Place to stay between Nice and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue

We will be spending friday and saturday in Nice and would like to go to the market in L%26#39;Isle-sur-la-Sorgue on Sunday morning. We will have a car. We are considering driving about half way Saturday evening after spending the day in Nice to make the early drive to the market more managable. Any suggestions on a good spot to stay the night along the way and make getting to the market Sunday morning easier?

Thanks

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Saturday evening in Aix en Provence is great, loads of cafe life, and it%26#39;s not far from l%26#39;Isle. I also very much like Apt, again, not far from l%26#39;Isle and a complete contrast to Nice. However you could also stay in l%26#39;Isle if you wanted to, plenty of hotels there and you%26#39;d be on the spot.

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Take the Route Napoléon out of Grasse for a drive to the pretty town of Castellanne and on through the mountains to Moustiers-Ste-Marie. Moustiers is about as scenic as it get, a small hillside village with tumbling water and interesting old buildings. The village is famous for its faïence, and you can buy various designs in the shops--everything from fairly inexpensive up to very expensive, depending on the quality. There%26#39;s a small faïence museum to visit as well.

Moustiers has a number of places to spend the night, including the pricey Bastide de Moustiers. We drove about 20 minutes south to stay at the Château d%26#39;Esparron de Verdon, owned by a friendly, English-speaking count and his Scottish wife. They have lovingly restored the château, which belonged to his uncle. It%26#39;s a lovely place to stay:

http://www.provenceweb.fr/04/ukEsparron.htm

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Moustiers is very lovely. We stayed just below the town in the Bastide du Paradou with a pretty garden and the most fantastic breakfasts. You can even ask mine host to cook a meal for you at night if you choose, though there are good restaurants in the town (and one not so good) You can walk or drive into the top of the town and there is the golden star slung between two peaks and the chapel up in the hills and the parapenters floating down in the evening light. Rather magic.

Some pictures

www.nickbooth.id.au/France08/Moustiers.html

We went on to drive the Gorges du Verdon. Quite an experience!!!

Here is my blog with the trip in reverse

…blogspot.com/2008/08/encore-provence.html

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