Aix-en-Provence, Cézanne’s favorite town
There are many tourist attractions around Marseille. First, we went to Aix-en-Provence, one of the places that can easily be reached by day trip.
Aix-en-Provence is only 30 minutes from Marseille by car, but it is also conveniently 40 minutes by bus. Express buses leave from Marseille train station every 10 minutes or so. You can also go by train, but the bus is faster. Note that the station where the high-speed TGV train stops is far from Aix-en-Provence.
A short walk after getting off the bus and you will soon be in the center of town. Aix-en-Provence is famous for the painter Cézanne. When we arrived at the center of town, we were immediately greeted by a statue of Cézanne.
Walking past the statue and through the old town lined with cafes and boutiques, I happened upon the main store of a natural website where I occasionally buy cosmetics and supplements. I took a good look around the spacious store, many of which were original products I had never seen before.
While peering into quaint churches and other buildings, we arrived at what used to be Cézanne’s studio. The studio itself is about 50m2, so it has a capacity of 20 people, with changeovers every 30 minutes. The tickets were full all the time, so if you try to buy tickets on site, you may have to wait for hours. I recommend buying them in advance online.
There is no audio guide in Japanese in the studio, but there is an explanatory file written in Japanese. Inside the studio, filled with light from the large windows, there are plates, vases, and statues painted by Cézanne, and we visited while imagining that Cézanne spent the last five years of his life here.
After visiting the atelier, we will watch a video about the garden and Cézanne’s paintings, and then head to the hill of Les Roves, known as “the painters’ place,” where Cézanne used to go every day. It is a 15-minute walk from the atelier. From the hill, we had a beautiful view of Mount Sainte-Victoire, which Cézanne would have seen. Cézanne was caught in a storm on this hill, his health deteriorated, and he passed away.
Normally, I would turn back to the station from this hill, but my main purpose for coming to Aix-en-Provence was not to see Cezanne but to meet an acquaintance of mine who is an archer. He is Japanese and has been practicing Kyudo in France since he started in Japan. He and his French husband have built a private archery dojo in the garden of their house in Aix-en-Provence. Moreover, the garden is open to the public almost every day for the students.
To see this archery range, we walked another 30 minutes from the hill of Les Roves. The archery range we arrived at was completely outdoors, and was large enough for three people. Aix-en-Provence has beautiful weather most of the time, so it was great to be able to take a bow while feeling the nature! I had seen it many times in photos, but it was nice to see it in person.
© Source travel watch