The navagation program lead us directly to a parking lot in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, but it was already full and there were notes about market day posted around the lot. With all the traffic, we didn't try to read them, only tried to keep moving. We drove directly into the old city. As always, travel in old cities is difficult because of the narrow roads and traffic, both foot and vehicular.

Eventually we drove to one of the branches of the Sorgue and spotted three of the nine listed water wheels of the village. These are the remnants of the water wheels that powered the mills. Along the way we spotted this woman with her shopping cart who had been to the market.

Later, as we walked through town we saw that the market was one of the largest we had seen in a small town. It stretched for blocks with everything from produce to clothing and antiques displayed in the booths.

The river is clearly still the center of activity for the village. People stroll along the river and children play at the edge of the river.

The water wheels are covered with various types of aquatic plants that give a garden like appearance that fits in with the gardens that line the banks of the river.

The town itself was very active even in areas that weren't taken over by the market.

Next it was on to Fontaine-de-Vaucluse a few miles from L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. The source of the Sorgue river is a grotto above the village. Divers have discovered a large number of coins and other objects dating between 80 BC and 450 AD in the grotto. At this time of year (early April) water should be surging out from under the ground.

We wandered through the village and found many shops that were very interesting. One of galleries, L'Atelier des Arts, had a varied collection of modern paintings. We met the owner, who also displayed her work in the gallery, and got a complete description of the work of two of the featured artists.

As was always the case in the towns we visited, there were many sandwich shops to choose from. We split a sandwich while we sat next to the river.

The lighting and the early spring leaves on the trees reminded me of some of the paintings of Watteau. The water wheel here might have been used for papermaking which thrived here from the 16th through the 18th century.

The walk up to the grotto is dominated by the remains of the Castle of the Bishops of Cavaillon. It hovers on top of the rock on the other side of the river. The path up to the grotto points directly at a huge stone outcropping that stands just in front of the grotto.

All along the walk there were flowering trees. Spring was obviously in full swing here.

At times the castle and its rock look like a Chinese painting with the trees at various levels up the sides of the cliff.

Someone forgot to tell the source to start filling the grotto. From where we were there was no water visible. Other climbers walked passed the security barriers, but didn't seem to see any water either.

We decided to stay in Senas that night so the return to Aix the next day would be relatively quick. Aix is on N7 which leads directly to the car rental agency where we had to drop off the car.

The following is a sample of street scenes in Senas. One interesting thing happened near the yard with the wisteria. There was a large snail on the sidewalk and another person walking toward us on the sidewalk. He picked up the snail and put it in the grass in the yard. This is what we do all summer along Europe Bay Road! The main difference is our snails are at most a third the size of this snail.

On the other hand the large rock outcropping was magnificent. Well worth the walk to the top.

After the climb, a cup of coffee in the cafè next to the river was the ideal way to end our visit to La Fontaine de Vaucluse.