new construction and mod cons with traditional
look and feel. A must for a Gordes stay.

Set on a steep hillside in the heart of the Luberon in Provence, the hill top village of Gordes is one of the most beautiful spots in all France and it is here that you will find Hotel La Bastide de Gordes and Spa. As lovers of the Provence region in the south of France, Gordes has always been one of our favorite villages and the hotel Bastide de Gordes provides a unique and authentically French experience complete with all the modern conveniences.

The hotel is beautifully managed and the lovely vaulted or beamed rooms give you the sense of being in a castle or a romantic Bastide full of the history and elegance of such establishments. Our charming room was decorated in shades of soft rose and cream and opened through double old fashioned French doors onto a lovely walled garden which itself had a broad view of the fertile Luberon valley ringed with rugged hills hazed by the bluish tint in the air so typical of Provence. (This room is a must for those traveling with dog since just by opening the door Fido can see to business.)

Carpaccio of shrimp (gambas) sitting on a galette of cibalette with tomato sauce and pesto. Reception of La Bastide de Gordes. Click photo below to see larger version. Central Pool around which are clustered the villas housing the rooms.		Just one of the many terraces that dot the hillside for sunning, sipping or snoozing. Click photo below to see larger version. Charming lounge that is divided into smaller groupings for more intimace. Strawberry sorbet in a "soup" of strawberries and raspberries. The roast Rascasse (fish) with corgettes rolled around a mix of baby vegetables, served with olives and tiny peppers.
Click photos where the mouse turns to a hand to see larger version. Peter D'Aprix © 2008

The hotel is on the main street just a few steps from the center of the village, with its weekly open-air market, shops, cafés, restaurants, antique shops, church and the blunt castle with its art gallery set below the crenellated battlements at the crown. And yet, the sounds of the village do not penetrate the walls. The hotel is actually not one building but a series of village houses neatly stitched together on the inside so you would never know from within that it was a grouping.

In fact, despite the individual character of each of the buildings, they are all new, or should we say, rebuilt since the 1960s, one at a time. The owner would raise each new addition during a winter, boring deep into the stone of the hillside and build a brand new structure with all the latest building techniques, insulation, wiring and plumbing, air conditioning, internet and TV but make it look as though it had been in place for centuries. Each was equipped with south facing terraces, terraced gardens, and masses of windows that flood the interior with the light of Provence as well as offer fabulous vistas that extend for miles.

The interiors are mostly filled with new but traditional furniture and furnishings, often charmingly antiqued, although some parts, such as the reception, are ultra modern, all glass walls, stone walls and floors and black and chrome seating. But somehow it all works.

This is the perfect spot from which to make excursions all around the northern part of Provence, taste wine, sample cheeses, visit the local Abbé de Sena with their fields of lavender, take hikes, ride bikes for the superbly fit, search out the best olive oils, visit Avignon, the Roman ruins at Orange; this is Peter Mayle country with Bonnieux, Apt, Rousillion, Cavaillon, Menerbes, Lacoste and more just a few minutes drive away.

Breakfast either in the vaulted breakfast room or in its annex, the arcaded medevial wing.		Mud treatment Spa Pool with Zacuzzi. The bar.
Lounge by the pool with a view of the valley.
Peter D'Aprix © 2008

All rooms, even the more modestly priced ones, are quite spacious and well equipped and have an authentic country classic French feel; a feel that gets harder and harder to find in high end hotels in France these days with the trend towards modern furnishings and colors. The bathrooms are spacious, ultramodern and yet touched with antique flooring tiles and blend the new with the old.

The Daniel Jouvance Spa is the latest addition to the hotel. It awakens the senses and calms the spirit. A massage before dinner is perfect. In an exceptional setting extending over more than 900 square yards, the new provides an area devoted entirely to total relaxation, quiet and well-being based on the wonderful combination of sun and products from the sea. Experts are available for half an hour per day or per week to suggest multi-sensory treatments using active marine ingredients that are exceptionally rich in essential elements.

And the cuisine of Chef Olivier Bouzan is not to be missed. Featuring Provençal and Mediterranean products, his style is modern but with its tastes rooted firmly in Provence. His dishes are pleasant if not exceptional and are beautifully presented. Enjoyable always but especially when the weather is fine and meals can be taken out on the terrace with a view over the valley. Bouzan did his apprenticeship in the kitchens of famous Chef Paul Bocuse in Lyon.

While Peter especially enjoyed a pigeon with baby garden vegetables with a tinge of thyme in the broth and worked his way happily through the Spring Prix Fix Menu, I started with a lovely Carpaccio of Shrimp sitting on a galette of Cibolette. Moved on to a lovely looking roast Rascasse with baby veggies wrapped in paper thin slices of zuchinni served with black olives, tiny peppers and dabs of tomato sauce. Peter finished with what he opined was a dissapointing Millefeuille of apples in a Tatin style with caramel. I, on the otherhand, playing it safe, ordered a very pleasant and refreshing Sorbet of Strawberries (probably out of a Carte d'Or container) with a very nice chilled "stew" of red fruit and berries which is quite a popular dish in verious forms in the spring in Provence.

While the food was well prepared and lovely to the eye, it lacked good balance and often the tastes were not what they should have been with the high quality of fish, vegetables and other fresh products available in the region. Not up the to standard of the hotel itself. Perhaps they rely too much on the lovely ambiance, good service and fantastic views and don't pay quite enough attention to the food itself.

Rooms and Suites
Old world charm with new world comforts.		One of the several apartments Open plan ceilings add a country ambience of many of the rooms.
Bedroom of suite filled with warm provencal colors and loads of space.
Bedroom of suite filled with warm provencal colors and loads of space.

Gordes is situated at
30 min from Avignon,
2h40 from Paris by TGV,
1 hour by plane

Avignon airport : 20 mn
TGV Avignon train station : 30 mn
Marseille-Provence Airport : 50 mn