Mt. St. Victoire

A fixture of the landscape around Aix, looming near on the horizon, is the peak of Mt. St. Victoire.  This is the mountain whose craggy, steepled shape was made famous by the painter Paul Cézanne.  Jenna and I decided we could not leave Provence without making the hike up to the "Croix de Provence," a towering cross perched above a 15th-century priory.  The cross stands at the tallest visible point from the town of Aix (it's not technically the tallest point on the mountain, but it's close!).


















All in all, the hike took Jenna and I about 5 hours.  This does not include the near half-hour it took us to decipher the incredibly cryptic signage leading us to the trailhead (there was even a French couple having difficulty understanding the signs, so it wasn't a language gap issue).  But after we set of along the trail and up toward the ridge, the beauty of the countryside and the joy we both felt at being out in nature made for a wonderful and rewarding trek.

The hike itself was fairly arduous--once we approached the ridge that headed towards the cross the incline was steep and unrelenting.  From the trailhead the cross was a barely-visible speck on the peak.  The countryside along the base of the mountain--groves of small, silvery-green trees, picturesque vineyards, and villas covered in autumn-hued vines--made for a captivating and magical scene.  And the reward of reaching the croix certainly made the hike worth the effort.  The peak gave an incredible view of the countryside below, with Aix settled in the distance.