In the green Mediterranean woods of Provence, suddenly a Martian landscape
It has been the rain together with the elements of iron, manganese, titanium, which worked for thousands of years the sands of the Parc of the massif of Luberon until all the shades of red, brick color, ochre, mustard, pink, violet, orange emerged.
The soil has been collected and used by generations of artists but not only: mines supplied material for the pharmaceutical industry, for products of beauty treatment, the production of some kind of gum.
The small adjacent village of Roussillon (about 1300 inhabitants) lived on of the flourishing trade of the natural pigments from the area, until the recent production of artificial pigments.
In the tour Provence: Luberon we stop the bikes and dedicate some hours to the discovery of the Park of Ochre. The sun shines on the colors, heats up the sands, inflames the fragrances of the bright green Mediterranean wood. We enjoy the walk in the shade, along the wavy paths of the park, while the sands paint our shoes, as we would travel on a huge tennis field.
Back on our bikes, toward the end of our daily lag, we find the colors of the park in the plasters of the houses and of the walls, and on our tires too.