Many minor lords and their medieval towns were founded up hillsides and on top of mountains for defense. Some of these forts became virtual impregnable - the Château-des-Baux, which we visited a couple months ago, has been well-developed as a tourist attraction. The Fort de Buoux is another example, and much less well developed. The entrance is well outside the current town of Buoux, with a lone caretaker living on site to take admission and to warn you to be careful. There is also a helpful sign that warns you that "the cliff is dangerous". And, indeed, there is a beautiful set of ruins atop the cliffs ..... and nothing else. No guardrails, no fences, and, when we were there at least, no other people.
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| l: the main fortress wall (the cliff is 2 metres to Yolanda's right, the dip on her left is one of the moats); r: the hidden stairs (the wall to the right blends in to the rock as seen from below) |
Located in the Luberon, Buoux a little less accessible than Les Baux - both in terms of driving there and in terms of getting to the fort from the parking lot. There are also no artifacts, no costumed performers, and no crossbows to play with. The ruins themselves are just as interesting, however, with multiple partly intact curtain walls, two obvious fossés (defensive ditches), and the bottom half of the church still well laid out. There are also some neat "houses" carved out of the rock, you can see the arrow slits in the curtain and fort walls, and you get to go down the escalier dérobé (hidden staircase). This last is the back door into the fort (perhaps serving as a sally port) carved into the rock; from the bottom of the mountain all you can see when you look back at it is a rock face (except where the outside wall has now collapsed).
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