Fall's Olive-Picking Ritual
Olive picking is taking place at the moment in Provence, and for certain...
Many sources appear to dry up at the height of the summer, reappearing again after abundant fall rain… Lovers of this invaluable resource, which is water in Provence, Vaucluse locals take off on a walk, from village to village and from renowned site to secret spot, to see, fascinated by the spectacle, water gushing from a sheer wall or a crack in a rock…Incontestably, the most remarkable spring remains the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. And it’s in the fall that one must visit it, roaring at the end of this "closed valley" between Gordes and l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.
A source of inspiration for artists, even today it maintains all the mystery of its origins.
By Claire Vincent - Photos José Nicolas - December 13, 2011
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It's one of the most important springs in the world, by volume of water: no less than 630 million m3 per year! And this spring is even more impressive given that its origins are shrouded in mystery and fabulous stories. If today we know that the water comes from an immense underground "lake" of 1,240 km2, which fills with rain water and melted snow from Mont Ventoux, the Vaucluse Mountains and Lure Mountain, we still don't understand it's capricious flow; very low in summer, after strong rains the fountain swells and surges again in tumultuous
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People have always wondered about this surprising activity; from the end of the 19th century, scientists, divers and adventurers went searching for the origins of this spring. Commander Cousteau's team came to explore the caves three times between 1946 and 1967, going as far as to invent a special device to explore it, the "télénaute." Another exploration device the "sorgonaute" was built in the 1980s, and in 1993 for his TV show “Ushuaia,” Nicolas Hulot dived as deep as 40 meters. Archeological surveys in 2002 and 2003
allowed numerous fragments and objects dating from 80BC to 450AD to be salvaged. However this place cannot be reduced to a scientific site, it has also inspired important poets, including Petrarch, Chateaubriand, Frédéric Mistral and René Char, and still today painters and photographers come to wander here and immortalize its clear waters.
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