Cavaillon

This quiet Provençal town is famous throughout Europe for its sweet-smelling melons imported from India, which grow best here thanks to the warm, sunny climate.

Sights to see

• The Roman triumphal arch
• The Saint-Véran Cathedral: a beautiful Romanesque-style church with a charming, shady cloister.
• The synagogue: in this town, Jews lived in the quarries, ghetto quarters symbolising the exclusion dictated by the papal state. Interesting is the old bakery that tells with objects and documents from the life of the community in the region.
• Provençal nativity scene museum: an incredible collection of nativity scenes based on the villages and monuments of the Luberon with a wealth of details such as hand-cut tiles, wooden mills and santons.
• Saint-Jacques hill: a 15-minute walk from place du Clos takes you to a hillock with a beautiful view.

Things to do and try

• Monday morning market: the stars are of course the melons.
• La Fête du Melon: four days dedicated to the tender fruit.
• In addition to being an area renowned for its melons, Cavaillon is also famous for its mielleries, or honey houses: bees collect pollen from different and extremely aromatic flowers such as heather, lime, chestnut and lavender, resulting in many different types of fragrant honey. In these houses, which you will find marked along the road, you can taste and buy them.
• In this town, you can try many local specialities, such as sirop au mimosa (mimosa-flavoured non-alcoholic drink), crème au melondélicede Cavaillon (aromatic melon liqueur), (melon-flavoured aperitif) or l’aperitif à la truffe (truffle aperitif).