Embedded halfway up the north face of the Luberon, like someone clinging to a tree to escape a bear, the dramatic and haunting Oppede-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 Oppede, took Oppede-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.

Oppede-le-vieux main square

TWO OPPEDES

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 Oppede started to form in the plain. Eventually, gravity and convenience brought the whole village down and the name of Oppede came with it, while the old village became Oppede-le-vieux (the old Oppede), and turned into a ghost town.

Oppede-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-Exupery). 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.

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.

Oppede-le-vieux castle

OPPEDE'S CHURCH & CASTLE

At the top you come first to Notre-Dame-d'Alydon, which is a little gem of a Romanesque church. 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.

From up here you can see the whole plain of the Luberon stretched out below you. Just above the church are the atmospheric ruins of the castle. The castle is precariously balanced, soaring into the sky, with vertical drops straight down from some walls into the forested gorge far below.

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.