|
Embedded
halfway up the north face of the Luberon, like someone clinging
to a tree to escape a bear, the dramatic and haunting Oppède-le-Vieux
is coming back to life after years of abandonment.
The
village grew in this elevated position because of the turmoil
that raged for centuries, when this region was regularly
won and lost in wars and embroiled in persecutions.
One
of the worst offenders, the bloodthirsty Jean Maynier, Baron
of Oppède, took Oppède-le-vieux's castle as
his seat in the 16th century and waged a crusade against
the Vaudois population, carelessly destroying 11 villages
in the process.
Two
Oppèdes
When
peace finally came, the villagers found it a little impractical
to live up here and farm their lands down below, and so
a new, breakaway Oppède started to form in the plain.
Eventually, gravity and convenience brought the whole village
down and the name of Oppède came with it, while the
old village became Oppède-le-vieux (the old Oppède),
and turned into a ghost town.
| Oppède's
impressive belfry in the main square (left) and the
time-worn steps to the castle ruins (right). |
Oppède-le-vieux
starting coming back to life during WW2, when a commune
of artists, sculptors and writers started colonising the
empty houses and renovating them (including the wife of
the writer Saint-Exupéry). That is not to say that
they transformed the village into a lively one. There is
still a sense of 'what happened here?' as you wander up
through the remaining old gateway into the village and up
towards the two churches and ruined castle. On the left
of the path are a couple of caves, one of which is occupied
by a fellow who prefers it to modern living.
It
is beautiful to look at though, old village walls, cobbled
paths, homes hewn into the mountain rock, and then the spectacular
castle and church of Notre-Dame-d'Alydon above the village
- a 10-minute walk up a stone path.
Halfway
up the path is the 19th century chapel of Saint-Antonin,
which seems to be undergoing renovation (hard to tell).
Oppède's
church and castle
Then
you come first to Notre-Dame-d'Alydon, which is a little
gem of a Romanesque church, currently (2006) under restoration.
It has a gargoyled, hexagonal bell-tower, and was started
in the 13th century, and rebuilt in the 16th. Inside there
are some lovely though faded frescoes and it is an intimate
venue for classical music recitals in the summer.
 |
| Church
and valley from Oppede castle. |
From
up here you can see the whole plain of the Luberon stretched
out below you. Then you can clamber round the atmospheric
castle, just above the church, which is more tumbled than
standing, and thoroughly gutted. Turrets are open to the
sky, massive stones scattered like dice, but there are enough
details remaining to fire up the imagination about how life
was lived here. The castle is precariously balanced, soaring
into the sky, with vertical drops straight down from some
walls into the forested gorge far below.
 |
| Sheer
drops abound at Oppede castle. |
Note
that up at the top around the castle there are sheer cliff
edges and no fences or safety precautions. Dramatic to look
at, but if you come up here with small children they must
be closely watched or held at all times.
Eating:
Oppède-le-vieux has a café with pleasant
outside seating in the shade of a tree, and a restaurant
called Oppidum, which is for sale (in early 2006) and presumably
closed for the moment (it wasn't any good anyway, let's
hope it improves).
Parking:
you can't park inside the village, there is a parking lot
out of sight just below the village, leaving you with a
5-minute walk uphill.
| Oppède-le-vieux
is still dominated by the church (left) and
ruined castle (right) that gave life to all
that followed. |
|
|
