Les Baux-de-Provence

A ruined medieval citadel crowning a bare limestone spur in the Alpilles, with vertiginous views south across the Crau plain toward the Camargue. The fortress ruins, carved directly from the rock, attest to a powerful baronial history. In winter, bare Alpilles ridges and low mist in the valley create austere landscape compositions; in spring, wild flowers colonise the fortress walls.