<< Châteauneuf du Pape || L’Isle Sur La Sorgue >>
A scenic, museum-filled village on the site of one of the most powerful natural springs in the world. It is located in a dramatic closed valley, vallis clausa in Latin (the origin of the name Vaucluse), surrounded by towering limestone bluffs and steep, stony hills. The Italian poet Petrarch, who lived here in the 14th century pining for his muse, made the “Fontaine” world famous. One of the town’s more interesting museums (and there are seven rather good ones here) is The Petrarch Museum and Library, which commemorates him. There is also a glass-blowing museum, the Cristallerie des Papes, and the Moulin à Papier Vallis Clausa, a paper mill that demonstrates how water power has been used here for papermaking since the 15th century. Shops in the Vallis Clausa Covered Arcade are geared to souvenir hunters but offer a good selection of gifts.
Water has powered fine paper making in Fontaine de Vaucluse since the 1400s. © Ferne Arfin
Tip: Try to avoid visiting in July and August, when the village is bursting with vacationers. Also, be prepared to pay for parking. There is absolutely none that is free. |
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The bottom of the Fontaine de Vaucluse, at untold depths, has never been discovered. © D. Basse. Collection CDT Vaucluse.
Outside the village of Fontaine de Vaucluse, at the base of high limestone cliffs, the River Sorgue rises mysteriously from the ground. The Fontaine, which gives its name to this entire region, is one of the most powerful natural springs in the world. From May to early September, thousands throng the riverbanks to witness the phenomenon. Souvenir tents spring up like mushrooms after rain. By late October, the circus has moved on, giving those wise enough to visit in the autumn the time and space to really appreciate one of the genuine wonders of France.
The Fontaine de Vaucluse, a clear, green, apparently motionless pool, is fed by rainwater that filters down from as far as 20 miles away on the Plateau de Vaucluse. The stillness is an illusion caused by the pool’s depth. In the 1980s, a robot submarine plunged more than 1,000 feet and failed to find the bottom. Churning rapids just downstream of the pool reveal the powerful flow, which can reach as much as 7,000 cubic feet per second. Within about a mile, by the time it passes the waterwheel and scenic bridge in the center of town, the spring has widened and formed the broad, clear Sorgue River.
<< Châteauneuf du Pape || L’Isle Sur La Sorgue >>
